There is a risk of getting worms even without leaving home.Various types of helminths can be found in household items, bills, dishes, food, and drinking water.
Parasites enter the human body in a convenient way for them: they can enter the digestive system through food, water, dirty hands or insect bites.
After that, helminths infect certain internal organs, use the resources of the human body, cause mechanical damage and actively multiply.Their vital processes are accompanied by unpleasant and often dangerous symptoms and damage to various organs.
How to recognize intestinal helminths
Intestinal helminthiasis includes a group of diseases caused by various types of worms.Ascariasis (tubeworms), enterobiosis (pinworms), hookworms (hookworms) can be identified most often.These parasites live in the lumen of the human intestine, feed on its contents, and their presence can be suspected by a number of characteristic symptoms:
- Rapid weight loss without changing your diet and physical activity.Intestinal helminths use nutrients from the human body as a source of energy for growth and reproduction, and their anchoring devices (suckers, hooks) in the intestine damage its walls and prevent the absorption of the remaining micronutrients.
- Pain in the stomach, navel, itching in the rectum are caused by the movement of worms, mechanical damage caused by them, as well as the release of larvae or adults from the body into the external environment.
- Various digestive disorders: diarrhea or constipation, flatulence, presence of mucus, foam or blood in stool, nausea, vomiting.In some cases, adult parasites can be found in the feces.
- The human body can react to the appearance of parasites with allergic reactions and cases of intoxication caused by waste products of helminths.More often, it is manifested by itching of the skin, redness of certain areas, rashes (vesicles, blisters of various sizes).
The diagnosis of intestinal helminthosis includes stool examinations, clinical and biochemical blood tests (eosinophilia, leukocytosis) and, if necessary, ultrasound data of the body.
Symptoms of parasites in the liver
A large amount of nutrients accumulates in the human liver, and intensive blood circulation occurs, which is favorable for parasites.Common liver helminthosis: fasciolosis, opisthorchosis, dicroceliosis, caused by worms of the liverworm group.
They can be identified by special signs:
- Acute pain in the right hypochondrium is caused by the mechanical movement of helminths.Thus, echinococcus forms cysts in the tissues of the body, causing the development of inflammatory processes or even necrosis.
- Adult worms (tubeworms) can block the bile ducts, as a result of which the flow of bile is disturbed, the digestion process in the body becomes difficult, and the patient has symptoms of jaundice.The visible mucous membranes of a person acquire a yellow color, and as the pathology develops, the skin also becomes colored.
- Non-specific symptoms of the appearance of parasites will be deterioration of the general condition of the body, weight loss, nausea and lethargy.
They give blood for analysis to clarify the diagnosis.Leukocytosis, eosinophilia are detected, and biochemical tests will show an increase in the activity of liver enzymes (ALT, AST).During ultrasound, damage to the liver will be visible in the body: growth, inflammation, and in some cases, parasitic cysts can be detected.
What does it mean to have lungworms?
Some parasites (ascaris, toxoplasma, echinococcus, achenura) can enter the human lungs from the gastrointestinal tract through blood or lymph.They multiply in the alveoli, making it difficult to breathe, some species (exinococcus unilocular) form cysts that damage the structure of the organ.
It can be difficult to determine the presence of parasites in the lungs, because the symptoms are similar to the manifestations of respiratory diseases of viral and non-infectious etiology (bronchitis, ARVI).Cough, difficulty breathing, chest pain, increased temperature indicate the need for additional examination of the patient's body.
The most informative method for the diagnosis of pulmonary helminthosis will be the X-ray method.Photographs will show lesions caused by echinococcus (cysts) and bovine tapeworm (fibrous formations) in the human body, then it is necessary to distinguish them from neoplasms, cysts of various etiologies and pneumonia.
Parasites that live in the blood
Protozoan single-celled worms can be found in the lumen of blood vessels.Babesia, plasmodium (malarial plasmodium), trypanosomes, microfilariae and schistosomes cause dangerous diseases that threaten human life.
By destroying the formed elements, it disrupts the processes of energy exchange in the body and prevents the flow of nutrients to organs and tissues.
In most cases, human infection occurs after an insect or tick bite.After some time, symptoms of anemia develop in the body: paleness and then cyanosis of the mucous membranes, dizziness, sudden weight loss and deterioration of health.Without timely medical help, blood parasites can pose a serious threat to human life.
Diagnosis involves conducting microscopic blood tests, during which single-cell parasites and destroyed red blood cells can be detected, as well as the type of worm can be determined.The treatment is long-term and is carried out in an inpatient setting under the supervision of a qualified doctor.
Unusual habitats of parasites
Some types of helminths can penetrate the human heart, subcutaneous tissue (dirofilaria), brain and spinal cord (cysticerci, echinococci).You can get infected not only in exotic countries, but also by eating improperly cooked familiar food, and pets can become carriers.Symptoms of invasion depend on the degree of damage to a certain organ.
In the brain, worms can form cysts and fibrous formations that cause nerve events.
Headaches of unknown etiology, trembling (shaking) of the limbs, changes in touch sensitivity, impaired coordination of movements, sharp deterioration of hearing and vision - signs of the development of invasion depend on the location of the worms and their larvae.
Adult parasites can be visually detected under the skin, usually accompanied by itching and tingling sensations, as well as in the eyes, ear canals and other places.
What to do if symptoms of worm infection appear
Diseases of parasitic etiology are treated under the supervision of a doctor after all necessary examinations have been performed and the type of parasite has been determined.Anthelmintic drugs with a narrow or broad spectrum of action are prescribed, general strengthening and symptomatic therapy is carried out and helps to remove worms from the body.In some cases, surgical intervention is indicated.
With timely treatment, the prognosis for most diseases is favorable.If you delay a visit to the doctor or start self-medicating, the recovery process can be delayed, and many types of parasites can damage vital organs or body systems, or even lead to death.