Helminths than dangerous worm parasites for humans

According to the WHO, every second person on the planet is infected with helminths every year. Many people believe that parasitic worms do not cause much harm to health. But not everything is so simple: Helminths can affect important internal organs: the heart, lungs and brain.

Helminths - who are they?

Helminths are parasitic worms that can choose a human, animal or plant organism as a host. In total, there are three classes of helminths:

• tapeworm. This class includes about 3, 5 thousand species of helminths. The length of parasitic worms varies from a few mm to 10-15 meters;
• stroke of luckParasites are so named because they have suction cups that they use to get food. The human body can infect about 4 dozen species of flukes. As a rule, the length of the worms does not exceed 5 cm;
• roundworms.This class of helminths has more than 24 thousand species. Roundworms are spindle-shaped. Usually their length is no more than 0. 5 meters.

You can become infected with helminths in different ways. However, parasitic invasion most often occurs for the following reasons:

1. Poor hand hygiene.
2. Unwashed vegetables, fruits; undercooked or undercooked meat, fish - the use of such products increases the risk of parasitic invasion many times.
3. Keep food open outside the refrigerator. Insects are able to transfer helminth eggs to products stored without packaging.
4. Contact with pets.

The main symptoms of the presence of parasites in the body:

• nausea, vomiting, diarrhea;
• weight loss;
• allergic rash;
• bloating;
• itching in the anus;
• teeth cutting in a dream.

Learn more about signs of parasites in the bodyread our article.

Which helminths are most often found in our country? Consider the most common types of parasitic worms and the diseases they cause.

tapeworm

The body of a tapeworm consists of segments, the total number of which varies from 3 to 5000. The main element of fixation of the helminth is the head, additional are suction cups, hooks.

The most common causes of tapeworms are:

Diphyllobothriasis

The cause of the disease is a broad tapeworm that affects the human intestines.The development of worm eggs takes place in fresh water. The procedure for getting tapeworms into the human body is as follows:

1. Worm eggs are swallowed by crustaceans living in a reservoir.
2. Infected crustaceans are eaten by fish.
3. A person becomes infected with the parasite by eating fish that has undergone insufficient heat treatment.

Symptoms of the disease develop 1. 5 months after infection. The main sign of pathology is the presence of whitish fragments of helminth in the feces.

The tapeworm binds to the intestinal mucosa and absorbs large amounts of vitamin B12. For this reason, people with diphyllobothriasis often develop anemia. In addition, tapeworms can cause an increase in the liver, spleen, intestinal obstruction.

Teniarinhoz

The cause of the disease is bovine tapeworm, which mainly lives in the human small intestine. During its development cycle, the helminth replaces two owners: the intermediate one is cattle, the main one is man. Bull tapeworms can live in the body for 20 years, multiply and cause damage to health. The disease is common in many regions, but is most common in areas where it is cold.

As a rule, people get taeniarhynchosis after eating undercooked or undercooked beef.

The disease often proceeds without pronounced symptoms and is discovered by chance when a person sees helminth elements in his feces. In some people, in addition to the main signs of infection with helminths, pain in the right side of the anterior abdominal wall may appear.

Adult helminths are able to penetrate the appendix, pancreatic duct, bile ducts and provoke acute inflammatory processes in them. In case of multiple parasitic invasion, intestinal obstruction can develop.

taeniasis

The causative agent of the disease is pork tapeworm, which initially affects the human small intestine.Human infection occurs through consumption of raw or improperly cooked pork.

The parasite can penetrate various organs and tissues and cause pain in the stomach, back and limbs. The most favorable pathology occurs when the worm is localized in the subcutaneous fat and skeletal muscle tissue. When they penetrate the eye muscles, helminths cause a decrease in visual acuity, lacrimation and photophobia. The defeat of the brain tapeworm can be fatal.

stroke of luck

Flies have a leaf-like shape and are characterized by a high ability to reproduce in different periods of the life cycle. Reproduction of worms is possible not only sexually with fertilization, but also without it. In addition to suckers, worms have many hooks and spikes, due to which they are securely attached to the mucous membranes of organs.

Common pathologies caused by flux:

• fasciolosis;
• opisthorchiasis;
• paragonimiasis.

Fascioliasis

Fascioliasis occurs when the liver or gallbladder is damaged by a liver fluke.Basically, infection occurs when eating vegetables that were irrigated with water from open reservoirs.

In addition to the standard signs of infection with parasites, a person may experience asthmatic attacks, which are accompanied by shortness of breath, facial flushing, dilated pupils and tachycardia. If an adult has caused obstruction of the bile ducts, obstructive jaundice develops. Signs of pathology:

• cramping pain in right hypochondrium;
• yellowing of the skin;
• fever;
• colorless stool.

Opisthorchiasis

The causative agent of the disease is the cat fluke. The parasite gets its name because, in addition to humans, it often infects cats and other mammals that eat fish.

As a rule, the cat fly affects the liver and pancreas, causing inflammation in the organs. Symptoms vary and depend on the number of parasites. The patient may experience:

• symptoms of poisoning;
• fever,
• hives;
• skin itching;
• pains in muscles, joints, right hypochondrium.

In some cases, the helminth causes an increase in lymph nodes, the development of jaundice. The chronic form of pathology often leads to hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver.

Paragonimiasis

The culprit of the disease is a lung failure that enters the human body with infected crustaceans.

First, the parasite enters the human intestine, then enters the abdominal cavity. The end point of his journey is the lung tissue. In addition, the worm is able to penetrate the brain and affect the central nervous system.

Specific signs of parasitic invasion of the lungs:

• chest pain syndrome;
• cough with sputum, which may contain pus and blood;
• fever.

In some cases, the helminth causes a violation of the ventilation function of the lungs and gas exchange during breathing.

roundworms

Due to their structure, roundworms (nematodes) are able to survive even in extreme conditions.Their body is covered by a three-layer skin-muscular sac, which reliably protects parasites from external influences.

Common diseases caused by nematodes:

• ascariasis;
• enterobiasis;
• trichinosis.

Ascariasis

The development of the disease causes roundworms, which are initially fixed in the small intestine. The average length for adults is 40 cm.Parasite larvae can enter the human digestive system with unwashed vegetables and fruits, contaminated water.Also often the cause of ascariasis is poorly washed hands before eating.

During the penetration of the larvae into the body, a person may experience subfebrile temperature, allergic rash, cough with clear sputum. Signs of the intestinal stage of ascariasis (diarrhea, abdominal pain) are observed only in the presence of multiple parasites. As a rule, residence in the intestines of a worm is asymptomatic.

Complications with multiple parasitic invasion:

• blockage of the bile duct;
• purulent inflammatory processes in the gallbladder, liver;
• inflammation of the appendix;
• intestinal obstruction.

Enterobiasis

The provocateurs of the disease are pinworms - small worms up to 1 cm long. Helminths enter the human digestive system in the same way as roundworms.

Currently, enterobiasis is the most common parasitic pathology in the world. Basically, the disease is diagnosed in children under 10 years of age.

Symptoms, as in previous cases, develop only with numerous parasitic invasions. Children often have diarrhoea, mucus in the stool, difficult and painful digestion, itching in the anus and nausea. In severe cases of the disease, leg cramps may occur. In addition, pinworms are able to penetrate the genitals, causing acute inflammation in them.

Trichinosis

This disease provokes Trichinella - one of the smallest parasitic worms. The length of the parasite rarely exceeds 4 mm. In the larval stage, worms can infect skeletal muscles. The exception is the myocardium - the muscle tissue of the heart. Adult parasites in the small intestine.

As a rule, human infection occurs when eating half-baked pork.At the same time, for the development of the disease, it is enough to consume only 30 g of meat affected by parasites.

Pathology is manifested by standard symptoms of parasitic invasion. In the advanced stage, swelling of the eyelids, face, arms and legs, pain in the lower back, chewing muscles can occur. Possible complications are complete or partial loss of mobility, paralysis of the airways.

How to avoid infection with helminths?

To reduce the risk of infection with parasitic worms, it is important to observe the following rules:

18 signs of the presence of parasites in the body

The parasite is present in the human body and has a serious, pathogenic effect. At the same time, the same parasite can simultaneously produce many mechanisms of action on humans.

WHO believes that currently around four and a half billion people in the world are constantly affected by various parasites.

This problem is very topical, also because it is very difficult to diagnose parasitosis. Worm infestation (a large collection of parasitic diseases) is present in humans even when the parasite has already disappeared. And if the patient has noticed this, then of course he will come to the doctor's office in this case. Parasitosis can also be detected during preventive screening. But unfortunately these cases are a drop in the ocean.

Mechanisms of action:

mechanical impact.If, for example, there are roundworms in the intestines, they will of course press and damage the intestinal wall. In some cases cause an inflammatory process. If, for example, the echinococcus is localized in the liver, in the lungs or in the kidneys, tissue compression will result. This is a classic, mechanical effect: bursting, pressure, dysfunction of the organ or system in which the parasite is present. There are a lot of not only luminal parasites that are present in the gastrointestinal tract, but there are also many tissue parasites that can fully realize the so-called mechanical effect.

Stimulation of allergic reactions.Unfortunately, when a person has allergic reactions, he begins to go in circles: to a dermatologist, to a pediatrician, to a general practitioner, to an allergist, but doctors do not always rule out the presence of parasitic invasions in the body in the body. first place.

Any parasite, even a banal pinworm, can lead to the formation of severe allergic reactions, and they can be varied, both on the skin and affecting the bronchopulmonary tree. For example, frequent obstructive bronchitis in children may be due to some kind of parasite living in the intestines.

Influence on the microflora.It is no secret that man is a globe for the vast world of the microbiota. The microflora that inhabits all our mucous membranes, skin, organs, tissues is the friendly microflora that produces vitamins, minerals, hormones, enzymes for us and helps our body to live normally. And now, unfortunately, in the presence of parasites, it begins to actively die.

immunosuppressive effect.Today, it is clearly proven that waste products from parasites dramatically inhibit the immune system. They just block it. Furthermore, over millions of years, parasites have learned to imitate and hide from the immune system and produce special anti-enzymes. Thus, the immune system blocks, and sometimes a person can suffer from various parasitosis for decades. Which sooner or later leads to serious diseases in the body as a whole, or in a separate organ or system.

The effect of antienzymes. Unfortunately, parasites can not only deplete our body. If we try to consume vitamin food, mineralized, drink vitamins and minerals as a complex, they will not always benefit us, because our freeloaders will take the lion's share of them.

Nervous reflex mechanism of action.The waste products of the parasites poison the nervous system. And very often this can affect the psycho-emotional state of both an adult and a child. Any psychosomatic illness can be associated with parasitic invasion. A child may have hyperreactivity, or vice versa, lethargy, tearfulness, tendency to depression - all this can be a consequence of the presence of a parasite in the body. For example, even the simplest Giardia produces toxins. Let them be in microdoses, but they are still poisons identical to psychotropic drugs. Of course, a child or an adult with such persistent poisoning will experience a serious strain on the functioning of the central nervous system. And from here all sorts of psychological and psychological disorders can follow: sleep disorders, nervous disorders, various mental problems. Moreover, not the parents, not the patient himself, if he is an adult, the idea that this is due to parasitic invasion cannot even arise.

In my opinion, the most serious and terrible thing is the stimulation of neoplasms by parasites. The long-term presence of parasitosis in the body can provoke such a problem as the formation of neoplasms: benign and malignant. Moreover, the stimulation of neoplasms may be associated with two factors.

The first factor is the direct, harmful effect of the tissue of a particular organ.

The second factor is the action mediated through a sharp inhibition of the immune system. The point is that the part of the immune system responsible for antiparasitic protection is also responsible for antitumor protection. As a result of incorrect division, a cancer cell can arise in the human body. In this case, the deficiency of the immune system will manifest itself in such a way that this cell will not be recognized by our immune cells in time, and will not be killed in time.

When can a person suspect the presence of parasites?

I will now tell you a list of clinical manifestations of parasitic invasions, in the presence of these, you should quickly contact your doctor to clarify whether you really have this diagnosis.

• The most common clinical symptom is itching of the anus. This is heard by many people, so it is associated with the presence of parasites, especially in the practice of children.
• Grinding teeth in a dream. Again, very often this can be in pediatric practice. Mothers suddenly notice that the child began to grind teeth in his sleep. Why is this happening? Very often the squeaking in children is associated with frightening dreams. This is exactly the mechanism of toxic effects on the central nervous system that we talked about. The child has a terrible dream, and he clenches his teeth in fear in his sleep. This is one of the reasons. There are other reasons as well. The formation of trismus or increased tone of the chewing muscles, this can also be a symptom in this case.
• Salivation during sleep, salivation in the morning, nausea in the morning when brushing teeth. These are all manifestations that can indirectly indicate the presence of parasitic invasion in the body.
• Peeling of fingers and toes, peeling of the skin in layers.
• Increased feeling of hunger, sometimes to the point of fainting.
• Allergic rashes on the skin. When I teach doctors, I very often point out that doctors are not in a hurry to give anti-allergic drugs to some patient. Understand first to the end - are there any helminthic invasions. Because a high degree of allergy that suddenly occurs in a person within a short period of time may first of all indicate that the patient has a parasitic invasion.
• Rash on the eyelids, their peeling, swelling. , mental disorders without known causes.
• Any itchy skin. Especially in children's practice. First of all, it is necessary to exclude the presence of parasitic invasions.
• Troubled by such symptoms as bloating, seething in the stomach, unstable stools. Any problems with the gastrointestinal tract.
• There is a lack of body weight, or vice versa, excess weight. With parasitosis, it can be both.
• The presence of several chronic diseases at the same time. Diseases of the joints, bronchopulmonary tree, gastrointestinal tract. If a person suddenly begins to get sick in stages, then one, then the second, then the third, then the fifth, then the tenth, and at first there were no visible reasons for this, then this is an occasion to thinkon the presence of parasites in the body.
• Poor health and the diagnosis is unclear. Such patients can also go to different specialists, try to examine one or the other. And in the end, the diagnosis will still be unclear and the state of health will remain poor.
• Inexplicable pains in the stomach, fleeting, sudden spasms, drawing pains. It is also necessary to exclude, especially in pediatric practice, the presence of parasites.
• Long-term toxic-allergic manifestations. Periodically, sudden, incomprehensible allergic reactions to food occur.
• Persistent anemia. When hemoglobin is significantly reduced and difficult to correct. It is worth thinking first of all about the presence of parasitic invasions in the human body.
• In children: a delay in physical, psychosomatic, psychoemotional development, hyperreactivity or vice versa, lethargy, in schoolchildren, poor assimilation of the material - all this may indicate the presence of hidden parasitosis in the body.
• Prolonged lymphadenopathy (a condition manifested by an increase in the nodes of the lymphatic system), recurrent lymphadenitis can also indicate the presence of parasitic invasions.

I have listed the main clinical signs of parasitosis. Notice how wide they are. And with these symptoms, a patient can turn to almost any of the doctors. It is believed that if a person has found two or three such signs in himself, then he is already subject to a more thorough examination for the presence of parasitosis or an antiparasitic program.

During the consultation, you will be able to express your problem, the doctor will clarify the situation, decipher the tests, answer your questions and give the necessary recommendations.

I would like to draw attention to people who want to be treated on their own. If you go to a pharmacy and ask the pharmacist: "Give me something for worms, " then you are making a grave mistake - these things cannot be done. First, the pharmacy is not responsible for how you take this medicine. Second, it is not responsible for the consequences. Third, you can hurt yourself a lot. Do not. To find out whether you have a parasitic infection or not, it is very important to contact a specialist, go through a certain list of examinations and only then go through an appropriate course of treatment.

What tests will show the presence of parasites in the human body?

According to WHO statistics, about 4. 5 billion people in the world are constantly infected with parasites. This situation is complicated by the fact that diagnosing parasitic infestations is very difficult. How do you find out if there are parasites in the body? What laboratory and instrumental research methods can detect parasitosis? Let's consider these questions in detail.

Complications

Helminthiasis caused by common types of parasites can be treated with medication prescribed by a doctor. But if you do not pay attention to alarming symptoms, deterioration of health, weakness, causeless fatigue, reduced immunity, the disease can lead to serious complications.

If the parasites entered the lungs and the patient did not go to the doctor with complaints of coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, shortness of breath, pneumonia or even bronchial asthma may develop.

Parasites in the digestive system can cause cirrhosis, liver abscess, hepatitis, bowel cancer, gastrointestinal bleeding, fluid accumulation in the abdominal cavity (ascites) and peritonitis. They also often provoke the development of chronic kidney disease, meningoencephalitis, loss of vision. Some cestodes (tapeworms) grow over 1 meter long, and small roundworms can form dense balls. This disrupts the normal functioning of the body, leads to severe poisoning, pronounced allergic reactions. Without emergency medical attention, death is possible.

Prevention

Helminthiasis often occurs when hygiene rules are not followed or the food is not properly processed. To prevent helminthic invasion, you need:

• Do not wear other people's underwear, do not share a towel with strangers.
• Wash your hands thoroughly before eating - it is important to do this not only before breakfast, lunch, dinner, but also a snack.
• Wash hands after using the toilet.
• Wash your hands thoroughly after working on the beds, and do all gardening with thick rubber gloves.
• Use only clean water for drinking and cooking.
• Rinse fruits and vegetables thoroughly under running water.
• Eat meat, fish, shellfish that have undergone heat treatment.
• Do not buy products on spontaneous markets from people who cannot confirm the safety of the goods.
• Monitor the pet's health, worms regularly, even if the pet lives in an apartment and does not go outside. Contact your veterinarian to choose medicines and calculate the dosage.
• Maintain cleanliness in living and working areas. Sometimes people bring helminth eggs on the soles of their shoes. To reduce the risk of infection, regularly perform wet cleaning, disinfect all surfaces.

Even following these rules, the risk of infection cannot be completely eliminated. To prevent the development of the disease, consult a therapist. The doctor will prescribe drugs to prevent helminthiasis. Be sure to tell us how often you travel, if there are pets in the house, a personal reason. Drug prophylaxis of helminthiasis is recommended to be carried out 2 times a year.