
There are different ways to infect humans with parasites.Statistics say that the common cause of human death is the presence of parasites in the body and infectious diseases.
Scientists have discovered fungi, bacteria and even algae in blood plasma.The most common are intestinal helminths.
Parasites can live inside a person for a long time.In 60% of cases, chronic and oncological diseases are related to their vital activity.With prolonged exposure to microorganisms, internal organs and the entire immune system suffer.
Methods of infection with parasites
There are different ways of infection of parasites.Parasites are microorganisms that live at the expense of another organism and are biologically and ecologically connected to it.Parasites can feed on water, tissues and food consumed by a person, which remains temporarily or permanently in the body.
You can get infected with helminths in the following ways:
- Through dirty hands.
- When in contact with the ground.
- For insect bites.
- If you eat a piece of undercooked meat or fish.
- If you do not wash fruits and vegetables before eating.
- If you have an illiterate relationship with animals.
- When in contact with a sick person with helminths.
Worm eggs can be found in soil, water, dirty fruits and vegetables, and undercooked meat or fish.
In some cases, infection can occur due to an insect bite, but this is extremely rare, because helminth eggs enter the body mainly with food.Dirty hands can also become a source of helminth infection.
You can also get infected from a sick person who is a carrier of pinworms.Pinworm crawls through the anus and lays its eggs in the anus.They, in turn, can end up in a man's hands, remaining in his underwear.Larvae can live in toilets, front door handles, and other objects.If personal hygiene rules are not followed, they penetrate the body of other family members.If helminths are found in one of the family members, all household members should be treated.
Waterborne infection occurs when using unboiled water or swimming.
What types of helminths are there?
The most common group of intestinal worms includes nematodes.These include hookworms, roundworms, pinworms, heartworms and trichinella.
The second large group includes protozoa or single-celled parasites.These are amoebae, lamblia, neospores, cryptosporidium, etc.
Entamoeba histolytica infection can occur by drinking contaminated water.In this case, loose stools appear, severe abdominal pain and vomiting occur.Sometimes, in severe cases, such manifestations cause complications in the liver.People often confuse an amoebic dysentery infection with a viral infection.
Millions of single-celled parasites can exist and thrive on the walls of the stomach, preventing the body from properly absorbing nutrients.
Characteristic symptoms of giardiasis
Symptoms of parasite infection are as follows:
- Accumulation of gases in the stomach.
- Loose stools with undigested food particles.
- Don't get cold.
- Increased sweating.
- Frequent abdominal pain.
- Loose stools.
In the absence of treatment for parasites, over time a person will begin to lose weight and become sick more often due to the exhaustion of the immune system.Of course, it is not advisable to rely only on symptoms to identify parasites.To detect helminths, it is necessary to conduct a series of stool and blood tests.Treatment mainly depends on the extent of the infection.Folk medicine has many recipes for the treatment of helminthiasis;in difficult cases, it is better to resort to medication.
Classification of helminths
Worms are divided into flat and round.
Flat views:
- Trematodes, including schistosomes, opistorches, etc.
- Cestodes - exinococcus, pig tapeworm, alveococcus.
Roundworms or nematodes:
- Pinworm.
- Ascaris.
- Trichinella.
- Corn worm.
The most common types of helminths are:
Schistosomes
This type of worm is of different species;it looks like a needle with a length of 0.4 to 2.6 cm.Females are considered large and can produce up to 300 larvae per day.
The main way of infection is swimming in contaminated water.Infection occurs through the mucous membranes of a person and as a result of accidental ingestion of contaminated water while bathing.Within a day after entering the body, the larva turns into an adult, capable of creating hundreds of similar organisms.
Schistosoma reaches sexual maturity after entering the venous system of a person through the bloodstream.Individual eggs can be found in the intestines, urine and mucous membranes.After defecation, the schistosome begins its journey in the same way.
This parasite can remain in the human body for decades and cause irreparable damage to the patient.It is not the schistosomes themselves that are dangerous, but their eggs.They accumulate in the internal organs and damage the tissues with their thorns, which often causes various ulcers.
There are symptoms by which a person can determine the presence of schistosomes in the body:
- poor appetite;
- anemia;
- enlarged liver and changes in the spleen;
- poor intestinal motility;
- stomach pain;
- diarrhea or constipation;
- sudden weight loss;
- bleeding in the intestines;
- pain when urinating;
- allergic reactions;
- general weakness.
Cestodes
Cestodes are tapeworms that can grow to enormous lengths.Thus, the length of an adult is on average 0.5 cm.A female cestode can lay up to 200,000 eggs in a year.
Thanks to special devices in the form of suction cups on the heads, cestodes are tightly attached to the intestinal walls.In this case, the whole body suffers.Such worms are especially dangerous for small children, because their vital activity exhausts the body and causes anemia in a short time.
The routes of infection are fecal-oral, that is, they are dirty hands, fruits and vegetables.Once in the intestines, the larvae spread throughout the body through the veins, penetrating the liver, heart and even the oral cavity.A certain number of larvae die, and the rest are swallowed again.
The main symptoms of parasite infection:
- nausea and vomiting;
- yellowness of the skin;
- pancreatitis;
- frequent colds;
- the development of bronchitis and pneumonia.
Prevention of parasitic infection
Since there are many ways to get infected by parasites, it is worth following some rules to protect yourself and family members from possible ingestion of worm larvae.
- Observance of personal hygiene rules.Frequent hand washing will prevent parasites from entering the human body.Children especially need to be taught this because they often put their hands and various objects in their mouths.
- Washing fruits and vegetables thoroughly with running or boiled water.
- Destruction of flying and crawling insects (flies, cockroaches) in residential areas, as they are carriers of helminth eggs.
Many experts believe that every person is a carrier of parasites to one degree or another, so it is necessary to clean the body from time to time.