Numerous studies in modern medicine prove that helminths in humans are the cause of many diseases. The penetration of parasites into the body is not immediately felt, and the symptoms are often disguised as other diseases. Many people have been treated for years for diseases of the liver, kidneys, gallbladder, looking for the causes of the development of allergic diseases. But they don't even think about checking the body for the presence of a helminthic invasion.
Methods of infection
There are around 250 types of helminths found in nature. In addition, each parasite causes a certain disease with characteristic symptoms. The problem is widespread among children and adults.
There are several reasons for the defeat:
- Contact method - some types of parasites, including pinworms, are spread from person to person by shaking hands.
- Nutrition - eating raw or semi-raw meat, low-quality fish infected with helminths makes them enter the body.
- Through soil and water - if land and water are infected with helminths, which are excreted in the feces of people or animals with helminthiasis.
- Contact with animals infected with helminthic infestation.
- Transfer of worm eggs by insects to food.
- Insect bites can carry certain types of parasites in the body.
Doctors note that the main mechanism of spread is believed to be fecal-oral. In other words, human helminths are affected by the consumption of contaminated food and water.
Also often the cause of the spread is the lack of basic hygiene. After being outdoors, and especially after working with soil, you should wash your hands thoroughly.
Children are particularly susceptible to helminthic invasion. Walking on the street, contact with pets leads to the rapid spread of the problem. Pinworm infection is very simple. Since female pinworm is able to exit the intestines at night to lay eggs near the anus, which is very itchy in the child. Children involuntarily scratch this area, resulting in contamination of hands and feet, clothes and the bed. Contact with children's belongings, furniture the baby might handle with unwashed hands, doorknobs and plumbing fixtures, is the cause of infection for everyone who lives in the apartment.
How to identify the problem?
Helminths in humans can cause different symptoms, therefore, different treatment is prescribed.
But there are also typical signs that are most often found in people infected with parasites:
- noticeable weight loss;
- anemia;
- severe itching in the anus;
- lack of appetite;
- constant fatigue.
For these symptoms, most people immediately begin to suspect a worm infection.
But often helminths in humans cause other symptoms, which are more reminiscent of signs of other diseases.
- Problems with the gastrointestinal tract - recurring nausea, diarrhea or vomiting, gas and abdominal pain can speak not of stomach problems, but of infection with worms. This is often the case if the parasites are localized in the intestines. Symptoms can be severe or mild. But in any case, they bring great discomfort to a person.
- General discomfort and negative effects on the nervous system. This condition is caused by toxins capable of releasing 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 the worms in the human body, the amount of vitamins and nutrients is greatly 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 inattentive.
- Allergic reactions on the skin - wastes from parasites desensitize the body, and therefore proteins that are similar to them when ingested are perceived as allergens. Therefore, various options for allergies - rashes, hives, constant itching. Among the symptoms of helminths, even allergic rhinitis and cough are noted.
- Poor immunity, which leads to the frequent manifestation of infectious diseases. The problem arises against the background of a decrease in 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 teeth grinding during sleep. Such methods of determination still exist, but medicine claims that they are only hypotheses. Snoring and teeth grinding can be caused by many other reasons.
Where do the parasites live?
Human helminths can inhabit the body in different places.
Depending on this, there are:
- Caviary - colonizes the small and large intestines. There are about a hundred species of these worms.
- Tissue - occupies tissues and organs. They can be found in the liver, muscles, lungs, brain, lymphatic vessels.
Some types of worms, like roundworms, are both cavities and tissue. As larvae, they can infect organs and the worms infect the intestines.
Diagnosis of helminths
To determine helminthiasis, modern medicine uses several methods:
- examine a person's stool for an ovarian leaf;
- do a scratching in the anus;
- scratching the vagina in girls;
- immunoassays for antibodies.
In addition, the doctor may order urine and blood tests, bile and sputum tests. With severe infection, ultrasound, biopsy, computed tomography is 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 solve the problem of damage to the human body by parasites. But it's important to make the correct diagnosis in order to find the optimal drug. Only then will the treatment be successful.
Depending on the type of parasites, they are prescribed:
- Mebendazole drugs are the best option for enterobiasis infection, trichocephalosis.
- Medicines containing diethylcarbamazine are recommended for the treatment of filariasis.
- Levamisole tablets are often prescribed by doctors to patients when the body is infected with trichocephalosis, ascariasis, toxoplasmosis.
- Albendazole preparations - have been shown to be effective against cysticercosis and echinococcosis.
- Pills with Praziquantel - will help to cope with cestodosis, schistosomiasis, trimodosis.
Most often it is possible to cope with helminthiasis by prescribing pills. But in case of re-infection or exacerbations, doctors recommend more serious treatment, which includes injections of ascorbic acid, vitamin B6, or calcium gluconate, as well as blood pressure medication and ways to relieve the blood pressure. fever.
Preventative measures
It is so easy to get infected with worms. And it takes a long time to get rid of the parasites. In order not to undergo numerous studies and not to poison the body with portions of drugs to eliminate helminths, it is better to prevent the appearance of a problem.
In addition, prevention is not difficult:
- Observe the basic rules of personal hygiene - wash your hands after a walk, use personal hygiene items.
- Handle meat and fish properly.
- Wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly before eating.
- Pet owners should treat their pets for worms several times a year. Animals should also be vaccinated in a timely manner.
- With frequent trips to nature, contact with the ground does not hurt once a year to carry out drug prophylaxis from parasites.
- Children are recommended to carry out prophylaxis with drugs twice a year.
Literally, each of us carried worms at least once in our life. Indeed, not a single person is insured against infection, whatever their status and position. This problem does not lead to death, but it does create great discomfort. Therefore, the sooner the parasites are detected, the sooner the patient will undergo competent treatment and forget about the unpleasant problem.