Worms in humans, the symptoms and treatment of which will be prompted 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 harm to the body, especially if appropriate treatment has not been provided in time.
Be sure to wash your hands when you come home, and also rinse vegetables or fruits under a stream of warm or hot water, since it is on them that parasite eggs are likely to be found. Products such as fish meat or cattle must necessarily undergo heat treatment. Under the action of high temperature, the meat gets rid of the eggs of various helminths, and can be suitable for eating.
Varieties of roundworms
Pinworms are small parasitic flatworms of a gray-white color that awaken enterobiasis.
Such parasites enter the human body in the following ways:
- alimentary (through the oral cavity);
- through unwashed/dirty hands.
Pinworm eggs can be found in unwashed fruits or vegetables, or in the coat of a sick animal. Children who scratch itchy areas of the skin and subsequently swallow eggs (for example, along with contaminated foods) are more likely to become infected with enterobiasis. It takes two weeks to develop pinworm larvae in the environment of the digestive tract, and after full development, a full-fledged worm lives in all parts of the large intestine.
Trichinella - these parasites have round bodies no more than 5 mm in length and excite trichinosis in the body. Larvae and eggs prefer to be in poorly fried meat (wild boar, pork, bear meat). In the human body, it takes up to 4 days for Trichinella to become an adult, 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. Moreover, the muscles of the respiratory and musculoskeletal systems are often affected.
Roundworms are representatives of large sizes, having a spindle shape with a red-yellow tint. Males of this species reach a size of 15-25 cm, and females - up to 40 cm. Their body is devoid of any devices for fixing in the intestine, they just independently move to the food mass through the intestines.
You can become infected with roundworms by swallowing mature eggs when eating unwashed vegetables or fruits, on which the smallest particles of soil remain. After the eggs enter the internal environment of the body, adult larvae hatch out of them, terrorizing the intestinal walls. Through the bloodstream, parasites can get to the heart muscle, and later to the lungs.
Only on this, the cycle of travel through the body does not end, because the larva moves through the respiratory tract into the mouth.
By re-swallowing the parasite, the body already creates a favorable environment for its development.
The route of a full-fledged worm will lie through the small intestine. Their life cycle is 12 months, and after that they die and are excreted in the feces.
Vlasoglavy - worms in humans, the symptoms and treatment of which is determined at any time after infection, preferring to live directly in the intestines. This worm eats the blood component or else feeds on the intestinal mucosa.
Females lay eggs directly on the walls of the affected organ, then they come out together with feces and develop in environmental conditions. An already mature larva, whose body is oblong, and does not exceed the limits of 5-15 mm. enters the human body alimentary.
These parasites have round bodies no more than 5 millimeters in length and excite trichinosis in the body. Larvae with eggs are found in poorly fried meat (wild boar, pork, bear meat).
In the human body, it takes a maximum of 4 days for Trichinella to become an adult, 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. Moreover, the muscles of the respiratory and musculoskeletal systems are often affected.
Necator/hookworm. The connection between these parasites is direct, in connection with the ailments caused and biological signs. They live in the duodenum, and due to their small size (10-15 mm) they move freely in its environment.
Larvae can enter the body only through the skin if a person has been in contact with contaminated soil. A further target of the worms are 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 disturbed. 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 in freshwater fish and crayfish, the larvae enter eggs and fish fillets.
The formation of an adult worm takes 25 days maximum, and then a person becomes ill with diphyllobothriasis (the digestive tract is disturbed, B-vitamin deficiency).
The liver fluke is a flatworm, reaching a size of 10-20 mm, and there is a second name for this parasite - cat fluke. In 50% of cases of infection, residents who have consumed infected fish (carp, crucian carp, bream, roach) suffer. Fish become infected with liver flukes through a consumed snail that has previously consumed helminth eggs with fresh water.
To clean the fish from the parasite, heat treatment is necessary, otherwise the larva will enter the internal environment of the body, damaging the gallbladder with the intestines. Signs of the acute phase of the 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 are sure to occur.
Pork / bovine tapeworm. The length of the body of the parasite is 5-6 meters, and its larvae hide in the meat of large animals (pork, cattle). The disease awakened by these helminths is called teniasis and teniarinhoz.
The larvae of both tapeworm species, 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 every day the worm develops. The total number of segments reaches 2000, the final of which freely "furrow" the large intestine.
Then the worms 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, a person acts as an intermediate host, because the final ones are wolves, cats, dogs. Animals can become infected through direct contact with contaminated objects or people. As soon as the eggs of the parasite enter the intestines, larvae with six hooks immediately develop, which are called oncospheres in medicine.
The favorite habitat of the worm is the lungs and liver, and the larva becomes an echinococcal cyst, increasing in size. All tissues close to it are subjected to rapid destruction.
Doctors often do not detect echinococcosis and confuse it with a malignant or benign formation. In addition to squeezing blood vessels and internal organs, echinococcus cyst ruptures are common.
If this happens, not only toxic shock immediately occurs 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 harm commensurate with cancer and cirrhosis of the liver. Oncospheres of the worm enter the intestines, then the embryos hatch from the eggs and begin to destroy the intestinal walls. After the walls are drilled, the parasite enters the bloodstream and spreads throughout the body.
Most often, as mentioned earlier, alveococci terrorize the liver, where the larva gradually grows up. In the process of development, the larvocyst is formed in the worms - an aggressive formation that is rapidly increasing in size (a multi-chamber vesicle, gradually growing). These vesicles make their way into the liver cells, on the same principle as cancerous metastases.
Nearby tissues feel a violation of blood flow, and later necrotic changes occur in them. Fibrous nodes with such multi-chamber blisters are formed on nearby structures, and they can stay in the human body for several years. That is why doctors, when detecting this parasite, resort to surgical intervention.
note
Modern science knows about 280 species of worms. It is these microorganisms that can parasitize and develop in a variety of tissues and organs of the human body.
Every 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, and most, to be more precise, 80% of them are children.
How can you get worms:
- The use of meat dishes with poor heat treatment or raw meat in general. So, beef is the habitat of the tapeworm, and pork carries the tapeworm of the pork.
- Consumption of infected fish in lightly 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 outdoors.
- The soil can also cause the appearance of worms. Because it can 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 outdoor recreation.
In addition, you can become infected through direct contact with a person who has helminthiasis. That is, infection occurs through dishes, linen or personal hygiene items.
If the case is completely neglected and the parasitic infection is in the acute phase of its development, then doctors prescribe detoxification and desensitizing therapy. And if the disease is very difficult, then glucocorticoids are prescribed.
Speaking for specific therapy, it takes into account the nature of the pathogen and involves special chemotherapeutic agents of an anthelmintic nature.
In addition, patients are advised to take various antihistamines. At the end of treatment, you will need to take a course of probiotics. All this is necessary in order 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 a minimum fat content.
At the time of therapy, it is very important to adhere to impeccable personal hygiene, otherwise there is a risk of re-infection.
In addition, all family members, as well as other persons who were in constant and close contact with the patient, should undergo anthelmintic treatment.
Signs of worms in humans: symptoms in children and adults
Signs of worms in humans, the symptoms of which may be the same, can be observed in a sharp form, both in adults and in children:
- Unreasonable increase in appetite and profuse salivation, and at the same time weight is lost rapidly.
- Another variant of the development of symptoms may also occur - the appetite disappears, after eating the person feels sick.
- Perhaps the appearance of headaches and dizziness.
- Loose stools or constipation may also indicate the presence of worms.
- Pain in the abdomen.
- Sudden onset of an allergy of 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 infected with worms, a large amount of toxic substances that appear due to the vital activity of helminths are released into the human blood. This circumstance can greatly affect the health of the child. First of all, the nervous system suffers. Therefore, if a child shows sudden aggression, irritability, insomnia and other signs of nervous disorders, the child should be checked for the presence of helminths.
Even if there are no pronounced signs, and there are no functional disorders, worms can be present in the human body and it is necessary to take regular tests to identify them.
Quite often it happens that after preventive vaccinations, a child develops an allergic reaction due to the presence in the body of toxic substances secreted by helminths.
In fact, determining whether there are worms or not based on superficial signs alone is a rather difficult task. After all, the symptoms shown may be a sign of another disease. This task is especially difficult for pregnant women. Since all of the above signs of worms in humans, the symptoms of which were described above, in pregnant women appear due to the process itself.
For this reason, signs of helminthic infection in pregnant women can be distinguished by such symptoms: itching at the anus and burning in the vaginal area, which increase at night, weight loss, fatigue, fever.
To diagnose helminth infection, a number of measures are carried out, including the following procedures:
- Collecting an anamnesis to identify possible sources of infection.
- The study of samples of feces and blood, rectal and perianal mucus, muscle tissue, sputum and bile in the laboratory. When carrying out these activities, signs of the presence of helminths in the body (eggs or the worms themselves, as well as their parts) can be detected. It is also worth noting that an increased number of eosinophils can serve as a sign of the presence of worms in the body.
- Serological studies (ELISA, RSK, etc. ) make it possible to detect the presence of parasites in the stage of larvae or helminths living in muscle tissues.
- To determine the presence of parasites affecting the liver, ultrasound, CT, and endoscopy are prescribed.
Worms in the human liver: symptoms by type of worm
Worms in the human liver, the symptoms of which largely depend on the type of helminths, can also migrate to other organs.
The appearance of primary signs of infection with worms does not appear immediately. In many ways, the time of appearance of distinctive features depends on the species composition of the parasites. So the presence of ascaris in almost two to three days is manifested by a deterioration in the general condition of a person.
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 such parasites (for example, filariasis) in which the incubation period exceeds a six-month mark.
The problem of determining the presence of helminths in the human body is that in the case of primary infection with a small number of worms or a single individual, there are practically no visual signs. Symptoms begin to appear only after intensive reproduction of helminths or when they reach large sizes (wide tapeworm, roundworm).
It is most reliably possible to determine infection with pinworms. In their presence, a characteristic itching appears in the anus, which intensifies at night. Basically, itching occurs within a couple of days, then subsides for about two weeks and resumes again.
When infected with such helminths as trichuriasis, ankylostomidosis, schistosomiasis, diphyllobothriasis, beriberi and anemia develop.
The appearance of symptoms of infection with roundworms largely depends on the period of development of the parasites. So if they are in the initial stage of development, the larvae move through the blood to almost all internal organs and the following symptoms of the disease appear: subfebrile temperature, weakness, cough with purulent sputum, volatile infiltrates are visible on x-rays of the lungs, which subsequently disappear.
With severe infection, bronchitis and pneumonia can develop. With the further development of parasites, there is a violation of the functions of the gastrointestinal tract.
Trichinosis - mainly manifests its presence with pain in muscle tissues, fever and swelling.
Such worms in the human liver, the symptoms of which are manifested by an 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 sick person feels severe headaches and fatigue, a generally calm person becomes irritable and impatient, and unreasonable attacks of aggression may appear.