There is a risk of contracting worms without even leaving your home. Different types of helminths can be found on household items, banknotes, dishes, food, in drinking water.
Parasites enter the human body in a way that is convenient for them: they can enter through the digestive system with food, water, dirty hands, or insect bites.
In addition, helminths affect some internal organs, use the resources of the human body, cause mechanical damage, and actively reproduce. Their vital processes are accompanied by unpleasant and often dangerous symptoms and damage to various organs.
How to recognize intestinal worms
Intestinal helminthiasis is a group of diseases caused by worms of different types. Most often, ascariasis (roundworm), enterobiosis (pinworms), hookworm (hookworm) can be detected. 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:
- Dramatic weight loss without changes in diet and physical activity. Helminths of the intestinal group use the nutrients of the human body as an energy source for growth and reproduction, and their anchoring devices in the intestine (suction cups, hooks) injure its walls and interfere with the absorption of trace elements. remaining items.
- Pain in the stomach, navel, itching in the rectum is caused by the movement of worms, the mechanical damage they cause, as well as the release of larvae or adults from the body into the environmentexternal.
- Various digestive disorders: diarrhea or constipation, gas, presence of mucus, foam or blood in the stool, nausea, vomiting. In some cases, adult parasites can be found in the stool.
- The human body can react to the appearance of parasites with allergic reactions, intoxication phenomena, which are caused by helminth waste. Most often this is manifested by itching of the skin, redness of certain areas, rashes (vesicles, blisters of different sizes).
The diagnosis of intestinal helminthiasis includes fecal studies, clinical and biochemical blood tests (eosinophilia, leukocytosis) and, if necessary, ultrasound data of the body.
Signs of the appearance of parasites in the liver
A large amount of nutrients accumulate in the human liver, and intense blood circulation occurs, which is convenient for the parasites. Common hepatic helminthiasis: fascioliasis, opisthorchiasis, dicroceliosis, caused by worms from the liver fluke group.
You can identify them by specific functionalities:
- Sharp pains in the right hypochondrium are caused by the mechanical effect of helminths. Thus, the echinococcus forms cysts in the tissues of the organ, causing the development of inflammatory processes or even necrosis.
- Adult worms (roundworms) can block the bile ducts, disrupting the flow of bile, the digestion process in the body is difficult, and the patient shows signs of jaundice. The visible mucous membranes of a person acquire a yellow tint, and with the development of pathology the skin becomes stained.
- Nonspecific symptoms of the appearance of parasites will be a deterioration in the general condition of the body, weight loss, nausea, lethargy.
To clarify the diagnosis, they donate blood for analysis. Leukocytosis, eosinophilia are detected, and biochemical tests will indicate an increase in the activity of liver enzymes (ALT, AST). During the ultrasound, liver damage will be visible in the body: hypertrophy, inflammation, and in some cases parasitic cysts can be found.
Indicating the presence of pulmonary helminths
Some parasites (roundworm, toxoplasma, echinococcus, tsenur) can pass from the gastrointestinal tract into a person's lungs with blood or lymphatic flow. They multiply in the alveoli, making breathing difficult, and some species (echinococcus unicameral) form cysts, damaging the structure of the organ.
It can be difficult to determine the presence of parasites in the lungs, since the symptoms are similar to the manifestations of respiratory diseases of viral and non-infectious etiology (bronchitis, ARVI). Cough, shortness of breath, pain in the chest area, fever indicate the need for further examination of the patient's body.
For the diagnosis of pulmonary helminthiasis, the X-ray method will be the most informative. The images will show lesions in the human body caused by echinococcus (cysts) and bovine tapeworm (fibrous formations), which must then be distinguished from neoplasms, cysts of different etiology and pneumonia.
Blood-borne parasites
Protozoan unicellular worms can be found in the lumen of vessels. Babesias, plasmodia (malaria plasmodium), trypanosomes, microfilariae, schistosomes cause dangerous diseases that pose a threat to human life.
Destroying the shaped elements, they disrupt the processes of energy metabolism in the body and block the supply of nutrients to organs and tissues.
In most cases, human infection occurs after being bitten by insects or ticks. After some time, signs of anemia develop in the body: pallor, then cyanosis of the mucous membranes, dizziness, sudden weight loss and deterioration in health. Without timely medical care, blood parasites can pose a serious threat to human life.
Diagnosis involves carrying out microscopic examinations of the blood, during which you can find single-celled parasites and destroyed erythrocytes, as well as determining the type of worm. Treatment is long-term, carried out in a stationary manner under the supervision of a qualified doctor.
Unusual parasitic habitats
Certain types of helminths can enter the human heart, subcutaneous tissue (heartworms), brain, and spinal cord (cysticercus, echinococcus). You can get infected not only in exotic countries, but also by eating familiar foods that have not been properly heat-treated, and animals can become carriers. Signs of invasion depend on the degree of damage to a particular organ.
In the brain, worms can form cysts, fibrous formations that cause nervous phenomena.
Headache of unexplained etiology, tremors (tremors) in extremities, changes in tactile sensitivity, impaired coordination of movements, sharp deterioration of hearing and vision - signs of the development ofinvasion depend on the location of the worms and their larvae.
Adult parasites can be seen visually 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 you see signs of a worm infestation
Diseases of parasitic etiology are treated under medical supervision after all necessary examinations and establishment of the type of parasites. Prescribe anthelmintic drugs with a narrow or wide spectrum of action, carry out restorative and symptomatic treatment, promote the elimination of worms from the body. In some cases, surgery is indicated.
The prognosis for most diseases is favorable if treatment is started on time. If you postpone a visit to a doctor or start taking medication on your own, the healing process may be delayed, and many types of parasites can damage vital organs or bodily systems, or even lead to death.