Numerous studies of modern medicine prove that helminths are the cause of many diseases in humans. The penetration of parasites into the body is not felt immediately, and often the symptoms are masked in other diseases. Many people are treated for years for diseases of the liver, kidneys, gallbladder, looking for the causes of allergic diseases. But they don’t even think about checking the body for the presence of helminthic invasion.
Methods of infection
There are about 250 species of helminths in nature. Moreover, each parasite causes a specific disease with characteristic symptoms. The problem is widespread in both children and adults.
There are several reasons for the defeat:
- Contact method - Some types of parasites, including pinworms, are transmitted from person to person by handling.
- Diet - eating raw or semi-raw meat, low-quality fish infected with helminths leads to their entry into the body.
- Over soil and water - if the soil and water are infected with helminths, which are excreted from the feces of people or animals with helminthiasis.
- Contact with animals infected with helminthic infestation.
- Transfer of insect worm eggs to food.
- Insect bites can transmit some types of parasites to the body.
Doctors note that the main mechanism of spread is considered to be oral-fecal. In other words, human helminths are affected by consuming contaminated food and water.
Also, the reason for the spread is often a lack of basic hygiene. Wash your hands thoroughly after being outdoors, and especially after working with the ground.
Children are particularly susceptible to helminthic invasion. Walking on the street, contact with pets leads to the rapid spread of the problem. Infection with pinworms is very simple. Because the female pinworm can come out of the intestines at night and lay eggs near the anus, causing severe itching in the baby. Children inadvertently scratch this place, and this leads to contamination of hands and feet, clothes and beds. Contact with children's belongings, furniture, which the baby could handle with unwashed hands, door handles and plumbing, is the cause of infection of all who live in the apartment.
How to recognize the problem?
Helminths in humans can cause different symptoms, so different treatments are prescribed.
But there are also typical signs that are most common in people infected with parasites:
- noticeable weight loss;
- anemia;
- severe itching in the anus;
- lack of appetite;
- constant fatigue.
Because of these symptoms, most people immediately begin to suspect a worm infection.
But often helminths in humans cause other symptoms, which are more reminiscent of the signs of other diseases.
- Gastrointestinal problems - recurrent nausea, diarrhea or vomiting, bloating and abdominal pain may not indicate stomach problems, but worm infections. This is often the case if parasites are found in the gut. Symptoms can be severe or mild. But in any case, they bring great discomfort to the person.
- General weakness and negative effects on the nervous system. This condition is caused by toxins that are able to release parasites in the human body. Gradual intoxication leads to frequent headaches, dizziness, mild nausea. With a strong infection, there is a possibility of fever and joint pain. Due to worms in the human body, the amount of vitamins and nutrients is sharply reduced. As a result, it leads to drowsiness, constant fatigue and nervousness. Children are especially sensitive - they become capricious and irritable, sleep restlessly at night, become careless.
- Allergic reactions on the skin - waste products of parasites desensitize the body, so proteins that are similar to them when ingested are perceived as allergens. Hence the various options for allergies - skin rash, hives, constant itching. Among the symptoms of helminths are even allergic rhinitis and cough.
- Weak immunity, which leads to frequent manifestations of infectious diseases. The problem arises against the background of reducing the amount of vitamins and nutrients in the body.
According to popular belief, the presence of worms in the body can be determined even by snoring or gnashing teeth during sleep. Such methods of determination still exist, but medicine claims that these are only assumptions. Snoring and gnashing of teeth can be caused by many other reasons.
Where do parasites live?
Human helminths can inhabit the body in different places.
Depending on that, there are:
- Cavity - colonizes the small and large intestine. There are about a hundred species of such worms.
- Tissue - occupy tissues and organs. They can be found in the liver, muscles, lungs, brain, lymph vessels.
Some types of worms, such as roundworms, are both cavities and tissues. Those in the form of larvae can infect organs, and worms can infect the intestines.
Diagnosis of helminths
To determine helminthiasis, modern medicine uses several methods:
- examine a person's feces for an ovarian leaf;
- make a scraping in the anus;
- scraping from the vagina in girls;
- immunological tests for antibodies.
Additionally, the doctor may send for analysis of urine and blood, bile and sputum. In case of severe infection, ultrasound, biopsy, computed tomography are used. These research methods help determine the location of parasite colonies in the human body.
How to get rid of helminthiasis?
In the arsenal of doctors today there are many drugs that can quickly and successfully deal with the problem of damage to the human body from parasites. But it is important to make the correct diagnosis in order to find the optimal cure. Only then will the treatment be successful.
Depending on the type of parasite, the following are prescribed:
- Mebendazole-based drugs are the best option for enterobiasis, trichocephaly infection.
- Diethylcarbamazine medications are recommended for the treatment of filariasis.
- Levamisole tablets are often prescribed by doctors to patients when the body is infected with trichocephaly, ascariasis, toxoplasmosis.
- Preparations with albendazole - have been shown to be effective in cysticercosis and echinococcosis.
- Tablets with Praziquantel - will help resolve cestodes, schistosomiasis, trimodosis.
It is most often possible to deal with helminthiasis by prescribing tablets. But in case of re-infection or worsening, doctors recommend more serious treatment that includes injections of ascorbic acid, vitamin B6 or calcium gluconate, as well as medications for high blood pressure and antipyretics.
Prevention measures
It is so easy to get infected with worms. And it takes a long time to get rid of parasites. In order not to undergo numerous studies and not to poison the body with portions of helminth removal drugs, it is better to prevent the occurrence of the problem.
Moreover, prevention is not difficult:
- Follow the basic rules of personal hygiene - wash your hands after a walk, use individual hygiene items.
- Handle meat and fish properly.
- Wash vegetables and fruits well before eating.
- Pet owners should treat their pets for worms several times a year. Animals also require timely vaccination.
- With frequent trips to nature, contact with the ground does not hurt to carry out drug prophylaxis of parasites once a year.
- Children are recommended to take prophylaxis twice a year.
Literally every one of us has been a worm carrier at least once in our lives. Indeed, no person is insured against infection, regardless of their status and position. This problem does not lead to death, but it creates great discomfort. Therefore, the sooner the parasites are noticed, the faster the patient will undergo competent treatment and forget about the unpleasant problem.