Numerous studies of modern medicine prove that helminths in humans are the cause of many diseases. The penetration of parasites into the body is not felt immediately and often the symptoms are 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 do not even think to check the body for the presence of helminthic invasion.
Methods of infection
There are about 250 species of helminths in the wild. Moreover, each parasite causes a certain disease with characteristic symptoms. The problem is widespread in both children and adults.
There are several reasons for the loss:
- Method of contact - some types of parasites, including breast worms, are transmitted from person to person by shaking hands.
- Nutrition - eating raw or semi-raw meat, poor quality fish infected with helminths causes them to enter the body.
- Through soil and water - if soil and water are infected with helminths, which are excreted in the feces of humans or animals with helminthiasis.
- Contact with animals infected with helminth infection.
- Transfer of worm eggs from insects to food.
- Insect bites can carry several types of parasites into the body.
Doctors note that the main mechanism of spread is considered to be oral-fecal. In other words, human helminths are affected by eating contaminated food and water.
Also often the reason for the spread is the lack of basic hygiene. Once you are outside, and especially after working with soil, you should wash your hands thoroughly.
Children are particularly susceptible to helminthic infestation. Walking on the street, contact with pets leads to the rapid spread of the problem. Infection with breast worms is very simple. Since the female worm is able to come out of the intestines at night to lay eggs near the anus, which causes severe itching in the baby. Children involuntarily scratch this place and this leads to contamination of hands and feet, clothes and bedding. Contact with children's belongings, furniture, which the child could handle with unwashed hands, door handles and plumbing fixtures, is the cause of infection for all those who live 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 more common in people infected with parasites:
- apparent 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, more reminiscent of the signs of other diseases.
- Gastrointestinal tract problems - recurrent nausea, diarrhea or vomiting, bloating and abdominal pain may indicate not stomach problems but worm infection. This often happens if the parasites are located in the intestines. Symptoms can be severe or mild. But in any case, they bring great concern to a person.
- General disease and adverse effects on the nervous system. This condition is provoked by toxins that are capable of releasing parasites into the human body. Gradual intoxication leads to frequent headaches, dizziness, mild nausea. With a strong infection, there is the possibility of fever and joint pain. Due to worms in the human body, the amount of vitamins and nutrients is significantly reduced. As a result, it leads to drowsiness, constant fatigue and irritability. Children are especially sensitive - they become capricious and irritable, sleep restlessly at night, become inattentive.
- Allergic skin reactions - parasitic waste products desensitize the body, and therefore proteins that are similar to them when swallowed are perceived as allergens. Therefore, different options for allergies - skin rash, urticaria, persistent itching. Among the symptoms of helminths, allergic rhinitis and cough are also observed.
- Weak immunity, which leads to the frequent occurrence 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 also be determined by snoring or gnashing of 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 reside in the body in different places.
Depending on this, there are:
- Caviar - colonizes the small and large intestines. There are about a hundred species of such worms.
- Tissues - occupy tissues and organs. They can be found in the liver, muscles, lungs, brain, lymphatic vessels.
Some types of worms, such as roundworms, are also cavity and tissue. They in the form of larvae can infect organs, and worms infect the intestines.
Diagnosis of helminths
To determine helminthiasis, modern medicine uses several methods:
- examine a person's feces for an ovarian leaf;
- make an itch in the anus;
- itching from the vagina in girls;
- immunological tests for antibodies.
Furthermore, the doctor may send for urine and blood tests, bile and saliva tests. 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 medicines that can quickly and successfully cope with the problem of damage to the human body by parasites. But it is important to make the right diagnosis to find the optimal medicine. Only then will the treatment be successful.
Depending on the type of parasite, they are described:
- Mebendazole-based medications are the best alternative for enterobiasis infection, trichocephaly.
- Diethylcarbamase drugs 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.
- Albendazole preparations - have been shown to be effective in cysticercosis and echinococcosis.
- Praziquantel pills - will help to cope with cestodosis, schistosomiasis, trimodosis.
Most often, it is possible to treat helminthiasis by prescribing pills. But in case of re-infection or worsening, doctors recommend more serious treatment, which includes injections of ascorbic acid, vitamin B6 or calcium gluconate, as well as medications for high blood pressure and fever-relieving remedies.
Preventive measures
It's 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 parts of drugs to remove helminths, it is better to prevent the emergence of a problem.
Moreover, prevention is not difficult:
- Observe the basic rules of personal hygiene - wash your hands after a walk, use individual hygiene items.
- Treat meat and fish properly.
- Wash vegetables and fruits well before eating.
- Pet owners should treat their pet for worms several times a year. Animals also require timely vaccination.
- With frequent trips in nature, contact with the ground does not hurt once a year to carry out drug prophylaxis of parasites.
- Children are recommended to perform prophylaxis with medication twice a year.
Literally each of us was a carrier of worms at least once in our lives. Indeed, no single person is insured against infection, regardless of his or her status and position. This problem does not lead to death, but creates great distress. Therefore, the sooner the parasites are noticed, the sooner the patient will undergo competent treatment and forget about the unpleasant problem.