There are several ways to infect people with parasites. Statistics say that parasites in the body and infectious diseases are a common cause of death in humans.
Scientists have found fungi, bacteria and even algae in the blood plasma. Intestinal worms are the most common.
Parasites can live inside a person for a long time. In 60% of cases, chronic and oncological diseases are caused by their vital activity. With prolonged contact with microorganisms, the internal organs and the entire immune system suffer.
Methods of infection with parasites
There are several ways to get infected with parasites. Parasites are microorganisms that live at the expense of another organism and are biologically and ecologically related to it. Parasites can feed on the juice, tissues, and products that a person consumes and remain in the body temporarily or permanently.
You can become infected with helminths in the following ways:
- Through dirty hands.
- When in contact with the ground.
- For insect bites.
- When you eat an undercooked piece of meat or fish.
- If not, wash fruits and vegetables before eating.
- When contact with animals is illiterate.
- In contact with a sick person with helminths.
Worm eggs can be found in soil, water, dirty fruits and vegetables, and meat or fish that have not undergone adequate heat treatment.
In some cases, infection can occur from an insect bite, but this is extremely rare, since mainly worm eggs enter the body with food. Dirty hands can also become a source of infection with helminthiasis.
You can also get infected from a sick person who is a carrier of pinworms. The pinworm crawls out through the anus and lays its eggs in the anus. They, in turn, can remain on the underwear and be in the hands of a person. The larvae can remain on the toilet, the front door handle, on other objects. If the rules of personal hygiene are not observed, they enter the body of other family members. If helminths are found in one of the family members, then all household members must undergo treatment.
Aquatic infection occurs from drinking unboiled water or bathing.
What types of helminths are there?
The most common group of intestinal worms, which also includes nematodes. These include hookworms, roundworms, pinworms, heartworms and trichinella.
The second large group includes protozoa, or unicellular parasites. These are amoebas, giardia, neospores, cryptosporidia, etc.
Chistolytic Entameba infection can occur from drinking contaminated water. In this case, loose stools appear, there is severe pain in the abdomen, vomiting. In severe cases, such manifestations sometimes lead to a complication of the liver. People often mistake amoebic dysentery for a viral infection.
Millions of single-celled parasites can exist and develop on the walls of the stomach, which do not allow the nutrients necessary for the body to be properly absorbed.
Characteristic signs of giardiasis
The symptoms of a parasite infestation are as follows:
- Accumulation of gases in the stomach.
- Uneven bowel movements with pieces of undigested food.
- Chills.
- Increased sweating.
- Frequent abdominal pain.
- liquid stool.
In the absence of treatment against parasites, a person will lose weight over time and often get sick due to the depletion of the immune system. Of course, it is not advisable to be guided only by the symptoms to identify parasites. It is necessary to do a series of stool and blood tests to detect helminths. Treatment largely depends on the degree of infection. In folk medicine there are many recipes for the treatment of helminthiasis, in difficult cases it is better to resort to a medical method of treatment.
Classification of helminths
Worms are divided into flat and round.
Flat views:
- Trematodes, these include schistosomes, opisthorchis, etc.
- Cestodes - Echinococcus, Tapeworm, Alveococcus.
Roundworms or Nematodes:
- pinworm.
- Askaris.
- trichinella.
- hookworm.
The following types of helminths are the most common.
schistosomes
This type of worm is heterosexual and outwardly resembles a needle 0. 4-2. 6 cm long. Females are considered large and can produce up to 300 larvae per day.
Transmission routes are mainly through bathing in polluted waters. Infection occurs through a person's mucous membranes and accidental ingestion of dirty water while bathing. Once in the body, within a day the larva turns into an adult that can produce hundreds of similar organisms.
The schistosome reaches puberty after entering the human venous system with blood flow. An individual's eggs can be found in the intestines, urine, and mucous membranes. After a bowel movement, the schistosome begins its journey in the same way.
This parasite can remain in the human body for decades, causing irreparable damage to the patient. It is not the schistosomes themselves that are dangerous, but their eggs. They accumulate on the internal organs and cause damage with their spines, which damage the tissues, which often causes various ulcers.
There are symptoms by which a person can determine the presence of schistosomes in the body:
- poor appetite;
- Anemia;
- liver enlargement and spleen change;
- poor intestinal motility;
- Stomach pain;
- diarrhea or constipation;
- severe weight loss;
- bleeding in the intestines;
- pain when urinating;
- allergic reaction;
- general weakness.
cestodes
Cestodes are tapeworms that can reach gigantic lengths. So, the length of an adult individual averages 0. 5 cm. The female of the cestode can lay up to 200 thousand eggs during the year.
Due to special devices on the heads in the form of suction cups, cestodes are firmly attached to the walls of the intestine. In this case, the whole body suffers. Such worms are particularly dangerous for small children, since they exhaust the body with their vital activity and cause anemia in a short time.
The routes of infection are faecal-oral, i. H. it's dirty hands, fruits and vegetables. Once in the intestines, the larvae spread through the veins throughout the body, invading the liver, heart and even the oral cavity. A certain number of larvae die off while the rest are swallowed again.
The main signs of infection with parasites:
- nausea and vomiting;
- yellowing of the skin;
- pancreatitis;
- frequent colds;
- Development of bronchitis and pneumonia.
Prevent parasite infestation
Since there are many ways of getting infected with parasites, it is worth observing a few rules to protect yourself and family members from possible ingestion of worm larvae.
- Compliance with the rules of personal hygiene. Frequent hand washing prevents parasites from entering the human body. Children in particular need to be taught this as they often put their hands and various objects in their mouths.
- Thorough washing of fruits and vegetables with running or boiled water.
- Destruction of flying and crawling insects (flies, cockroaches) in living quarters, as they are carriers of worm eggs.
Many experts believe that everyone is a parasite carrier to some extent, so you should cleanse the body from time to time.