About 80% of the planet's inhabitants are infected with various helminths.It is often necessary to treat a disease whose real cause is parasites for a long time and without success.Worms living in humans violate the integrity of blood vessel walls, block the intestinal lumen and damage internal organs.They produce toxic substances that enter the blood.
What kind of worms do people have?
Helminths settle in the intestines or live as parasites in any other organ.There are many types, the most common being nematodes.Their bodies are elongated, with a round cross-section, narrowing at the ends.Infection occurs more often in others:
- roundworms, trichinae, which settle in the small intestine and other organs;
- whipworms, which live in the colon and feed on blood and mucus;
- fungal worms that accumulate in the cecum and colon.
Pinworms are especially often found in children when a stool test is performed for enterobiasis.
In addition to those listed, more than a hundred less common parasites live in different parts of the intestine.For example, in humans, the thin segment contains worms such as hookworms and nailworms;the thick section is often clogged with whipworms.Human hosts are adult tapeworms, which have flat, long bodies.Large cattle and pig tapeworms, cestodes and echinococcus live in the intestines.
On the body of fluke worms there are suckers between a few millimeters (Siberian fluke) and 7 cm (fasciola).Parasites are transmitted to humans by eating raw fish and unboiled water.Sometimes infection with worms occurs through the skin while swimming in lakes and rivers (schistosoma).Once established, they feel great in various human organs for several years.
Methods of infection
Different types of worms have different entry routes.The main route of infection with parasites is fecal-oral.It is accompanied by the penetration of helminths with food and water.People simply ingest invisible creatures when they forget to wash their hands before eating.Worms in feces are rarely visible to the naked eye.But the flies hovering over the excrement always carry their eggs.If an insect lands on a piece of food, the chance of infection increases significantly.
Worms appear in humans when they work with soil or sand without gloves.In the latter case, small children, whose favorite place to play is the sandbox, are more likely to suffer from parasites.Helminths reach the surface of the soil together with the feces of animals - cats, dogs, farm animals - and are carried by flies.They enter the human body through unwashed hands, microtraumas on the skin and insufficiently processed vegetables.Inhalation of street dust saturated with very hardy larvae can also lead to infection.
Another factor that contributes to the appearance of worms is the use of poor quality water.It is highly undesirable to swallow liquids while swimming in the sea, river or lake.It contains a lot of parasites from the feces of fish, waterfowl and domestic animals.If a person eats raw fish or meat, there is a risk of infection and parasites - cattle tapeworm, pig tapeworm, tapeworm - settle in the body.In medical manuals there are photographs of worms that reach several meters in length.
Symptoms and signs of helminthic infection
When people become hosts to the parasites, they lose weight rapidly, feel exhausted and look pale.Report the presence of worms:
- pain in the whole body;
- painful sensations in the joints;
- general weakness;
- loss of appetite;
- diarrhea or constipation;
- attacks of nausea.
But in order to make sure that helminths are present in the body, an examination must be carried out.It helps identify worms in the stool or specific antibodies in the blood.
In the absence of timely treatment, the symptoms increase.Depending on which worms predominate in the body and where they accumulate, the signs of the disease will be different.Stagnation of bile occurs when the ducts are blocked by parasites.A person feels heaviness and pain in the right hypochondrium, bitterness in the mouth.He suffers from occasional bouts of nausea and constipation.
Many worms secrete substances that irritate the intestinal wall - diarrhea appears, in which the stool is watery and foamy.In addition, the patient has increased gas formation, loud rumbling in the abdomen and pain in the navel area.
Once inside the human body, the worms are able to migrate.Their progress is accompanied by severe pain.Most often, a person suffering from helminthiasis thinks that arthritis is getting worse.In fact, the discomfort caused by worms is the body's response to tissue damage.
A person experiences a state of apathy, the ability to concentrate deteriorates, and there are memory problems.This happens when the parasites are present in the body for a long time.The body has a previously unusual allergy or intolerance to certain foods.Worms become responsible for skin problems.The most common:
- acne, pimples all over the body;
- urticaria, atopic dermatitis, eczema;
- too early wrinkle formation;
- hair loss, bald spots.
The more frequent runny nose, bronchitis, asthma and pneumonia can be caused by the migration of worms in the bloodstream.Sometimes the parasites settle in the lungs, where they lay eggs that mature and become full-fledged individuals.On X-rays and tomographic images, the worms resemble a round or oval-shaped focal darkening.
Due to the entry into the blood of toxic waste products of helminths, people complain:
- constant anxiety, irritability;
- depression;
- insomnia.
Both obesity and underweight are common symptoms of worms.Digestive problems and poisoning lead to poor appetite.A person loses weight.The long-term presence of parasites causes a drop in blood sugar and a constant feeling of hunger.There is a lack of nutrients at the cellular level, which is compensated by the accumulation of fat tissue.
Drug therapy
For several reasons, it is not recommended to treat helminthiasis without prior consultation with a specialist.The first is that even after repeated analysis of the stool, it is not always possible to identify the parasites.To determine exactly what types of worms have settled in a person, you need to conduct a more detailed examination, including:
- general blood test with leukemia formula;
- biochemical blood test (liver test);
- analysis of stool and rectal mucus.
Sometimes it is necessary to examine bile, sputum and small sections of the skin to detect worms in the body.
Self-treatment of worms in adults or children is a dubious idea.Pharmacological drugs are quite toxic.However, many of them are directed against a specific species without affecting others.
If the results of the tests revealed worms in a person's feces, or other diagnostic procedures confirmed the presence of parasites, the infectious disease doctor selects the most effective drug.Based on the patient's body weight, the doctor who prescribes the tablets must specify exactly how many times the medicine must be taken and its dose.Worms are treated as follows:
- albendazole;
- Parasiquantheloma;
- Medamine;
- mebendazole;
- Pyrantel.
The procedure for getting rid of worms is supplemented with anti-toxic agents (sorbents), anti-allergic agents and vitamins.
Preventive measures
Given that worms are very easily transmitted from animals or infected persons, every effort should be made to prevent their occurrence.To do this, you must strictly observe hygiene.An important factor in the control of worms is the proper preparation of the products from which the food is made.
Doctors recommend an annual preventive procedure to remove worms in spring and autumn.Even if a person has no obvious symptoms of infection.Its maximum effectiveness is achieved when all family members take the medicine recommended by the doctor.Most parasites are so small that only photographs of individual worm eggs taken with a high-powered microscope when examining feces or other biological material can be seen.