Worms in humans, whose symptoms and treatment will be prescribed by a doctor, cause two types of worms in the human body - round (nematodes) and flatworms (between and tapeworms). Each of the parasites causes significant damage to the body, especially if the appropriate treatment is not provided in time.
Be sure to wash your hands when you get home, and wash vegetables or fruits under a stream of hot or warm water, because parasite eggs can be found on them. Products such as fish meat or cattle must necessarily be subjected to heat treatment. Under the effect of high temperature, the meat releases eggs of various helminths and can be suitable for eating.
Varieties of roundworms
Pinworms are small parasitic flatworms of gray-white color that cause enterobium.
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 hair of a sick animal. Children who scratch itchy skin and then swallow eggs (for example, along with contaminated food) are more likely to become infected with enterobiasis. It takes two weeks for pinworm larvae to develop in the digestive tract, and after full development, the full-fledged worm lives in all parts of the colon.
Trichinella - these parasites have round bodies no more than 5 mm long and cause trichinosis in the body. Larvae and eggs prefer to be in lightly 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, spindle-shaped with a reddish-yellow hue. Males of this species reach a size of 15-25 cm, and females - up to 40 cm. Their body is deprived of any adaptations for fixation in the intestines, they only move independently to the nutrient mass through the intestines.
Roundworms can be infected by swallowing mature eggs when you eat unwashed vegetables or fruits, which leave even the smallest particles of earth. Once the eggs enter the internal environment of the body, adult larvae hatch from them, terrorizing the intestinal walls. The parasites can reach the heart muscle through the bloodstream, and later the lungs.
Only on that, the cycle of travel through the body does not end, because the larva moves through the respiratory tract into the mouth.
By swallowing the parasite again, the body already creates a favorable environment for its development.
The path of a full-fledged worm will pass through the small intestine. Their life cycle is 12 months, after which they die and are excreted in the feces.
Vlasoglavy - worms in humans, whose symptoms and treatment are determined at any time after infection, preferring to live directly in the intestines. This worm eats a blood component or feeds on the intestinal mucosa.
Females lay eggs directly on the walls of the affected organ, then come out together with the feces and develop in the environment. Already mature larva, whose body is oblong and does not exceed the limit of 5-15 mm. enters the human body through food.
These parasites have round bodies no more than 5 millimeters long and cause trichinosis in the body. Larvae with eggs are found in lightly 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.
Necatar / hookworm. The connection between these parasites is direct, in connection with the resulting diseases 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 the person has been in contact with contaminated soil. Further targets of worms are the lungs and 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 disorders occur. Adults consume blood in the range of 0, 1-0, 35 ml per day.
Varieties of flatworms
Wide strip. The body length of the parasite, which is 10-20 meters, deserves one attention.
The parasite comes from freshwater fish and crabs, larvae enter eggs and fish fillets.
The formation of an adult worm lasts for a maximum of 25 days, and then the person becomes ill with diphilobotriosis (disturbed digestive tract, lack of vitamin B).
Liver fluke is a flatworm, it reaches a size of 10-20 mm, and there is another name for this parasite - cat fluke. In 50% of cases, residents who consumed infected fish (carp, crucian carp, bream, roach) suffer. Fish are infected with liver flukes through a consumed snail that has previously consumed helminth eggs with fresh water.
To clean the fish from parasites, 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, which turns into vomiting, pain in the upper abdomen, allergic reactions, muscle cramps. The parasite creates irreversible changes in the body, and even after its expulsion from the patient's body, all types of inflammation and disorders will certainly occur.
Pork / beef tapeworm. The body length of the parasite is 5-6 meters, and its larvae hide in the meat of large animals (pork, cattle). The disease caused by these helminths is called teniaza and teniarinhoz.
The larvae of both species of tapeworm, the Finns, are whitish vesicles attached to the walls of the small intestine. It takes the parasite 3 months to reach and form an adult, and the worm develops every day. The total number of segments reaches 2000, of which the final free "furrow" the colon.
The worms then 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 quantities, and the patient does not gain weight visually.
Echinococcus. In this case, the person acts as an intermediate host, because the final wolves, cats, dogs. Animals can be infected by direct contact with contaminated objects or people. As soon as the eggs of the parasite enter the intestines, larvae with six hooks, which in medicine are called oncospheres, immediately develop.
The favorite habitat of the worm is the lungs and liver, and the larva becomes an echinococcal cyst that increases in size. All nearby tissues are subject to rapid destruction.
Doctors often do not detect echinococcosis and confuse it with malignant or benign formation. In addition to squeezing blood vessels and internal organs, echinococcal cyst ruptures are common.
If this happens, not only does a toxic shock immediately occur in the body, but a ruptured cyst causes several new ones to form.
The last type of parasite are alveococci, called echinococci in the medical literature. It is this worm that awakens a terrible disease that causes proportional cancer and cirrhosis of the liver. Worm oncospheres enter the intestines, then the embryos hatch from the egg and begin to destroy the intestinal walls. Once 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. In the process of development, a larvocyst is formed in the worms - an aggressive formation that rapidly increases in size (multi-chamber vesicle, which gradually grows). These vesicles enter 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. On nearby structures, fibrous nodules form with such multi-chambered bubbles, which can remain in the human body for several years. Therefore, when doctors detect this parasite, they resort to surgery.
Note
Modern science knows about 280 species of worms. It is these microorganisms that can parasitize and develop in various tissues and organs of the human body.
Every year, these worms in humans, whose symptoms and treatment are determined by a doctor, affect the organs and tissues of about 15 million people, and most, more precisely, 80% are children.
How can you get earthworms:
- Use of meat dishes with poor heat treatment or raw meat in general. So, beef is the habitat of tapeworm, and pork carries pig tapeworm.
- Consumption of infected fish in slightly 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 you are outdoors.
- Soil can also cause worms. Because it may 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, the infection occurs through dishes, bedding or personal hygiene items.
If the case is completely neglected, and the parasitic infection is in the acute phase of development, then doctors prescribe detoxification and desensitization therapy. And if the disease is very severe, then glucocorticoids are prescribed.
Speaking of specific therapy, it takes into account the nature of the pathogen and includes special chemotherapeutic agents of anthelmintic nature.
In addition, patients are advised to take various antihistamines. At the end of the treatment, you will need to take a course of probiotics. All this is necessary to restore the intestinal microflora. In the process of treatment, the patient must adhere to a special diet, which consists of easily digestible foods with minimal fat content.
During 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 have been in constant and close contact with the patient, should undergo anthelmintic treatment.
Signs of earthworms in humans: symptoms in children and adults
Signs of worms in humans, whose symptoms may be the same, can be seen in acute form, both in adults and children:
- Unreasonable increase in appetite and abundant salivation, and at the same time lose weight quickly.
- Another variant of the development of symptoms may occur - the appetite disappears, after eating the person feels nauseous.
- Headache and dizziness may occur.
- Rare stools or constipation may also indicate the presence of worms.
- Abdominal pain.
- Sudden onset of allergy incomprehensible symptoms.
- Weakening of hair and nails (their fragility increases due to lack of iron and vitamin B12).
- Various inflammations in the nasopharynx and genital area occur due to the weakening of the immune system.
If the body is severely infected with worms, a large amount of toxic substances that occur due to the vital activity of helminths are released into human blood. This circumstance can significantly affect the child's health. First of all, the nervous system suffers. Therefore, if the 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 regularly perform tests for their identification.
It often happens that after preventive vaccinations, the child develops an allergic reaction due to the presence in the body of toxic substances secreted by helminths.
In fact, determining whether or not there are worms based on surface signs is a difficult task. After all, the symptoms shown may be a sign of another disease. This task is especially difficult for pregnant women. Since all the above signs of worms are in people whose symptoms are described above, they occur in pregnant women due to the process itself.
For this reason, the signs of helminth infection in pregnant women can be distinguished by such symptoms: itching in the anus and tingling in the vaginal area, which intensifies at night, weight loss, fatigue, fever.
A number of measures are taken to diagnose helminth infection, including the following procedures:
- Collection of anamnesis to identify possible sources of infection.
- Study of feces and blood samples, rectal and perianal mucus, muscle tissue, sputum and bile in the laboratory. When performing these activities, signs of the presence of helminths in the body (eggs or 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 phase of larvae or helminths that live in muscle tissue.
- Ultrasound, CT and endoscopy are prescribed to determine the presence of parasites that affect the liver.
Worms in the human liver: symptoms according to the type of worm
Worms in the human liver, whose symptoms largely depend on the type of helminth, can also migrate to other organs.
The appearance of primary signs of worm infection does not appear immediately. The time of onset of characteristic traits depends in many ways on the composition of the parasite species. Thus, the presence of ascaris in almost two to three days is manifested by a worsening of the general condition of the 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 incubation. There are such parasites (for example, filariasis) in which the incubation period exceeds the six-month limit.
The problem with determining the presence of helminths in the human body is that in the case of a primary infection with a small number of worms or one person, there are virtually no visual signs. Symptoms begin to appear only after intensive reproduction of helminths or when they reach large sizes (broad tapeworm, roundworm).
Pinworms infection can be determined most reliably. In their presence, there is a characteristic itching in the anus, which intensifies at night. Basically, the itching occurs within a few days, then subsides for about two weeks and continues again.
When infected with helminths such as trichuria, hookworm, schistosomiasis, diphyllobothriasis, beriberi and anemia.
The onset of symptoms of roundworm infection depends largely on the period of parasite development. So, if they are in the initial stage of development, the larvae move with blood to almost all internal organs and the following symptoms of the disease appear: low-grade fever, weakness, cough with purulent sputum, volatile infiltrates are visible on X-rays of the lungs, which later disappear.
Severe infections can lead to bronchitis and pneumonia. Further development of the parasite violates the functions of the gastrointestinal tract.
Trichinosis - mainly manifested by muscle pain, fever and swelling.
Such worms in the human liver, whose symptoms are manifested by icteric complexion, such as fascioliasis, opisthorchiasis, clonorchiasis, reveal their presence by enlargement of the spleen and liver and other serious disorders of the body.
Almost all types of worms cause disorders of the central nervous system, while a sick person feels severe headaches and fatigue, a generally calm person becomes irritable and impatient, and unreasonable attacks of aggression can occur.