There is a risk of worms contracting even without leaving your home. Different types of helminths can be found in household items, banknotes, dishes, food and drinking water.
Parasites enter the human body in a way that suits them: they can enter through the digestive system through food, water, dirty hands, or insect bites.
Further, helminths affect certain internal organs, use the resources of the human body, cause mechanical damage, and actively reproduce. Their life processes are associated with unpleasant and often dangerous symptoms and damage to various organs.
How to recognize intestinal worms
Intestinal helminthiasis unites a group of diseases caused by worms of different types. Most often it is possible to identify ascariasis (roundworm), enterobiasis (sting worms), ankylosing stomatosis (anjas worms). 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 changing diet and physical activity. The intestinal group helminths use the nutrients of the human body as an energy source for growth and reproduction, and their anchoring devices in the gut (suckers, hooks) damage its walls and interfere with the absorption of trace elements.
- Pain in the stomach, navel, itching in the rectum is caused by the movement of worms, the mechanical damage they cause, and 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 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 the products of helminth waste. Most often it is manifested by itching of the skin, redness of certain areas, redness (blisters, blisters of various sizes).
Signs of parasites appearing in the liver
A large amount of nutrients accumulate in the human liver and there is also an intense blood circulation, which is suitable for parasites. Common hepatic helminthiasis: fascioliasis, opisthorchiasis, dicrocelliosis, caused by worms of the hepatitis group.
You can identify them by specific features:
- Acute pain in the right hypochondrium is caused by the mechanical effect of helminths. Thus, echinococcosis forms cysts in the tissues of the organ, provoking the development of inflammatory processes or even necrosis.
- Adult worms (roundworms) can block the bile ducts, due to which the bile duct is disrupted, the digestive process in the body is difficult and the patient has signs of jaundice. The visible mucous membranes of a person take on a yellow tinge, and with the development of pathology, the skin also stains.
- Nonspecific symptoms of parasites will be worsening of the general condition of the body, weight loss, nausea, lethargy.
To clarify the diagnosis, they donate blood for tests. Leukocytosis, eosinophilia detected and biochemical tests will show an increase in liver enzyme activity (ALT, AST). During the ultrasound, liver damage will be visible in the body: enlargement, inflammation and in some cases parasitic cysts can be found.
What indicates the presence of pulmonary helminths
Some parasites (roundworm, toxoplasma, echinococcus, tsenur) can enter from the gastrointestinal tract into the lungs of a person with bleeding or lymphatic flow. They multiply in the alveoli, making it difficult to breathe and some species (unicameral echinococcus) form cysts, damaging the structure of the organ.
It can be difficult to determine the presence of parasites in the lungs, as the symptoms are similar to the manifestations of respiratory diseases of viral and non-infectious etiology (bronchitis, ARVI). Coughing, shortness of breath, pain in the chest area, fever indicate the need for additional examination of the patient's body.
For the diagnosis of pulmonary helminthiasis, the X-ray method will be more informative. The images will show lesions in the human body caused by echinococcosis (cysts) and bovine tapeworm (fibrous formations), which must then be distinguished from neoplasms, cysts of various etiologies, and pneumonia.
Blood-borne parasites
Protozoan unicellular worms can be found in the lumen of vessels. Babies, plasmodia (malaria plasmium), trypanosomes, microfilariae, schistosomes cause dangerous diseases that pose a threat to human life.
Destroying the formed 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: paleness, and then mucosal cyanosis, dizziness, sudden weight loss and deterioration of health. Without timely medical care, blood parasites can pose a serious threat to human life.
Diagnosis involves performing microscopic examinations of the blood, during which you can find single-celled parasites and destroyed erythrocytes, as well as determining the type of worms. The treatment is long-term, performed immobile under the supervision of a qualified physician.
Habitats of Extraordinary Parasites
Some species of helminths can penetrate the human heart, subcutaneous tissue (dirofilariae), brain and spinal cord (cistercercus, echinococcus). It is possible to get infected not only in exotic places, but also by eating familiar food that has not undergone proper heat treatment and pets can become transportable. Signs of invasion depend on the degree of damage to a particular organ.
In the brain, worms can form cysts, fibrous formations that cause nerve phenomena.
Headaches of unexplained etiology, tremors (tremors) of the extremities, changes in tactile sensitivity, impaired coordination of movements, sharp deterioration of hearing and vision - signs of the development of invasion depend on location andtheir larvae.
Adult parasites can be seen visually under the skin, usually accompanied by itching and tingling sensation, as well as in the eyes, ear canals and other places.
What to do if you see signs of worm infection
Diseases of parasitic etiology are treated under medical supervision after all the necessary examinations and determination of the type of parasites. Prescribe anthelmintic drugs with a narrow or wide spectrum of action, perform restorative and symptomatic therapy, promote the removal of worms from the body. In some cases, surgery is indicated.
The prognosis for most diseases is favorable with timely initiation of treatment. If you postpone a visit to a doctor or start taking medication on your own, the healing process can be delayed, and many types of parasites can damage vital organs or body systems, or even lead to death.