Worms in humans, whose symptoms and treatment will be suggested by a doctor, in the human body are provoked by two types of worms - round (nematodes) and flat (flukes and tapeworms). Each of the parasites causes significant damage to the body, especially if appropriate treatment is not done in a timely manner.
Be sure to wash your hands when you get home, and also rinse vegetables or fruits under a stream of warm or hot water, as it is on them that parasitic eggs are likely to be found. Products such as fish meat or cattle must undergo heat treatment. Under the action of high temperature, the meat is released from the eggs of various helminths and can be edible.
Varieties of roundworms
Pinworms are small parasitic flatworms with a grayish-white color that awaken enterobiosis.
Such parasites enter the human body in the following ways:
- nutritional (through the oral cavity);
- through unwashed / dirty hands.
Skeleton eggs can be found in unwashed fruits or vegetables or in the fur of a sick animal. Children who scratch itchy areas of the skin and subsequently swallow eggs (for example, along with contaminated food) are more likely to become infected with enterobiosis. It takes two weeks for thistle larvae to develop in the digestive tract, and after full development, a full-fledged worm lives in all parts of the colon.
Trichinella - these parasites have round bodies no longer than 5 mm and cause trichinosis in the body. Larvae and eggs prefer to be in bad fried meat (wild boar, pork, bear meat). It takes up to 4 days in the human body to become an adult Trichinella, and its life cycle is 40 days. The main purpose of this type of worm is to enter the bloodstream through the intestinal walls and settle in the muscles. In addition, the muscles of the respiratory and musculoskeletal systems are often affected.
Roundworms are large, spindle-shaped with a reddish-yellow tinge. Males of this species reach a size of 15-25 cm, and females - up to 40 cm. Their body is deprived of any devices for fixation in the intestine, they simply move independently to the nutrient mass through the intestine.
You can become infected with roundworms by swallowing mature eggs when eating unwashed vegetables or fruits that have the smallest soil particles left on them. Once the eggs enter the body's internal environment, they hatch into adult larvae that terrorize the intestinal wall. Through the bloodstream, the parasites can reach the heart muscle and later the lungs.
This alone does not end the cycle of travel through the body, as the larva travels through the airways into the mouth.
By re-ingesting the parasite, the body already creates a favorable environment for its development.
The path of a full-fledged worm will lie through the small intestine. Their life cycle is 12 months, after which they die and defecate.
Vlasoglavy - worms in humans, the symptoms and treatment of which is determined at any time after infection, preferring to live directly in the intestine. This worm eats the blood component or feeds on the intestinal mucosa.
Females lay eggs directly on the walls of the affected organ, after which they come out with the feces and develop in the environment. Already mature larva, whose body is elongated and does not exceed the limits of 5-15 mm. enters the human body with food.
These parasites have round bodies no longer than 5 millimeters and cause trichinosis in the body. Egg larvae are found in poorly fried meat (wild boar, pork, bear meat).
It takes a maximum of 4 days in the human body to become an adult Trichinella, and its life cycle does not exceed 40 days. The main purpose of this type of worm is to enter the bloodstream through the intestinal walls and settle in the muscles. In addition, the muscles of the respiratory and musculoskeletal systems are often affected.
Some / hookworm. The connection between these parasites is direct, in connection with the caused diseases and biological signs. They live in the duodenum, and due to their small size (10-15 mm) move freely in its environment.
The larvae can enter the body only through the skin if a person has been in contact with contaminated soil. Another target of worms is the lungs along with the digestive tract. They feed only on the blood that comes out of the bitten blood vessels. As a result of the violent activity of these parasites, blood clotting is disrupted. Adults consume blood in the range of 0, 1-0, 35 ml per day.
Varieties of flatworms
Wide ribbon. The body length of the parasite, which is 10-20 meters, deserves one attention.
The parasite originates from freshwater fish and crabs, the larvae enter the eggs and fish fillets.
The formation of an adult worm takes a maximum of 25 days and then a person becomes ill with diphyllobotriasis (digestive tract is disturbed, vitamin B deficiency).
Liver fluke is a flatworm, reaching a size of 10-20 mm, and has a second name for this parasite - feline fluke. In 50% of cases of infection suffer residents who have consumed infected fish (carp, crucian carp, bream, cockroach). Fish are infected with liver flukes by consuming a snail that has previously consumed helminth eggs with fresh water.
To clean the fish from the parasite, heat treatment is required, otherwise the larva will enter the internal environment of the body, damaging the gallbladder with the intestines. Signs of the acute phase of development of helminthiasis in humans are a feeling of nausea, turning into vomiting, pain in the upper abdomen, allergic reactions, muscle spasm. The parasite creates irreversible changes in the body and even after its expulsion from the body of patients, all kinds of inflammation and disorders will certainly occur.
Pork / cattle tapeworm. The body length of the parasite is 5-6 meters, and its larvae hide in the meat of large animals (pork, cattle). The disease caused by these helminths is called teniasis and teniarinhosis.
The larvae of both types of tapeworms, the Finns, are whitish vesicles attached to the walls of the small intestine. To reach and form an adult, the parasite needs 3 months and the worm develops every day. The total number of segments reaches 2000, the last of which freely "streaks" the colon.
The worms then leave the body along with the feces through the anus. The most common and obvious symptom of helminthiasis is a disturbed digestive tract, as well as food intake in large volumes, and the patient does not visually gain weight.
Echinococcus. In this case, man acts as an intermediate host, as the extremes are wolves, cats, dogs. Animals can become infected through direct contact with contaminated objects or people. As soon as the parasite's eggs enter the intestines, larvae with six hooks, which in medicine are called oncospheres, develop immediately.
The worm's favorite habitat is the lungs and liver, and the larva becomes an echinococcal cyst that grows in size. All tissues near it are subject to rapid destruction.
Doctors often do not detect echinococcosis and confuse it with a malignant or benign tumor. In addition to squeezing blood vessels and internal organs, ruptures of an echinococcal cyst are common.
If this happens, not only does toxic shock occur immediately in the body, but a ruptured cyst provokes the formation of several new ones.
The last type of parasite is alveococci, in the medical literature they are referred to as echinococci. It is this worm that awakens a terrible disease that causes damage commensurate with cancer and cirrhosis of the liver. The oncospheres of the worm enter the intestines, after which the embryos hatch from the eggs and begin to destroy the intestinal walls. After piercing the walls, the parasite enters the bloodstream and spreads throughout the body.
Most often, as mentioned earlier, alveococci terrorize the liver, where the larva gradually grows. In the process of development in the worms, a larvocyst is formed - an aggressive formation that grows rapidly in size (multichambered vesicle, gradually growing). These vesicles make their way into liver cells in the same way as cancer metastases.
Nearby tissues experience impaired blood flow, and later necrotic changes appear in them. On nearby structures, fibrous nodules form with such multi-chambered blisters that can remain in the human body for several years. That is why doctors, when they find this parasite, resort to surgery.
Note
Modern science knows about 280 species of worms. It is these microorganisms that can parasitize and develop in various tissues and organs of the human body.
Each year, these worms in humans, the symptoms and treatment of which are determined by the doctor, affect the organs and tissues of about 15 million people, most of them, namely 80% of them are children.
How you can get worms:
- The use of meat dishes with poor heat treatment or raw meat in general. Thus, beef is the habitat of tapeworm, and pork carries the tapeworm of pork.
- Consumption of infected fish in slightly salted or raw form. River water is often contaminated with helminth larvae.
- Water can also cause worms. This is due to the fact that a person can drink raw water or wash food, dishes with contaminated water. The risk is especially high when you are outdoors.
- Soil can also cause worms. Because it may contain animal or human feces. But how do worms enter the human body? The answer is simple - through unwashed hands after working in the garden or relaxing outdoors.
You can also become infected through direct contact with someone who has helminthiasis. That is, the infection occurs through dishes, underwear or personal hygiene items.
If the case is completely ignored and the parasitic infection is in the acute phase of its development, then doctors prescribe detoxifying and desensitizing therapy. And if the disease is very severe, then glucocorticoids are prescribed.
Speaking of specific therapy, it takes into account the nature of the pathogen and includes special chemotherapeutic agents of anthelmintic nature.
In addition, patients are advised to take various antihistamines. At the end of the treatment you will need to take a course of probiotics. All this is necessary to restore the intestinal microflora. In the process of treatment, the patient must adhere to a special diet, which consists of easily digestible food with minimal fat content.
Immediate personal hygiene is very important during therapy, otherwise there is a risk of re-infection.
In addition, all family members, as well as others who have been in constant and close contact with the patient, should receive anthelmintic treatment.
Signs of worms in humans: symptoms in children and adults
Signs of worms in people whose symptoms may be the same can be seen in acute form in both adults and children:
- Unreasonable increase in appetite and profuse salivation, while losing weight quickly.
- Another variant of the development of symptoms may appear - the appetite disappears, after eating the person gets worse.
- Maybe the appearance of headaches and dizziness.
- Loose stools or constipation may also indicate the presence of worms.
- Stomach ache.
- Sudden onset of allergies with incomprehensible symptoms.
- Weakening of hair and nails (their fragility increases due to lack of iron and vitamin B12).
- Due to the weakening of the immune system, various inflammations appear in the nasopharynx and in the genital area.
If the body is heavily infested with worms, a large amount of toxic substances are released into human blood, which occurs due to the vital activity of helminths. This circumstance can significantly affect the child's health. The nervous system suffers in the first place. Therefore, if the child shows sudden aggression, irritability, insomnia and other signs of nervous disorders, the child should be checked for helminths.
Even if there are no obvious signs and no functional disorders, worms can be present in the human body and it is necessary to perform regular tests to identify them.
It often happens that after preventive vaccinations the child develops an allergic reaction due to the presence in the body of toxic substances secreted by helminths.
In fact, determining whether or not there are worms based on superficial signs is quite a difficult task. After all, the symptoms shown may be a sign of another disease. This task is especially difficult for pregnant women. Because all of the above signs of worms in people whose symptoms have been described above occur in pregnant women due to the process itself.
For this reason, the signs of helminth infection in pregnant women can be distinguished by such symptoms: itching in the anus and burning in the vaginal area, which increase at night, weight loss, fatigue, fever.
A number of measures are taken to diagnose helminth infection, including the following procedures:
- Collection of anamnesis to identify possible sources of infection.
- Examination of stool and blood samples, rectal and perianal mucus, muscle tissue, sputum and bile in the laboratory. During these activities, signs of helminths can be found in the body (eggs or worms themselves, as well as their parts). It is also worth noting that the increased number of eosinophils may serve as a sign of the presence of worms in the body.
- Serological tests (ELISA, RSK, etc. ) allow to detect the presence of parasites in the stage of larvae or helminths living in muscle tissue.
- Ultrasound, CT and endoscopy are prescribed to determine the presence of parasites affecting the liver.
Worms in the human liver: symptoms by type of worm
Worms in the human liver, whose symptoms largely depend on the type of helminth, can also migrate to other organs.
The onset of primary signs of worm infection does not appear immediately. In many respects, the time of appearance of distinctive features depends on the species composition of the parasites. So the presence of roundworms after almost two to three days is manifested by the deterioration of the general condition of man.
The first symptoms of infection with other types of helminths in most cases begin to appear only two to three weeks after the end of the incubation period. There are parasites (such as filariasis) in which the incubation period exceeds six months.
The problem with determining the presence of helminths in the human body is that in the case of a primary infection with a small number of worms or an individual, there are virtually no visual signs. Symptoms begin to appear only after intensive reproduction of helminths or when they reach large sizes (broad tapeworm, roundworms).
The most reliable way to determine the infection with pinworms. In their presence there is a characteristic itching in the anus, which intensifies at night. The itching usually appears within a few days, then subsides in about two weeks and resumes.
Infection with helminths such as trichuriase, hookworm disease, schistosomiasis, diphyllobotriasis, beriberi and anemia develop.
The appearance of symptoms of roundworm infection largely depends on the period of development of the parasites. So, if they are in the early stages of development, the larvae pass through the blood to almost all internal organs and the following symptoms of the disease appear: low-grade fever, weakness, cough with purulent sputum, volatile infiltrates are seen on X-rays of the lungs. subsequently disappear.
Severe infection can lead to bronchitis and pneumonia. With the further development of parasites there is a violation of the functions of the gastrointestinal tract.
Trichinosis - manifests itself mainly in muscle pain, fever and swelling.
Such worms in the human liver, the symptoms of which are manifested by icteric complexion, such as fascioliasis, opisthorchiasis, clonorchiasis, reveal their presence with an increase in the spleen and liver and other serious disorders of the body.
Almost all types of worms cause disorders of the central nervous system, while the patient experiences severe headaches and fatigue, generally calm person becomes irritable and impatient, unreasonable attacks of aggression may occur.