According to the WHO, every second person on the planet is infected with helminths every year. Many people believe that parasitic worms are not very harmful to health. However, not everything is that simple: helminths can infect important internal organs: the heart, the lungs, the brain.
Bead patterns - who are they?
Helmet samples are parasitic worms that can choose the body of a person, animal, plant as a host. Helminths have a total of three classes:
- tapeworms.This class contains about 3, 5 thousand kinds of helminths. The length of parasitic worms varies between a few mm and 10-15 meters;
- flukes.The parasites got their name because of the presence of suckers that give them nutrients. The human body can infect about 4 dozen spots. As a general rule, the length of the worms should not exceed 5 cm;
- round worms.This class of helminths has more than 24, 000 species. Roundworms are spindle-shaped. Their length usually does not exceed 0, 5 meters.
You can become infected with helminths in different ways. However, parasite invasion most commonly occurs for the following reasons:
- Poor hand hygiene.
- Unwashed vegetables, fruits; undercooked or undercooked meat, fish - the use of such products greatly increases the risk of parasitic infection.
- Keep food open outside the refrigerator. Insects are able to transfer helminth eggs to foods that are stored without packaging.
- Relationship with pets.
The main symptoms of the presence of parasites in the body are:
- nausea, vomiting, diarrhea;
- weight loss;
- allergic rashes;
- bloating;
- itching in the anus;
- gnashing teeth in his dream.
What kind of helmets are the most common in Russia? Consider the most common types of parasitic worms and the diseases they cause.
Tapeworms
The body of the tapeworm consists of members with a total number ranging from 3 to 5, 000. The main element of fixing the helminth is the head, and the other is suction cups and hooks.
The most common causes of tapeworms are:
- diphyllobothriasis;
- teniarinhoses;
- teniasis.
Diphyllobothriasis
The pathogen of the disease is a broad tapeworm that affects the human intestines. The development of worm eggs occurs in freshwater. The pattern of the tapeworm entering the human body is as follows:
- The worm's eggs are swallowed by crabs living in the reservoir.
- Infected crabs are eaten by fish.
- Humans become infected with the parasite if they eat fish that have not undergone sufficient heat treatment.
Symptoms of the disease develop 1. 5 months after infection. The main sign of pathology is the presence of whitish fragments of helminth in the stool.
Adhering to the intestinal mucosa, tapeworms absorb large amounts of vitamin B12. Because of this, people with diphyllobothriasis often develop anemia. In addition, tapeworms can cause an increase in liver, spleen, and intestinal obstruction.
For teniarin
The causative agent of the disease is the bovine tapeworm, which lives predominantly in the human small intestine. During its developmental cycle, the helminth replaces two farmers: the intermediate cattle, the main man. The bovine tapeworm can live in the body for 20 years, multiplying and damaging health.
People usually develop teniarinhosis after eating malnourished or undercooked beef.
The disease often progresses without pronounced symptoms and is inadvertently detected when a person sees elements of helminth in their stools. In some people, in addition to the main symptoms of infection with helminths, pain syndrome may also occur on the right side of the anterior abdominal wall.
Adult helminths are able to penetrate the cecum, the pancreatic duct, the bile ducts, provoking acute inflammatory processes in them. Multiple parasitic infections can cause intestinal obstruction.
Teniosis
The disease is caused by the porcine tapeworm, which initially affects the human small intestine. Human infection occurs through the consumption of raw or improperly cooked pork.
The parasite can penetrate various organs and tissues, causing pain in the abdomen, back, limbs. The pathology is most favorable when the worm is localized in the subcutaneous fat and skeletal muscle tissue. When worms penetrate the eye muscles, they cause visual acuity loss, tearing, and photophobia. The defeat of the pork chain in the brain can be fatal.
Suckers
Fluca are leaf-shaped and have excellent reproduction at different periods of their life cycle. Reproduction of worms is not only sexually possible with fertilization but also without it. In addition to suction cups, worms have many hooks and spikes that connect them reliably to the mucous membranes of organs.
Common pathologies caused by flukes:
- fascioliasis;
- opisthorchiasis;
- paragonimiasis.
Fascioliasis
Fascioliasis occurs when the liver or gallbladder is damaged by the liver. Basically, the infection occurs when vegetables are consumed using water from open reservoirs.
In addition to the usual signs of a parasitic infection, a person may experience asthma attacks accompanied by shortness of breath, flushing of the face, dilated pupils, and tachycardia. If an adult causes blockage of the bile ducts, obstructive jaundice develops. Signs of pathology:
- convulsive pain in the right hypochondrium;
- yellowing of the skin;
- fever;
- colorless faeces.
Opisthorchiasis
The disease is caused by a feline. The name of the parasite is due to the fact that in addition to humans, it often infects cats and other mammals that eat fish.
As a general rule, felines affect the liver and pancreas, causing inflammation in the organs. Symptoms vary and depend on the number of parasites. The patient may experience:
- symptoms of poisoning;
- fever;
- hives;
- itchy skin;
- pain in muscles, joints, right hypochondrium.
In some cases, helminths cause the growth of lymph nodes, the development of jaundice. The chronic form of the pathology often leads to hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver.
Paragonimiasis
The culprit of the disease is a lung sheet that enters the human body with infected cancers.
First the parasite enters the human intestines and then into the abdominal cavity. The end point of his journey is lung tissue. In addition, the worm is able to penetrate the brain and affect the central nervous system.
Specific signs of lung parasite invasion:
- chest pain;
- secretory cough, which may include pus and blood;
- fever.
In some cases, helminths cause a violation of the ventilatory function of the lungs and gas exchange during respiration.
Round worms
Due to their structure, globular worms (nematodes) are able to survive even under extreme conditions. Their bodies are covered with a three-layer musculocutaneous sac that reliably protects the parasites from external influences.
Common diseases caused by nematodes:
- ascariasis;
- enterobiasis;
- trichinosis.
Ascariasis
The development of the disease provokes ascaris, which is initially fixed in the small intestine. The average length of adults is 40 cm The larvae of the parasite can enter the human digestive system with unwashed vegetables and fruits and contaminated water. In addition, poorly washed hands before meals are often the cause of ascariasis.
During the penetration of larvae into the human body, subfebrile temperature, allergic rash, and cough with the release of pure sputum are observed. Signs of the intestinal stage of ascariasis (diarrhea, abdominal pain) are observed only in the presence of several parasites. As a general rule, a worm in the gut to live asymptomatic.
Complications of several parasitic infections:
- bile duct obstruction;
- purulent inflammatory processes in the gallbladder, liver;
- inflammation of the appendix;
- ileus.
Enterobiasis
The provocateurs of the disease are pinworms - tiny worms up to 1 cm long. Helminths penetrate the human digestive system in the same way as roundworms.
Currently, enterobiasis is the most common parasitic pathology in the world. Basically, the disease is diagnosed in children under 10 years of age.
Symptoms, as in previous cases, only develop with multiple parasitic infections. Children often have diarrhea, mucus in the stool, difficult and painful digestion, itching in the anus and nausea. In case of severe course of the disease, limb cramps may occur. In addition, pinworms have the ability to penetrate the genitals, causing acute inflammation in them.
Trichinosis
This disease provokes Trichinella - one of the smallest parasitic worms. The length of the parasite rarely exceeds 4 mm. At the larval stage, worms can infect skeletal muscles. The exception is the heart muscle - the muscle tissue of the heart. Adults parasitize the small intestine.
As a general rule, human infection occurs when half-fried pork is consumed. However, consuming only 30 g of meat affected by parasites is enough to develop the disease.
The pathology is manifested by the usual symptoms of parasitic invasion. In advanced stages, swelling of the eyelids, face, arms and legs, pain in the lower back, chewing muscles may occur. Possible complications are complete or partial loss of mobility, airway paralysis.
How to avoid helminth infection?
To reduce the risk of infection with parasitic worms, it is important to follow these guidelines:
- Wash your hands thoroughly before eating after visiting the street, public places.
- Consider the proper technology for cooking meat, fish. The heat treatment of meat and fish products must last at least 20 minutes.
- Do not eat dried or dried fish.
- Deworming pets.
- Test yourself regularly, even if you have no signs of abnormality. The most common diagnostic methods are macroscopic and microscopic examination of the stool. The first method allows the detection of adults, the second - the eggs and larvae of worms.