Parasites in the human bodyappear completely unexpectedly. The reason for this is usually direct contact with the source of infection, such as an infected person or object. There are many types of parasites that can settle in the human body: these can be lamblia, pinworms, alveococci, Trichinella, schistosomes and others.
Parasites in the human body
The human body has a rather complex structure that is susceptible to various diseases and infections, infections, viruses and parasites. Parasites that settle in the human body are microorganisms that lead a parasitic lifestyle, trying to survive by feeding on other organisms, microorganisms, cells, etc.
Parasites that live in the human body are microorganisms that lead a parasitic lifestyle, trying to survive by feeding on other organisms, microorganisms, cells and more.
Parasites, which find fertile ground for life and reproduction in the human body, cause very serious, sometimes irreparable damage to its health, destroy the body from within, eat it and sometimes lead to the death of a person or stop the work of individual organs, which alsoworsens a person's quality of life, depresses and ultimately shortens his life.
There are millions of species of parasitic worms in nature. Of these, there are those that parasitize only one representative of the animal world. But in nature there are also species that can exist in the bodies of several species of animals. What parasites live in the human body is a question that many people ask.
A huge variety of helminth species can live in the human body. Some of them are very rare, while others very often settle inside and can lead a parasitic lifestyle for up to several decades.
Varieties of parasitism
There are the following types of parasitism: ectoparasitism - parasites that lead a superficial lifestyle on the human body. This category includes lice, bugs, ticks; endoparasitism - parasites that affect the internal organs of man. They in turn are divided into two large groups of protozoa and helminths.
Types of parasitic protozoa: lamblia, toxoplasma, trichoionada. These types of protozoan parasites are most commonly found in the human body.
The classification of parasites associated with helminths implies their division into three major groups: nematodes; trematodes; cestodes.
Types of parasites in the human body
Blades
Pinworms are the most common parasites in the gut. The disease caused by pinworms is called enterobiosis. Not only humans but also great apes suffer from it. Children are at increased risk of pinworm infection. According to various sources, the level of their participation in preschool enterobiosis varies from 25 to 90%. Pinworms are passed from one person to another. Infection occurs through handshakes, clothing and any objects touched by a sick person, provided that after contact the hands have not been washed and the eggs of the spikes have fallen into the mouth (this happens especially often during meals).
Flies and cockroaches can lay the eggs of these nematode worms by sowing their food. Pinworms live in the small intestine, in the caecum, in the large intestine. They mate in the ileum, after which the female crawls from the anus through the rectum and lays eggs in the anus.
Symptoms of enterobiosis include itching in the anal area, intoxication of the body (allergic reactions, exhaustion, fatigue), anemia, increased levels of eosinophils in the blood, insomnia and abdominal pain.
Anthelmintics are used to get rid of enterobiosis. The dosage and course of treatment are chosen by the doctor. To avoid re-infection, it is important to keep your hands clean, wash them after visiting any public places, after using the toilet, before eating, etc.
Nails should be trimmed, bed and linen thoroughly disinfected, and the apartment cleaned daily.
Toxocara
Toxocara is a parasite of the nematode group. The disease caused by toxocariasis is called "toxocariasis". This invasion in humans can be larval (ocular and visceral) as well as intestinal. The disease is widespread throughout the world. Toxocara infection occurs when the worm's eggs enter the human digestive tract. This is most commonly seen when eating food or water contaminated with dog feces. Contact with sick animals is no less dangerous.
Natural carriers of Toxocara are cats and dogs, foxes and wolves. Once in the human body, the worm larva migrates through blood vessels and can settle in any organ. The symptoms of the disease will depend on this. Most often toxocariasis manifests itself in the form of allergic reactions (Quincke's edema, skin rash, bronchial asthma). During the exacerbation of the disease, the body temperature may rise to 38 degrees, but the symptoms of intoxication of the body are mild.
Toxocariasis can be suspected by enlarged lymph nodes: the visceral form of toxocariasis is the most common, occurring with damage to internal organs (intestine, respiratory system, heart valves).
A person may experience abdominal pain, right hypochondrium, dyspepsia, nausea; if the respiratory system is damaged, a person has shortness of breath, dry cough, suffocation attacks; if toxocariasis settles on the heart valves, then the patient has weakness, blue fingers and nasolabial triangle, shortness of breath; the skin form is characterized by itching, a feeling of movement under the skin, inflammation of the skin and mucous membranes; in the neurological form, the parasite provokes the development of inflammation of the meninges and brain tissues themselves.
Manifested in headache, nausea and vomiting, seizures and other neurological disorders. Anthelmintic drugs as well as pathogenetic and symptomatic therapy are used to treat toxocariasis.
Human roundworms
The human ascaris is a roundworm that parasitizes the small intestine. The disease that these parasites provoke is called ascariasis. The owner of the roundworms and the source of the infection is a sick person. Along with their feces, the worm eggs enter the soil, where they mature to larvae. This soil is then transferred to food or human hands, and if the rules of personal hygiene are not observed and if the fruits, vegetables and fruits are poorly processed, it is transferred to the digestive tract.
Children and rural people are more susceptible to infection. Ascariasis manifests itself in different stages of its development in different ways. In the phase of migration of larvae through the body there is an increase in body temperature, there is a dry cough, wheezing in the lungs and lymph nodes increase in size. Children suffer from ascariasis more severely than adults.
Allergic skin reactions are a characteristic symptom of ascariasis. During intestinal parasitism, the patient develops dyspeptic disorders, loose stools are replaced by constipation, and frequent abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting occur. On the part of the nervous system there are hysterical seizures, insomnia, mental fatigue and headaches.
For the treatment of ascariasis in the larval stage, patients are prescribed some anthelmintic drugs, while parasitizing worms in the intestine, others.
Hookworm and some
Hookworm and some are two types of roundworms that belong to the Ancylostomatidae family and cause a disease called hookworm. There are two ways to infect the human body with these parasites - fecal-oral (drinking contaminated water, fruits, vegetables) and percutaneous in contact with the soil (penetration through the skin).
Clinical symptoms of hookworm: papular vesicular rash, shortness of breath and cough, loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal pain, loose stools, iron deficiency anemia. Treatment is reduced to taking anthelmintic drugs and eliminating anemia with iron supplements.
Wide bar
Broad tapeworm refers to tapeworms of the order Pseudophyilidea. These parasites live in the small intestines of humans and those mammals that consume fish. Tapeworm infection provokes the development of a disease such as diphyllobotriasis.
There are 12 types of tapeworms that can parasitize the human body, but the widest tapeworm is the most common. Infection occurs when eating raw and unprocessed lightly salted fish or caviar that contains worm eggs. Symptoms of the presence of the parasite in the intestine: nausea, abdominal pain, anemia.
In severe cases, intestinal obstruction develops. To get rid of the parasite, patients are prescribed antiparasitic drugs. After completing the therapeutic course, a second study for the presence of a worm in the body is mandatory. If necessary, the use of anthelmintics is repeated.
Bull tapeworm
Taurus bull is a tapeworm belonging to the teniid family. In the larval stage it affects cattle, and in the tapeworm stage it lives in the human body (in the intestines). Tapeworm provokes a disease called tapeworm disease, as a rule a parasite is present in the patient's body. Human infection occurs in the digestive tract after eating poorly cooked meat (beef).
Clinically, the disease is manifested by nausea, excessive appetite, abdominal pain, unstable stools and allergic reactions such as urticaria. An anthelmintic is prescribed to remove bovine tapeworm from the body. In parallel, the patient should adhere to a slag-free diet, apply cleansing enemas, take laxatives. After using an anthelmintic, the worm dies and leaves the human body naturally. Sometimes its length can be up to 12m.
Pork tapeworm
Swine tapeworm is a parasitic tapeworm that infects mammals. Intermediate carriers can be pigs, dogs, rabbits, camels, but the ultimate owner is always a man.
If an adult parasite is found in a person's body, they are talking about a disease like tenia. When the parasite is in the patient's body in the larval stage, the disease is called "cysticercosis".
Pork tapeworms become infected when eating unprocessed pork. Sometimes the sources of cysticercini are sowing by hand or water. A patient with teniasis poses an epidemiological danger both to himself (infection of the larvae of the brain, skin, eyes or skeletal muscles) and to others.
Symptoms of teniasis: abdominal pain, loss of appetite, stool disorders, headache, frequent dizziness, seizures (brain and eye teniasis is extremely dangerous). For the treatment of teniasis, the patient was hospitalized. Under the supervision of doctors, anthelmintics are prescribed, after which after 2 hours the patient takes a physiological laxative, which allows him to get rid of the segments and eggs of the worm. Surgery is needed to treat cysticercosis of the eyes and brain.
Echinococcus
Echinococcus is a tapeworm of the order Cyclophyllidae. Adults parasitize in the intestines of dogs and cats and are found in jackals and wolves. For humans, parasitic larvae are dangerous, which can cause a serious disease - echinococcosis. The larvae can infect a person's internal organs, forming echinococcal cysts in them. For echinococci, humans act as an intermediate host.
Infection occurs through contact (in the process of cutting carcasses, when interacting with a sick animal) or through food (when eating contaminated food or water). At risk are people who are engaged in animal husbandry or have constant contact with animals. Symptoms may not appear for many years.
When the asymptomatic stage is over, pain, itchy skin and urticaria appear at the site of larval invasion. In addition, the functioning of the organ in which the echinococcus larva parasitizes suffers. During heating of the cyst, an increase in body temperature and fever is observed.
Complete cure for echinococcosis is possible only through surgery. The cyst is peeled, taking care not to damage its membrane. If the bladder is very large, it is punctured and the contents are sucked out. Antiparasitic drugs are prescribed to the patient before and after the operation. In case of radical removal of the cyst, the prognosis for recovery is favorable.
Alveococcus
Alveococcus is a helminth from the cestode group. The worm causes a life-threatening disease, alveococcosis, which is characterized by the formation of a primary focus in the liver with subsequent spread of metastases to other organs. Infection occurs when the parasite's oncospheres enter the mouth.
This can happen during hunting, in the process of cutting carcasses of wild animals, in contact with domestic animals or when eating unprocessed fruits and herbs from the forest. The symptoms of alveococcosis are reduced to pain in the right hypochondrium, belching, nausea. There are often itching, allergic reactions. Suppuration of a tumor with a parasite and its penetration into the abdominal or pleural cavity is not excluded.
Alveococcal metastases can be found in the brain and lungs. Treatment of the disease is rapid, but should be supplemented with antiparasitic drugs.
Giardia
Giardia (another name for Giardia) is a bull parasite belonging to the order Diplomonadid. Giardia provokes a disease called giardiasis and parasitizes the small intestines of humans, as well as many other mammals and even birds.
Giardia infection occurs via the faecal-oral route: food, water and household contact methods. The most important in terms of transmission of the infection is the use of raw water, contaminated food, the use of public objects sown with cysts of Giardia. The leading symptoms of giardiasis are nausea, abdominal pain, stool disorders and excessive gas.
In addition, patients suffer from allergic reactions, intoxication and neurotic disorders. The therapy of giardiasis is performed with the help of antiprotozoal drugs, as well as with the inclusion of enzymes, choleretic agents and enterosorbents in the treatment regimen.
Histological amoeba
The histological amoeba is a protozoan parasite that causes a disease called amoebiasis. The disease is manifested by the formation of ulcers in the colon, followed by damage to other internal organs. Infection with amoebae occurs via the faecal-oral route after mature cysts from water or food enter the human gastrointestinal tract. Possible contact transmission of parasites through unwashed hands. Flies can be carriers of amoebae.
The duration of therapy is determined by the severity of the amoebiasis.Another way to spread amoebiasis is through sexual intercourse (anal intercourse). Symptoms of amoebiasis: heavy mucous stools, abdominal pain, blood in the stools, weight loss, anemia. In addition, extraintestinal amoebiasis is characterized by the formation of abscesses in those organs that are affected by parasites (lungs, brain, liver, etc. ).
Antiprotozoal drugs are prescribed to treat intestinal ambiasis.
A disease called gnathostomosis is caused by the larvae and sexually mature nematodes Gnathostoma spinigerum. Infection occurs when eating unprocessed fish, frog or poultry, as well as when drinking unboiled, unpolluted water. The symptoms of the disease are manifested in cough and pain at the site of penetration of the larva under the skin, in local inflammation and fever.
Severe swelling and itching are typical. As a rule, after a week of the onset of symptoms, they disappear, but recur over the years. Dangerous damage to the eyeball and brain is often fatal. Treatment includes anthelmintics and surgery. During the operation, the parasites are removed from under the skin.
Trichinella
Trichinella are round parasitic worms that live in the muscles (oculomotor, masticatory, diaphragmatic muscles) in the larval stage and in the lumen of the small intestine in adulthood. The disease caused by Trichinella is called "trichinosis". This is deadly.
Human infection occurs through the consumption of raw or poorly processed meat from wild and domestic animals. Symptoms include loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. In the future, join muscle pain, swelling of the eyelids and skin rashes. The treatment of parasitic infection is carried out with the help of anthelmintic drugs. At the same time, antihistamines and corticosteroids are prescribed if necessary.
Schistosomes
Schistosomes are methyl worms of the genus trematodes. They provoke a disease called schistosomiasis. Human infection occurs during bathing, in the process of washing clothes or watering the ground with water with schistosome larvae.
They are able to penetrate the human body even through intact skin and mucous membranes. The symptoms in the acute stage of the disease are manifested in a rise in temperature to high levels, itchy skin and the appearance of papules all over the body.
Once the disease becomes chronic, the infected person may show signs of colpitis, prostatitis, colitis, ascites, hydronephrosis and others. Anthelmintic drugs are used to treat the disease. Surgery is required for complications of urogenital schistosomiasis.
There are many parasites that can harm the human body. Most of them enter the body of the owner through the gastrointestinal tract, if the technology for safe cooking is not followed and the basic hygiene procedures are not followed.
Parasites in the body - adaptive properties
- long lifespan (helminths live in the human body for years and sometimes as long as the host of the parasite lives); the ability to suppress or modify the immune response of the host organism (a state of immune deficiency occurs, conditions are created for the penetration of pathogenic agents from the outside, as well as for "disinhibition" of internal foci of infection);
- many species of helminths, entering the digestive tract, release antienzymes, which saves them from death; the process of digestion is disturbed, toxic-allergic reactions of varying severity occur: urticaria, bronchial asthma, atopic dermatitis;
- stages of development (egg, larva, change of owner);
- the ability of eggs to survive for years in the external environment;
- sexual reproduction, in which the exchange of genetic information takes place and this is already the highest stage of development, leading to an increase in the heterogeneous population, ie parasites become less vulnerable;
- lack of immunization methods, as the immune response is weak and unstable;
- widespread helminths, many habitats (water, soil, air, plants and animals).
Prevention of parasites in the body
Preventive measures to prevent parasite infestation should be comprehensive. First of all, it is necessary to follow the basic rules of personal hygiene, to eat only washed fruits, vegetables, as well as heat-treated fish and meat, to drink only clean water.
Most experts advocate for the drug prevention of helminthiasis using pharmaceutical antiparasitic drugs - a parasitologist will help you choose the right drug and correctly calculate its dose.
You can supplement this therapy with folk remedies that have anthelmintic action - for example, eat more onions, garlic, various spices, regularly eat pumpkin seeds.