Worms in children: symptoms, treatment, prevention

Infection with helminthic invasions is a fairly common problem in all countries of the world. Almost one in three people on the planet are carriers of worms, and worms in children are even more common. If we take into account the statistics of a single country, more than two million cases of worms have been recorded. But in fact, these numbers are much higher, because people often do not seek help from doctors, but try to get rid of worms on their own.

And some patients simply do not know their condition, because the disease is almost asymptomatic. If we draw a parallel between the annual sale of anthelmintic drugs and the population of the country, then there are approximately 22 million patients, and of whom nearly 80% are young children.

To date, medicine is known for more than three hundred varieties of worms. Affecting the body, worms, the symptoms of which depend on the type of parasite and the number of larvae penetrated, do not always give a vivid picture indicating the nature of the disease. To suspect helminth infection, you need to know the signs of worms and their manifestations, which may indicate the introduction of parasites into the child's body.

Types of worms

All known worms are generally classified into three main groups, namely:

• Nematodes (roundworms). . . The class of parasites most commonly diagnosed in children. The group is represented by types such as:
  • roundworms,
  • pinworms,
  • trichinella,
  • whipworms.
• Cestodes (flat ribbon pests), are represented by types such as:
  • broadband
  • echinococcus (pork tapeworm),
  • dwarf tapeworm (rat),
  • bovine tapeworm (tapeworm).
• Trematodes (sucking parasites), the main representatives of this class:
  • liver fluke,
  • Siberian fluke (cat).

According to another classification, worms are divided into intestinal and extra-intestinal parasites. The first group parasitizes only in the intestinal cavity, the second prefers other organs of the human body, for example, the liver, heart, lungs, muscles, brain. Extra-intestinal worms have the ability to enter the bloodstream, eat away at the walls of the intestines and blood vessels, and with the blood flow to reach their preferred habitat.

Factors contributing to infection of children with nematodes

• Absence of the habit of constantly washing hands after going to the toilet, after walking, before eating. Even cookies and candies should not be given to a child without asking him to wash his hands first.
• Rare change of underwear. Especially in the summer it is necessary to ensure that the child has a change of clean linen at least twice a day. It is important to teach him to wash in the morning after sleeping and in the evening before going to bed.
• The habit of taking everything in his mouth, sucking fingers, licking toys, pencils and markers.
• The presence of domestic animals in the house that roam the street. Even if the dog is kept on a leash, and strictly supervised so that it does not take anything in its mouth, the eggs of the worms can cling to its coat.
• Badly washed vegetables and fruits before serving.
• Low standard of living, lack of cleanliness in the house, presence of flies, bedbugs and cockroaches.

Causes and mechanism of infection of children with worms

Of all the types of worms that can inhabit the human body, nematodes are predominant. Basically, worms in children, the symptoms of which are quite distinct, are pinworms and roundworms, whipworm is diagnosed much less often. Cases of infection with other species do not represent more than 3%. This is because moats and tapeworms are more common in tropical climates and the infestation mainly occurs when visiting countries located in the tropics or subtropics.

In addition, since duct tape parasites are able to withstand quite high temperatures, they are mainly infected by lovers of raw or uncooked meat and fish dishes. And, of course, it is easy to catch worms if sanitary standards and personal hygiene rules are not followed.

The mechanism of infection with roundworms and pinworms is much simpler, but also more common. Non-observance of regular hand washing, careless handling of raw vegetables, herbs and berries. As well as direct contact with stray animals or worm carriers.

The pinworm species also increased reinvasion. This means that reinfection often occurs, which takes place in the following manner:

• pinworms cause severe itching of the anus,
• child, painting the itchy skin,
• as the pinworm eggs fall on the patient's fingers and underwear,
• in addition, by touching door handles, faucets and other surfaces, the patient leaves pinworm eggs on them,
• the eggs freely enter the body of people living with the carrier and again into the patient himself.

The most dangerous places for roundworm and pinworm infection are:

• kindergartens,
• playgrounds,
• children's entertainment centers.

There is no escaping the fact that every child in the first years of life tries to taste almost everything. It is a natural process of cognition of the surrounding world. And by touching surfaces in crowded places, the baby will definitely pull his hands into his mouth, which will cause the worms to enter the body.

In addition, the incompletely formed immune system of children and the weak protective barriers of an immature digestive tract contribute to infection. The only way to reduce the risk of infection is to constantly force your baby to wash their hands, as this may only become a habit for a child around the age of four, and even then not for everyone.

To a large extent, the increased morbidity in children is facilitated by fuzzy manifestation of symptoms and complex diagnostic methods. The clinical picture of the disease may be uncertain, short-term, or absent altogether. Noticing slight discomfort in a child, few parents will suspect worms and immediately seek medical attention. Most will decide that they know enough to independently diagnose and prescribe treatment, which ultimately leads to the widespread spread of parasites and the infection of others.

Even analyzing the feces for worm eggs and scratching for enterobiasis does not always give a true picture of the disease. In the stool, helminth eggs can be located unevenly, and in order to capture them it is necessary to follow the rules for collecting the material for analysis, which not everyone is familiar with. Scratching can also have a negative result, since females do not lay eggs every day, and to get a reliable picture, scratching should be done at least three times at regular intervals.

Common symptoms and signs of all helminths

The penetration of helminthic invasions into the body is not always accompanied by external symptoms. And in most cases, up to a point, a person does not notice the presence of parasites in the body at all. Some types of worms can live inside a person for years without having a negative effect on his well-being and activating their vital activity only under favorable conditions. It could be :

• weakening of the body by other diseases,
• a decrease in the activity of the immune system due to the negative effects of the environment,
• bad nutrition.

Not so long ago there was a scientific theory about the effect of worms on the occurrence of many internal diseases. However, this has not found the adequate support, but has not been denied either.

But today it has been reliably established that each person carries a certain amount of bacteria, viruses, fungi, including helminths. And pests don't always behave like a good neighbor to the owner. The constant release of their waste, toxic to humans, gradually leads to a deterioration of the condition and the development of various diseases.

Indicators of suspected active activity of worms are symptoms such as:

• Increased appetite with significant weight loss or loss of appetite and persistent episodes of nausea.
• Recurrent abdominal pain, violation of stool formation, expressed in constipation or diarrhea, bouts of nausea, ending in vomiting, headache and dizziness, which are constant or intermittent.
• Hypersensitivity of the body to various substances and products.
• Deterioration of the condition of teeth and nails, increased hair loss due to iron deficiency anemia and chronic vitamin B deficiency₁₂. . .
• Low resistance to respiratory diseases (adenoids in children) and inflammatory processes of the genitourinary system.
• Irritability and increased tears, insomnia and restless interrupted sleep, nightmares and unfounded outbursts of anger, distracted attention and constant anxiety - all these indicate the entry into the blood of a large amount of toxic substances produced by worms.
• Persistent anemia (low hemoglobin) and high eosinophils in a clinical blood test should alert parents and force them to check the child for worms. One of the most dangerous negative manifestations of the disease is developmental delay.
• Increased allergic reaction to prophylactic vaccinations.

Specific symptoms of pinworms

Small but stubborn and very rapidly multiplying worms - pinworms, cause the development of enterobiasis in children. It is an unpleasant disease, the main symptom of which is a severe and unbearable itchy anus, which intensifies at night.

When a child becomes ill, pinworm eggs quickly spread to surrounding objects, settling on toys, clothes, dishes, and anything the baby touches. Pinworms feel great outside the human body and are able to resist the effects of many disinfectants. It is guaranteed to destroy pinworm eggs only by boiling and irradiation with ultraviolet rays.

Enterobiasis infection only occurs through the mouth, when a child puts their dirty hands in their mouth or licks infected surfaces. Through the esophagus, pinworms quickly enter the intestines and settle there, becoming sexually mature adult individuals within two weeks.

Severe itching, characteristic of enterobiasis, is caused by irritation from pinworm eggs. Its strengthening at night is explained by the fact that in a dream the anal sphincters relax a little and do not represent an insurmountable obstacle for an adult female, who lays eggs, crawling exclusively on the surface. In a single trip, pinworm can leave up to 5, 000 eggs on the skin of the anus.

Irritating to the skin, pinworms force the skin to comb, penetrating under the fingernails, on the skin of the hands, on clothing and bedding. In addition to severe itching, in case of infection with pinworms, symptoms in children are as follows:

• Sleep disturbed, restless, often insomnia, nightmares.
• Stopping growth and weight gain, even weight loss.
• Increased fatigue, nervousness, overexcitement.
• Decreased attention and poor assimilation of new things, resulting in a delay in learning.
• Girls can develop bedwetting with irritation of the urethra. This results in involuntary urination at night.
• In addition, pinworms are able to enter the internal genitals, colonize the vaginal cavity (vulvovaginitis), even reach the uterus and fallopian tubes, leading with them to infection and causing inflammation.
• The accumulation of a large colony of pinworms in the cavity of the cecum can cause appendicitis.
• An unconfirmed symptom is teeth grinding at night.
• The reproduction of pinworms contributes to the development of diseases such as:
  • intestinal dysbiosis,
  • enterocolitis,
  • pains of unclear etiology in the abdomen,
  • diarrhea,
  • constipation.
• Due to constant intoxication, the intestinal walls stop normally absorbing nutrients, vitamins and other substances, which ultimately affects the decrease in the functioning of the immune system. Because of this, children with pinworms get sick not only often, but also seriously.

Specific symptoms of roundworms (ascariasis)

According to recent survey statistics, the picture of worm infection is quite alarming. The results show that over 80% of preschoolers have been infected at least once with various types of worms.

Unfortunately, many parents do not perceive worms as a serious illness and are extremely frivolous about it. But the installed parasites not only deprive the body of essential nutrients, but are also able to infect many internal organs.

Representatives of these parasites are roundworms, which provoke ascariasis, the symptoms of which are much more severe than those of pinworms. Despite the fact that roundworms and pinworms belong to the same class of worms, roundworms can penetrate and cause serious damage not only in the intestines, but also in other organs, for example:

• on the liver,
• in the pancreas,
• on the heart,
• in brain tissue,
• in the gallbladder,
• in the lungs.

Roundworms enter the body only through the ground, but the provoking factors remain the same as in pinworms, these are:

• non-compliance with hygiene rules,
• careless processing of vegetables, berries and herbs,
• non-compliance with safety rules when working on a personal plot,
• unsanitary living conditions.

After entering the body, roundworms adapt for a long time (3 months), become mobile larvae, eat away the walls of the small intestine and blood vessels, and only then begin their migration to the preferred organs of thehuman body.

This period is marked by events such as:

• an increase in body temperature in the evening to 37, 5 ° С;
• frequent weakness and malaise;
• dry cough, sometimes with poorly separated sputum streaked with scarlet blood;
• the development of obstructive bronchitis, bronchial asthma, pneumonia or pleurisy is possible;
• swelling of the lymph nodes;
• enlarged pancreas and liver.

And the main symptom of primary ascariasis is a rash like hives, localized on the hands and feet.

The further development of the disease, in which the roundworms return to the intestines, is characterized by such disorders as:

• diarrhea or constipation
• abdominal pain cramps,
• frequent bouts of nausea, sometimes leading to vomiting,
• flatulence,
• irritation of the anus,
• significant weight loss.

At this stage, against the background of general intoxication, stomatitis and purulent lesions of the skin and mucous membranes often occur. Long-term poisoning by the transformation products of roundworms leads, therefore, to disorders of the nervous system and mental disorders, namely:

• insomnia,
• nightmares,
• epileptic seizures,
• hypotension.

As a complication of ascariasis, serious and dangerous pathologies develop such as:

• intestinal obstruction,
• acute appendicitis,
• obstructive jaundice
• peritonitis.

Specific signs of damage from other types of worms

1. Vlasoglav (trichocephalosis)- characterized by mild symptoms. Indicators of infection are diarrhea mixed with streaks of blood, prolonged constipation, frequent vomiting, often leading to dehydration and anemia. Children with such lesions are usually significantly retarded in terms of growth and mental development.

2. Toxocariasis- in most cases, babies up to 4 years old are picked up during frequent contact with infected dogs or cats. Allergic reactions are manifested by itchy formations on the skin, fever and chills, an allergic cough (which can reach suffocation), a swollen face, lung masses, swollen lymph nodes, and eye disease.

3. Dwarf tapeworm (rat)- causes hymenolepiasis, which is characterized by a latent course without any symptoms. With the development of helminthic colonies, the child develops dyspeptic disorders, pain syndrome, increased salivation and frequent headaches. And little by little all this results in diseases such as:

   • urticaria,
   • vasomotor or allergic rhinitis,
   • bronchospasm.

4. Siberian Fluke (cat)- opisthorchiasis, characteristic symptoms: fever, swelling of the lymph nodes, skin rashes, pain in the right hypochondrium and joints. Complications: dystrophic myocarditis, hepatitis, pneumonia, pancreatitis, severe gastritis.

5. Wide ribbon- diphyllobothriasis, a disease caused by infection with tapeworms, the eggs or larvae of which may remain alive in raw or undercooked meat. It is characterized by intestinal disturbances, pain syndrome and B₁₂- deficiency anemia.

Methods of removing worms in children

The pharmaceutical industry today supplies pharmacies with a variety of anthelmintic agents of various types. These can be targeted or broad spectrum drugs. Unfortunately, most of them have a long list of negative side effects on the body. Therefore, if worms are found in a child, only a parasitologist should prescribe treatment, after a thorough examination and all necessary tests.

In addition, the treatment of most diseases caused by worms requires not only the treatment of worms in children with anthelmintic drugs, but also the appointment of a course of antihistamines, vitamins and probiotics.

Antihistamines are needed to normalize the immune response. Vitamins and probiotics restore the loss of essential acids and normalize the intestinal microflora.

Among the drugs with the least toxic effect, a drug containing hexahydropyrazine is isolated. Therefore, it is more often recommended when the question is how to get rid of worms in young children. The drug is specially produced not in the form of tablets, but in the form of a suspension or syrup.

Many parents prefer traditional medicines. This is because pumpkin seeds and garlic enemas have an anthelmintic effect and are often used, for example, to treat ascariasis. But their use does not guarantee a complete cure. Therefore, to exclude a relapse, it is better to take a drug prescribed by a doctor and correct the result with any popular anthelmintic drug, otherwise the question of how to get rid of worms will be constantly repeated.

Preventive measures against infection with worms

The inevitability of the penetration of worms into the child's body cannot be considered an axiom. There are a number of rules for the prevention of worms, following which you can easily protect your baby from this infection:

• Rinse the vegetables, berries, herbs and fruits thoroughly under running water, then pour boiling water over them.
• Subjecting fish and meat dishes to prolonged heat treatment.
• Do not let flies, cockroaches, bedbugs and mosquitoes appear in the apartment or house.
• All pets should receive regular prophylactic anthelmintic drugs.
• Ask the child to wash his hands after each contact with the animals.
• Let the child play and only use toys and treated objects.
• From the first steps, teach the child to wash his hands with soap and water after using the toilet, after returning from a walk, after outdoor games and before each meal.
• Never pull toys or other objects into your mouth, and never lick your fingers.
• Monitor the condition of the child's nails.
• At night, put your baby on tight sleepwear to prevent the spread of pinworms.
• It is advisable not only to boil children's underwear, but also to iron it on both sides.
• Teach your baby to change his underwear morning and night. It is recommended that the child has a separate shelf in the closet where only his things will be stored.