Helminth infection is possible even in our civilized society. These parasites imperceptibly penetrate the body and poison it with the products of their vital activity. Helminth secretion is toxic and causes various ailments - from hives to serious health problems. There are also deaths.
Common symptoms of a worm infestation
Helminths live not only in human intestines, some types of parasites infect other organs, they can also be in skeletal muscle. Therefore, the course of each helminthiasis has its own characteristic signs, but there are still general symptoms:
- reduced performance;
- rapid fatigue;
- intoxication;
- weakness;
- drowsiness;
- lack of appetite;
- weight loss;
- joint pain;
- prison;
- intestinal disorder;
- intolerance to any type of food.
Unfortunately, but a lot of people are infected with parasites, some don’t even know about it. Eggs or cysts can be swallowed with seemingly clean food. Worms often settle in a child’s body, getting along with poorly washed fruits and vegetables, dirty hands, from cats and dogs. The trouble is that there is often no doubt that someone else lives in us, because there are types of parasites that do not manifest for a long time. Therefore, it is worth knowing better about worms, what species exist and what symptoms of infection they cause.
Human roundworms
Pinworms, roundworms, whipworms and Trichinella (less often) can live in the human body.
Roundworms are roundworms with a spiny body, 15-40 cm long and 4-6 mm wide. This helminth lives in the small intestine, although there are cases where roundworms get into the bile ducts and clog them. Inside humans, females mate with males and lay eggs, which come out with the feces.
A person is not infected with roundworms that live in animals.
Next, the eggs need to mature in the soil. If they enter the human body with unwashed fruits or vegetables, the larvae are excreted in the intestines, rapidly penetrating the blood vessels and reaching the lungs through the bloodstream. There the larvae mature and migrate into the intestines through the trachea and oral cavity. And new individuals have already hatched there and everything is repeating itself. The worms live up to 14 months.
With ascariasis, appetite decreases, nausea, diarrhea, intestinal pain, allergic manifestations occur. Sleep is also disturbed, irritability appears. Coughing can occur during migration from the lungs. By accumulating ascaris and forming a ball from them, intestinal obstruction can develop.
Pinworms are small, whitish worms 3-12 mm long. Pinworms live in the small and large intestine. It is very easy to get infected with these helminths, it is enough not to wash your hands, or you can even swallow helminth eggs by inhaling dust. Pinworm females lay eggs in the anus causing severe itching. Pinworm eggs are so small that they can even be indoors in the dust that rises.
You can get infected with bedding, hygiene items, food, handling, etc. Furthermore, pinworms undergo the same migration as roundworms. Adults live a little in humans, only 1-2 months, and with proper hygiene can be taken care of in a short time. In addition to itching, the following are observed: insomnia, absence, irritability, allergic rash.
Hairworms are thin worms that live in the large intestine and reach a length of 30-35 mm. You can be infected with parasites in the same way as roundworms. The hair follicles stick to the intestinal walls and suck blood. The toxins they release cause headaches, poor sleep, dizziness and nausea. The lifespan of helminths is 5 years.
Trichinella are small worms, only up to 4 mm long. A person becomes infected with raw pork, which contains larvae. Adults live in the intestines, mate and lay eggs, after which they die. Trichinella larvae are excreted, penetrate from the intestine into muscle tissue, where they form a capsule and can remain for years.
Helminthiasis causes the following disorders in the body:
- puffy face;
- eyelid edema;
- swelling of legs and arms;
- skin rash;
- muscle aches;
- fever, fever;
- headache;
- insomnia or, conversely, drowsiness;
- reduced mobility of the knee and elbow joints;
- gastrointestinal disorders are observed.
Trichinosis is partially cured, because if we can destroy adult worms with drugs, the larvae in the bone muscles cannot be killed.
Human tapeworms
- Beef tapewormcan be up to 10 m long. Infection occurs when eating poorly cooked beef that contains helminth larvae. Housewives can be infected by tasting raw minced meat with salt. In the body, from the larva that lives in the intestines, a tapeworm develops that attaches to the wall to hold on. The person loses weight, loses appetite, dizziness, insomnia, nausea and frequent vomiting occur.
- Pork tapewormis smaller and reaches only 2 m. Infection occurs after eating poorly processed pork. The symptoms are the same as in bovine tapeworm.
- The wide ribbonis 6 m to 15 m long. The source of infection is raw freshwater fish. Helminthiasis is manifested by weakness, nausea, vomiting, salivation, abdominal pain, constipation, or diarrhea. There are always bright red painful spots and even cracks on the tongue.
- Dwarf tapewormhas a length of 3-5 cm. They are infected with this helminth through contaminated door handles, shells, if they have worm eggs. Children get sick more often. Helminthiasis causes decreased appetite, nausea and abdominal pain, and sometimes diarrhea. In rare cases, children may have seizures similar to epileptic seizures.
- Echinococcusis one of the most dangerous helminths. The infection occurs in dogs and cats - carriers of adult parasites. In the human body, larvae hatch from eggs, which are transmitted by blood flow to various organs, more often to the liver, and form echinococcal cysts there. In some cases, they even reach the size of a newborn baby's head. Cysts are removed only by surgery.
Human naiveties
- Flukeparasitizes in the bile ducts and in the gallbladder itself. The size of the helminth is small - 4-13 mm. The parasite enters the body using slightly salted or lightly cooked (fried) fish. First, this helminthiasis is manifested by high fever (up to 40 degrees), pain in the joints and muscles, disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, in rare cases, jaundice develops. Then the acute symptoms disappear, paroxysmal pains in the pancreas appear. There can be complications.
- Fasciolais dangerous to health. The worms are up to 3-7 cm long, and they also settle in the gallbladder and bile ducts. A person becomes infected with unboiled water or by eating aquatic plants. Weakness, fever, headaches and abdominal pain, urticaria appear.
Conclusion on human helminths
Some types of worms live in the human body for years because they can hardly manifest in any way. Often the symptoms of helminthiasis are similar to diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, so a wrong diagnosis is made if special tests are not performed to identify the helminth. But you urgently need to get rid of all parasites, because they not only take beneficial substances from the body, but also release toxins that are dangerous to health.