Infection with helminths is possible even in our civilized society. These parasites quietly sneak into the body and poison it with the products of their vital activity. Helminth secretions are toxic and cause various ailments - from hives to serious health problems. There are also deaths.
Common symptoms of worm infestation
Helminths live not only in the human intestines, some types of parasites also affect other organs, they can even be found in skeletal muscles. Therefore, the course of each helminthiasis has its own characteristic features, but there are still common symptoms:
- decrease in working capacity;
- fast fatiguability;
- intoxication;
- weakness;
- drowsiness;
- lack of appetite;
- weight loss
- pain in the joints;
- constipation;
- bowel disorder;
- intolerance to any type of food.
Sadly, so many people are infected with parasites, some do not even know about it. Eggs or cysts can be swallowed along with seemingly clean food. Often worms settle in a child's body, getting along with poorly washed fruits and vegetables, through dirty hands, from cats, dogs, etc. The trouble is that often there is not even a suspicion that someone else lives inside us, since there are types of parasites that do not manifest themselves for a long time. Therefore, it is worth learning more about worms, what types are there and what symptoms of infection cause.
round worms in humans
In the human body, pinworms, roundworms, whipworms and trichinella (less often) can live.
Roundworms are roundworms with a spindle-shaped body, having a length of 15-40 cm and a width of 4-6 mm. This helminth lives in the small intestine, although there are cases when roundworms crawl into the bile ducts and clog them. Inside a person, females mate with males and lay eggs, which come out with feces.
A person is not infected with roundworms living in animals.
Further, the eggs need to ripen in the soil. If they enter the human body with unwashed fruits or vegetables, the larvae are excreted in the intestines, they quickly penetrate the blood vessels and reach the lungs with the blood stream. There, the larvae mature and migrate to the intestine through the trachea and oral cavity. And there new individuals are already being bred and everything is repeated. Roundworms live up to 14 months.
With ascariasis, appetite decreases, there is nausea, diarrhea, pain in the intestines, and allergic manifestations. Sleep is also disturbed, irritability appears. When migrating from the lungs, there may be a cough. With the accumulation of ascaris and the formation of a ball by them, intestinal obstruction may develop.
Pinworms are small whitish worms 3-12 mm long. Pinworms live in the small and large intestines. It is very easy to get infected with these helminths, it is enough not to wash your hands, or you can even swallow helminth eggs by inhaling dust. Female pinworms lay their eggs in the anus, causing intense itching. The eggs of pinworms are so small that they can even be found indoors in the raised dust.
You can get infected through linen, hygiene items, products, a handshake, etc. Further, pinworms undergo the same migration as roundworms. Adult individuals live in a person for a short time, only 1-2 months, and with appropriate hygiene, they can be disposed of in a short time. In addition to itching, there are: insomnia, absent-mindedness, irritability, allergic rash.
Whipworms are thin worms that live in the large intestine and reach a length of 30-35 mm. You can get infected with parasites in the same way as with roundworms. Whipworms stick to the walls of the intestines and suck blood. The toxins released by them cause headaches, poor sleep, dizziness, and nausea. The life span of helminths is 5 years.
Trichinella are small worms, they are only up to 4 mm long. A person becomes infected through raw pig meat, which contains larvae. Adults live in the intestines, mate and lay eggs, after which they die. Trichinella larvae are excreted, they penetrate from the intestines into the muscle tissue, where they form a capsule and can stay for years.
Helminthiasis causes the following disorders in the body:
- puffiness of the face;
- swelling of the eyelids;
- swelling in the legs and hands;
- skin rash;
- muscle pain;
- fever, temperature;
- headache;
- insomnia or, conversely, drowsiness;
- decreased mobility of the knee and elbow joints;
- gastrointestinal disturbances are observed.
Trichinosis is partially cured, because if adult worms can be destroyed with drugs, then the larvae in the skeletal muscles cannot be killed.
Tapeworms in humans
Bull tapeworm can be up to 10 m long. Infection occurs when eating poorly cooked beef, which contains helminth larvae. Housewives can become infected by tasting raw minced meat for salt. In the body, saltpeter develops from the larva, which lives in the intestine, attaching to the wall in order to hold on. A person loses weight, loses appetite, dizziness, insomnia, nausea, and often vomiting.
Pork tapeworm is smaller, it reaches only 2 m. Infection occurs after eating poorly processed pig meat. The symptoms are the same as with bull tapeworm.
A wide tapeworm has a length of 6 m to 15 m. The source of infection is raw freshwater fish. Helminthiasis is manifested by weakness, nausea, vomiting, salivation, abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea. There are always bright red painful spots and even cracks on the tongue.
The pygmy tapeworm has a length of 3-5 cm. They become infected with this helminth through contaminated door handles, toilet seats, if they have worm eggs on them. Children get sick more often. Helminthiasis causes a decrease in appetite, nausea and abdominal pain, and sometimes diarrhea. In rare cases, children may have seizures similar to epileptic seizures.
Echinococcus is one of the most dangerous helminths. Infection occurs from dogs and cats - carriers of adult parasites. In the human body, larvae are hatched from eggs, which are transferred with the bloodstream to different organs, more often to the liver, and there they form echinococcal cysts. In some cases, they even reach the size of a newborn baby's head. Cysts are removed only by surgery.
Flukes in humans
The fluke parasitizes in the bile ducts and in the gallbladder itself. The size of helminths is small - 4-13 mm. The parasite enters the body through the use of lightly salted or poorly cooked (fried) fish. First, this helminthiasis manifests itself with a high temperature (up to 40 degrees), pain in the joints and muscles, disorders in the gastrointestinal tract, and in rare cases, jaundice develops. Then the acute symptoms fade away, there are paroxysmal pains in the pancreas. There may be complications.
Fasciola is dangerous to health. Worms are up to 3-7 cm long, they also settle in the gallbladder and biliary tract. A person becomes infected through unboiled water or by eating aquatic plants. There is weakness, fever, pain in the head and abdomen, urticaria.
In conclusion about human helminths
Some types of worms live in the human body for years, as they can hardly manifest themselves in any way. Often, the symptoms of helminthiases are similar to gastrointestinal diseases, so an erroneous diagnosis is made if special tests are not made to detect helminths. But any parasites urgently need to be disposed of, as they not only take away useful substances from the body, but also release toxins that are dangerous to health.