Worms in humans cause the development of diseases collectively called helminths. Worms are parasitic worms that can be found in almost every organ in our body: intestines, muscles, lungs, liver, heart and even eyes.
If a person is infected with worms, symptoms do not always appear; If they occur, they are disguised as other diseases of the liver, gastrointestinal tract, gallbladder, etc. v. Sometimes these symptoms are so vague that determining the cause can be difficult. about a particular issue, especially where children are concerned.
Today, there are many known types of parasites that can infect the human body. In total there are about 150 types of helminths. All worms, according to shape and body structure, are divided into two large groups: roundworms or nematodes and flatworms.
Children are most commonly infected with worms and the most common forms of helminthiasis (disease caused by parasitic worms) are ascariasis and intestinal helminthiasis. The most dangerous worms that can live in the human body are echinococcus and alveococcus. For each group of parasites, special means have been developed, treatments that will remove worms from the body of an adult or child.
Types of worms in humans
There are more than two hundred species of worms that infect humans. Most of them are not found in the middle zone, so there are about sixty species common in our country. Parasites are divided into contact parasitism (worms transmitted from person to person), endemic helminthiasis (larvae live in the soil and infestation occurs when soil particles get into food) andbiological helminthiasis (parasites enter the human body through the flesh of infected animals). or fish).
Let's name some of the most common groups of worms in humans:
- Annelids - pinworms, roundworms, roundworms, trichinella;
- Tapeworms – tapeworms, echinococci, tapeworms;
- Flatworms - all kinds of tapeworms and tapeworms.
Let's take a closer look at each type of worm that can live in an adult's body.
- Roundworms are large, red-yellow roundworms that can be up to 40 cm long when mature.
- Whipworm is a roundworm 30-50 mm long, so named because of its body shape: the front part is long and narrow like a hair, the back part is short and wide.
- The broad tapeworm is a large tapeworm measuring about 10 meters in length; individuals over 20 meters long can be found.
- Hookworm is the common name for two types of worms: duodenal hookworm and roundworm, roundworm 10-15 mm long.
- Trichinella is a small roundworm 2-5 mm long that causes a serious disease - trichinosis.
- Liver fluke (cat fluke) is a type of flatworm belonging to the class of flukes, 7-20 mm long. The disease caused by this parasite is called opisthorchiasis.
- Pork tapeworms and beef tapeworms have a similar structure to tapeworms up to 6 meters long.
- Echinococcus parasitizes the human body not in its adult form, but in its intermediate form - Finns. Echinococcus itself is a tapeworm 3-5 mm long
- Alveococcus is a type of worm similar to echinococcus, with similar structure and development mechanism.
Symptoms and signs of worm infection depend on the type of parasite, its location in the body, and its stage of development.
Helminths in the human body
Worms have the scientific name helminths. Helminths means any type of worm that parasitizes the bodies of humans, animals and plants. Accordingly, helminths are not a specific type of parasite but a group of different worms, of which there are three most common types.
In modern society, helminths are still common. Especially often, helminth infections occur in children, hunters, fishermen and their families, as well as rural residents.
Helminths are a large group of parasitic worms that live on animals and plants, feeding and reproducing inside a donor's body. Humans are no exception. In our country alone there are more than 70 species of parasites. According to statistics, one third of Earth's inhabitants are infected with parasitic worms. It is said that there is not a single adult who has not had a worm residing in his body throughout his life.
Helminths. No matter how carefully parents monitor the cleanliness of their children's hands, protecting them from worms (pinworms) is almost impossible. Children explore the outside world; Nature awakens special interest. They want to touch everything with their hands and taste it. People who eat fish, wild meat, birds and homemade milk are at risk of trichinosis and diphtheria.
Modern medical data shows that many diseases occur due to helminth infections. For example, the link between cancer and long-term parasitic infections has been clinically proven. Signs indicating the presence of worms in humans are often misunderstood by doctors and patients. They began to treat non-existent diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
How can you get infected?
The causes of worm infection in humans are very diverse, the route of infection directly depends on the type of worm and its life cycle, which can be:
- eating dirty vegetables;
- failure to comply with hygiene rules when preparing food;
- poor heat treatment of some food products, especially animal meat and fish;
- communication with pets – cats, dogs, some rodents;
- do not comply with hygiene rules before eating, after going to the toilet, when returning from a walk;
- swimming in polluted waters.
Throughout their lives, worms produce toxic substances that enter the bloodstream and spread throughout the body, harming the most important organs and systems.
General symptoms and signs of helminth infection in children
General symptoms of helminths include:
- appetite gets worse or increases;
- nausea, possible vomiting;
- excessive foam flow;
- stool disorders;
- the appearance of pain in the lower abdomen;
- dizziness, headache;
- allergic reaction;
- increased frequency of colds;
- irritability, moodiness;
- sleep disorders;
- impaired mental and physical activity;
- dry cough.
Symptoms of worms in humans
Sometimes worms can parasitize in an adult's body for a long time without obvious symptoms; In some cases, they become the cause of the development of various chronic diseases, causing dangerous complications and even death.
At the beginning of the acute stage of helminth disease, the worms begin to eat strongly in the patient's intestines, causing many signs of digestive system disorders: dysbiosis, abdominal pain, diarrhea.
Let's see what signs of worms we can recognize? Let us list the most common, general symptoms of worms in humans.
- Gastrointestinal dysfunction - diarrhea, constipation and abdominal pain;
- Joint and muscle pain - parasites can move throughout the human body to settle in places most convenient for their life, such as in joint and muscle fluids. When this happens, the person experiences pain;
- Nervous system disorders and general malaise - manifested in the form of fatigue, irritability, sleep disorders and memory problems;
- Allergic reactions and skin manifestations - the appearance of pimples, blackheads and other rashes - are also signs of the presence of worms in humans;
- Reduced immunity and, as a consequence, the development of infectious diseases;
- Body weight drops sharply;
- Anemia - some worms suck blood from the intestinal wall like leeches;
- Teeth grinding while sleeping and sleep disorders;
- Itching in the anus, especially at night. At this time, the female actively lays eggs, causing anal itching;
- Enlarged lymph nodes, low body temperature;
- Respiratory tract inflammation - cough, fever, phlegm, runny nose - this is how the presence of worms appears.
The first specific signs will directly depend on the pathogen and the location of the worms in the human body. For example, large worms, trematodes, and tapeworms like to parasitize the liver, which can lead to liver cell degeneration, bile duct blockage, blood clotting, and cirrhosis. Roundworms and pinworms live in the intestines so they are excreted in the stool. To know how to remove these worms from the body, you should consult a doctor, who will prescribe the appropriate treatment.
Symptoms of worm infection may appear at different times from the time of infection. So, the first symptoms of ascariasis appear after 2-3 days. With most other helminth infections, symptoms of the disease appear after 2-3 weeks.
Most often, the main signs of worm infection in adults are represented by allergic manifestations in the form of itching and rash, swelling, weakness, muscle pain, headache, fever, muscle and joint pain, increased number ofeosinophils in the body. blood, etc. v.
As parasites, worms feed on the host's body. At the same time, they absorb a significant amount of proteins and carbohydrates, mineral elements, vitamins and other nutrients. Helminthiase can be acute and chronic. The initial phase lasts 2-3 weeks and often manifests itself as allergies, while the chronic phase can last months, years, or even decades.
What organs can worms affect?
There are two types of invasion: cavernous and tissue. Depending on the species, habitats are also divided:
- Cavity worms settle in the small and large intestines. In particular, the first part of the small intestine is affected by tapeworms, hookworms, and roundworms. The lower part of the small intestine is where dwarf tapeworms and pinworms live. The large intestine often becomes a habitat for whipworms.
- Tissue worms affect organs of any type: liver, brain, lymph nodes, bile ducts.
Important! It is impossible to determine signs of the presence of worms in patients at the initial stages of development of infection. As long as the number of worms is small and the toxins poisoned by waste are within normal limits, the body will cope with the invasion on its own. The appearance of characteristic or acute symptoms indicates a significant increase in the number of helminth infections: maturation of individuals and their dynamic development.
Complications of worms
Some types of helminths can cause serious disorders in the patient's condition. Here are the most common complications:
- B12 deficiency anemia, iron deficiency anemia - lead to interruption of oxygen supply to tissues, requiring long recovery. Manifested by pale skin, dry mouth, weakness, and disorders of body functions;
- Intestinal obstruction occurs when a parasite blocks the intestinal lumen with its body. Surgical treatment is necessary. Symptoms – abdominal pain, lack of stool, vomiting;
- Intestinal bleeding - if the worm attaches to the intestinal wall, it can damage blood vessels. Symptoms: abdominal pain, weakness, blood in stool, vomiting. Requires surgical treatment;
- Fibrosis and cirrhosis develop after a long period of opisthorchiasis. The changes are irreversible. Symptoms: disruption of sleep and alertness, accumulation of fluid in body cavities, loss of liver function;
- Abscesses of affected organs are purulent inflammations. Symptoms are pain, high fever, and weakness. The situation is deteriorating rapidly. Examination is required to detect the source of inflammation and treatment with surgery.
Analyze feces and scrape worm eggs
Worms are mainly intestinal parasites. Their eggs are released through the intestines. Therefore, to diagnose them, stool is taken for analysis. You can buy special poop containers at the pharmacy, although you can also use a matchbox or jar.
So, to perform the analysis, you will need a container of material and a spoon. If a person sees pieces of worms or whole worms, then he or she also needs to be sent to the laboratory.
It is not necessary to bring the stool to the laboratory immediately after collecting the sample. It must be delivered for inspection within 24 hours. Until then, the collected biological material must be stored in the refrigerator. One exception is stool collection to test for giardiasis. It must be delivered in a warm place, as the parasite cysts will be destroyed when cooled. While the stool is being transported to the laboratory, the stool container should be wrapped in a warm cloth.
To diagnose intestinal worms, one will scrape the folds around the anus because female pinworms lay eggs in this area. Before the test, you should not wash your face for about 12 hours or go to the bathroom. Therefore, the optimal time to perform the analysis is in the morning.
Scraping was performed with a cotton swab, placed in a clean container, and transferred to the laboratory. You can also use tape, peel it off the glass, stick it to the anal area for a while, then tear it off and re-stick the sticky side to the glass.
Biological material is shipped to the laboratory to be studied using a microscope. If a person is infected, the lab technician will see the worm eggs, larvae, or segments thereof. Each parasite lays eggs unique to its species. Therefore, by studying the structure of eggs, you can determine which worms live parasitically in the human body.
If there are worms in the stool it usually looks like a white strip of varying lengths. Worms may remain mobile. The type of worm can be determined in the laboratory.
However, it is not always possible to detect worms by analyzing stool. For example, the analysis would be uninformative if the human body was parasitized only by male roundworms that cannot secrete eggs.
Blood test for worms
To identify worms in the blood, immunoassays are used to determine antibodies to the main types of helminths. The reliability and accuracy of ELISA is equal to 95%. It can be used to detect extraintestinal forms of helminths.
Decoding ELISA results in simple form:
- Helminths are parasitic in the body if M-type immunoglobulin (lgM) is high in the blood.
- Worms are already present in the human body or the helminth infection becomes chronic and weakens the human immune system. This conclusion can be made if IgG immunoglobulin levels are elevated but lgM is not detected in the blood.
In both cases, more in-depth diagnosis and more specific treatment are required.
How do parasites become infected and develop?
Each parasite has specific life cycle characteristics. Depending on the mechanism of infection, all helminths are divided into three main groups:
- exposure to helminths;
- geohelminthiase;
- biological helminths.
Contact with helminths
The development of parasites belonging to the group of contact helminth infections occurs entirely in the child's body. Worm eggs enter the digestive system, move to the intestines and after a while develop into adult worms. Sexually mature worms form eggs, which are released into the outside environment in feces. The development cycle repeats again.
Contact helminth infections include pinworm infections. The spread of these worms occurs through a fecal-oral mechanism. If children do not wash their hands after going to the toilet, microscopic pinworm eggs remain on the child's fingers. Other children can become infected through contaminated household items and food that the sick person has touched. In the spread of pinworms, non-compliance with personal hygiene rules is of great importance. Therefore, this helminth disease is more common in childhood.
In addition to infecting others, sick children can re-infect themselves. Pinworms crawl out of the anus and lay eggs on the skin of the anal area. This process causes severe itching of the skin, so children often start scratching the painful area. If they do not wash their hands afterwards, some of the new eggs will enter the intestines. The parasite population increases, leading to a deterioration in the child's condition.
Cysticercosis
The group of helminths is represented by roundworms. For these parasites to develop, the sick child's feces need to enter the ground. The released eggs begin to actively develop and quickly reach the invasive stage, at which point they can enter the human body.
Infection in children often occurs from eating unwashed vegetables and fruits that have come into contact with the ground. Ascaris larvae remain on them, penetrating the child's intestines and causing unpleasant symptoms of helminthiasis.
Biological helminths
To develop worms belonging to the group of biological helminths, the presence of an intermediate host is required - a living organism in which the worm larvae will develop. This can be livestock (cows, pigs), as well as fish. Therefore, children can become infected with worms when eating food from unverified sources. Insufficient heat treatment of meat or fish contributes to infection. Through food, you can become infected with echinococcus, beef and pork tapeworms and cat tapeworms.
Treatment of worms in humans
The basis for the treatment of worms in humans is specific anthelmintic drugs; Adults are prescribed the best time-tested pills.
The choice of medication for treatment depends on the presence of specific worms in the human body. During the acute stage of the disease, the doctor may prescribe antiallergic drugs to the patient such as Suprastin or Claritin.
Only on the basis of testing and diagnosis can doctors prescribe treatment for worms in humans because antihelminthic drugs are quite toxic. If during the analysis the worms are discovered again, the specialist will determine how to get rid of the worms, recommending a new treatment regimen based on the use of other deworming drugs to better cope with the task.
Treatment
Deworming therapy
The basis for the treatment of parasitic diseases is anthelmintics. They must be usedexactly as prescribed by your doctor, because when choosing a medicine it is necessary to take into account a number of important factors:
- helminthic form;
- stage of development of the disease;
- pathogens;
- Concomitant illnesses of the child;
- characteristics of his condition
Only a doctor can accurately evaluate these indicators and choose the optimal medication. Self-medication to treat helminths in children is unacceptable. Incorrectly chosen therapy is often not only ineffective, but also accompanied by serious side effects.
How to test stool for helminths and their eggs?
When choosing treatment, doctors must take into account the causative agent. You should not rely on one universal treatment method, since most drugs are effective only on a certain group of helminths. If the wrong medicine is used, the child's clinical condition does not disappear and the disease continues to progress, which can lead to serious complications.
If there are many children in a family, doctors often recommend deworming therapy for all family members at the same time. This will prevent repeated cases of helminth infections after treatment.
Treat symptoms
In addition to deworming therapy, children are also prescribed symptomatic treatment to eliminate clinical manifestations of the disease. If a severe allergic reaction occurs, antihistamines are used - Suprastin, Tavegil, Claritin.
If your child shows signs of severe poisoning, he or she will be prescribed fever-reducing and pain-relieving medications. To reduce acute symptoms, various fluids are prescribed or infusion therapy is carried out. If there is a risk of developing vasculitis and myocarditis, glucocorticoids (e. g. Prednisolone) will be prescribed.
How to treat worms with folk remedies
Traditional treatments include medicinal plants that have anthelmintic and laxative effects. Although the effectiveness of these remedies has not been scientifically proven, many of them have been used since ancient times to treat intestinal worms in humans at home.
- The best folk remedy is to use pumpkin seeds to treat worms. Take and peel the pumpkin seeds (80-100g), trying not to damage the green skin. Blend until smooth, add 2 tablespoons of honey and 100 grams of water, mix well. This remedy must be taken strictly in the morning, on an empty stomach. One boat eats every hour for 3 hours. Then you need to drink a laxative, and after 1-2 hours give an enema.
- Pomegranate. Pomegranate peel contains punicin, which is highly toxic to worms. A decoction of the bark mixed with fresh water should be taken three times a day for adults and children with parasites.
- Onion broth (pour 200 ml of boiling water over 1 onion, leave for 2 days, use before meals for 4 days)
Regarding prevention and prevention of helminth infections, after returning from the trip, you need to wash your hands with soap, heat treat meat and fish, do not drink raw water and do not swim in polluted waters.
Prevent
The main prevention of helminthiasis in children is compliance with the rules of personal hygiene.
Therefore, we can name the measures to prevent helminth infections:
- Practice personal hygiene skills for children (wash hands after going to the toilet, contact with animals, walking outside, before eating);
- fight bad habits (children should not suck their fingers, bite their nails or put foreign objects in their mouth);
- control mosquitoes, flies and insects;
- processing high quality meat and fish;
- high quality water disinfection;
- deworming for domestic dogs and cats;
- Avoid contact with stray animals;
- Thoroughly wash greens, vegetables, berries and fruits;
- Change underwear and bed linen regularly (once a day);
- iron underwear and bed sheets with a hot iron;
- carry out hygiene procedures in the anal area twice a day to prevent intestinal diseases;
- wear elastic underwear at night;
- thoroughly wet clean the facility.
Once in the body, helminths in children disrupt the normal functioning of various organs and systems. And if adults with a strong immune system constantly fight against "uninvited guests", then this does not happen in children: their body is still weak and vulnerable. Therefore, it is important to teach children to comply with personal hygiene standards as early as possible to prevent helminth infections, and if symptoms appear, immediately contact a specialist for treatment. Next anthelmintic treatment.