Helminthiasis
Helminthiasis (helminth infestations or, colloquially, worms) is a disease that is provoked by parasitic worms – helminths that have entered the human body. The habitat of helminths is human organisms, large mammals and even plants. Infection with worms is very common, hundreds of thousands of people around the world are exposed to it every year.
Helminths include round, flat and tapeworms, and each of these subtypes can live and in some cases even multiply in the human body.
CAUSES OF THE DISEASE
Most often, infection occurs through soil contaminated with helminth feces, through dirty vegetables and fruits. Flies also play a role in infecting worms by carrying helminth eggs on their paws and leaving them on products. If water from public reservoirs enters the body, there is also a high risk of infection. Children often get infected from sick animals.
kinds
Today, more than 300 different types of worms are known, each of which causes a particular disease in humans. All species are divided into intestinal and non–intestinal, in the first case, helminths live in the intestine, in the second – they can settle anywhere. The most common helminthic pathologies are intestinal diseases enterobiosis and ascariasis.
Enterobiosis is caused by small pinworms with a length of no more than a centimeter. The worm has a pointed shape at one end – hence its name. Worms are active at night, they crawl out into the rectum and onto the skin around the anus, lay eggs in the skin folds and die, and young worms appear in their place.
Ascariasis is caused by ascariids, larger worms up to 20 cm long. They parasitize mainly on the small intestine and are able to live up to several years.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
It is not so easy for a helminth to break into the human body – it faces a triple barrier: enzymes of the oral cavity, acid in the stomach and immunity. However, in a weakened body, these barriers work poorly, and worms enter the intestines, developing into mature individuals and starting to multiply.
The waste products of worms poison the human body. Helminthiasis manifests itself by weakness, fatigue, impaired appetite, headaches. Abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation are not uncommon. Sensitivity to various allergens increases, skin rashes, runny nose, cough may appear, and in severe cases – bronchial asthma. Worms also undermine the body’s immunity.
Helminthiasis can occur both acutely and chronically. At the acute stage, the main harm to the body is caused by the toxic effects of the metabolic products of worm larvae, inflammatory reactions occur. With the transition of helminthiasis into a chronic course, the symptoms worsen, the body’s defenses are suppressed, there is a detrimental effect on the ability to work, on the work of all body systems, the effectiveness of vaccines decreases, the number of pathogenic microorganisms in the intestine increases.
diagnostics
In the presence of these symptoms, it is necessary to immediately contact a specialist who will give a referral for fecal analysis. If helminth eggs are found in the feces, appropriate treatment will be prescribed.
PRINCIPLES OF TREATMENT
To eliminate helminths, special preparations are intended, the choice of which depends on the type of worms detected. Treatment is carried out on an outpatient basis until all symptoms disappear completely and the absence of helminth eggs in the feces is confirmed by tests.
PREVENTION
Careful processing of vegetables, fruits and meat is the best prevention of helminths. You should also pay sufficient attention to personal hygiene, especially when working with animals and with the ground.
