Parasites in the human bodyoccur completely unexpectedly. This is usually because of direct contact with the source of the infection, for example an infected person or object. There are many types of parasites that can colonize the human body: lamblia, pinworms, alveococci, trichinae, schistosomes, etc.
Parasites in the human body
The human body has a rather complex structure that is prone to various diseases and infections, infections, viruses and parasites. Parasites that settle in the human body are microorganisms that lead a parasitic lifestyle and try to survive by feeding on other organisms, microorganisms, cells, etc.
Parasites that live in the human body are microorganisms that lead a parasitic lifestyle and try to survive by feeding on other organisms, microorganisms, cells, etc.
Parasites, which find fertile ground for life and reproduction in the human body, cause very serious, sometimes irreparable damage to health, destroy the body from the inside, eat it and sometimes lead to the death of a person or stop the work of individual organs thatAlso the quality of life of a person deteriorates, 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. In nature there are also species that can occur in the body of several animal species. Which parasites live in the human body is a question that many people ask themselves.
A wide 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.
Types of parasitism
There are the following types of parasitism: Ectoparasitism - parasites that lead a superficial lifestyle in the human body. This category includes lice, beetles, ticks; Endoparasitism - parasites that affect a person's internal organs. In turn, they are divided into two large groups of protozoa and helminths.
Types of parasitic protozoa: Lamblia, Toxoplasma, Trichoionada. These types of protozoal parasites are most common in the human body.
The classification of parasites related to helminths implies their division into three broad groups: nematodes; Trematodes; cestodes.
Types of parasites in the human body
pinworms
Pinworms are the most well-known parasites in the intestine. The disease caused by pinworms is called enterobiasis. Not only humans suffer from this, but also great apes. Children are at increased risk of pinworm infection. According to various sources, the proportion of their involvement in enterobiasis in preschool age ranges from 25 to 90%. Pinworms are passed on from one person to another. Infection occurs through handshakes, clothing, and objects touched by a sick person, provided that hands have not been washed after contact and pinworm eggs got into the mouth (this is particularly common during a meal).
Flies and cockroaches can carry the eggs of these nematode worms by sowing their food. Pinworms live in the small intestine, in the appendix, in the large intestine. They mate in the ileum, after which the female crawls out of the anus through the rectum and lays eggs in the anus.
Symptoms of enterobiasis are itching in the anal area, intoxication of the body (allergic reactions, exhaustion, tiredness), anemia, an increase in the eosinophil level in the blood, insomnia and abdominal pain.
To get rid of enterobiasis, anthelmintics are used. The dosage and course of treatment are determined by the doctor. To avoid re-infection, it is important to keep your hands clean, wash them after visiting public places, after using the toilet, before eating, etc.
Nails should be cut short, bed and underwear should be thoroughly disinfected and the apartment should be cleaned daily.
Toksokara
Toxocara is a parasite from the nematode group. The disease caused by Toxocara is known as "Toxocariasis". This invasion in humans can be both larval (ocular and visceral) and intestinal. The disease is spread around the world. Toxocara infection occurs when the worm's eggs enter the human digestive tract. This most commonly occurs when consuming 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. In the human body, the worm's larva migrates through the blood vessels and can settle in any organ. The symptoms of the disease depend on it. Toxocariosis most often manifests itself in the form of allergic reactions (Quincke edema, skin rash, bronchial asthma). During an exacerbation of the disease, body temperature can rise up to 38 degrees, but the symptoms of intoxication of the body are weakly expressed.
Toxocariasis can be suspected due to enlarged lymph nodes: The visceral form of toxocariasis occurs most frequently when there is damage to internal organs (intestines, airways, heart valves).
A person may have pain in the abdomen, right hypochondrium, dyspeptic disorders, nausea; When the airways are damaged, a person experiences shortness of breath, dry cough, and attacks of suffocation. When Toxocars settle on the heart valves, the patient has weakness, bruised fingers and a nasolabial triangle, and shortness of breath. The skin shape is characterized by itching, feeling of movement under the skin, inflammation of the skin and the mucous membranes. In the neurological form, the parasite provokes the development of inflammation of the meninges and the brain tissue itself.
It manifests itself in headaches, nausea and vomiting, seizures and other neurological disorders. To treat toxocariases, anthelmintics, as well as pathogenetic and symptomatic therapies are used.
Human Ascaris
Human Ascaris is a roundworm that parasitizes the small intestine. The disease that these parasites cause is called ascariasis. The owner of the roundworm and the source of infection is a sick person. Together with the feces, the worm's eggs end up in the ground, where they mature into larvae. Then this soil is transferred to food or human hands, and if the rules of personal hygiene are not followed, and fruits, vegetables and berries are poorly processed, then it is transferred to the digestive tract.
Children and rural residents are more susceptible to infections. Ascariasis manifests in different ways at different stages of its development. In the phase of the migration of larvae through the body, there is an increase in body temperature, a dry cough appears, wheezing in the lungs and lymph nodes increase in size. Children suffer from ascariasis more than adults.
Allergic skin reactions are a characteristic symptom of ascariasis. During parasitism in the intestine, the patient develops dyspeptic disorders, loose stools are replaced by constipation, frequent abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting appear. On the part of the nervous system, hysterical attacks, insomnia, mental fatigue and headaches are observed.
To treat ascariasis at the stage of larval migration, patients are prescribed some anthelmintics, while other worms parasitize in the intestine.
Hookworm and Nekator
Hookworm and Nekator are two types of roundworms belonging to the Ancylostomatidae family that cause a disease called hookworm. There are two ways of infecting the human body with these parasites: faecal-oral (drinking contaminated water, fruit, vegetables) and percutaneous on contact with the ground (penetration through the skin).
Clinical symptoms of ankylostomiasis: papular vesicular rash, shortness of breath and cough, loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal pain, loose stool, iron deficiency anemia. Treatment is limited to taking anthelmintics and relieving anemia with iron supplements.
Wide ribbon
Broad tapeworm refers to tapeworms of the order Pseudophyilidea. These parasites live in the small intestine of humans and the mammals that eat fish. Infection with a tapeworm leads to the development of a disease such as diphyllobothriasis.
There are 12 types of tapeworm that can parasitize in the human body. However, the widest tapeworm is the most common. Infection occurs when eating raw and thermally 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, an 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
Buller tapeworm is a tapeworm that belongs to the Teniid family. At the larval stage it affects cattle, and at the tapeworm stage it lives in the human body (in the intestines). The tapeworm provokes a disease called teniarinhoz. Usually a parasite is present in the patient's body. Infection in humans occurs via the digestive tract after eating meat (beef) that has been poorly heat-treated.
Clinically, the disease manifests itself in nausea, excessive appetite, abdominal pain, unstable stool and allergic reactions of the urticaria type. To remove the beef tapeworm from the body, an anthelmintic is prescribed. In parallel, the patient should adhere to a slag-free diet, put cleansing enemas, take laxatives. After using an anthelmintic, the worm dies and naturally leaves the human body. Sometimes its length can be up to 12 m.
Pork tapeworm
Pork tapeworm is a parasitic tapeworm that infects mammals. Intermediate carriers can be pigs, dogs, rabbits, camels, but the ultimate owner is always a man.
When an adult parasite is found in a person's body, it speaks of a disease like teniasis. If the parasite is in the larval stage in the patient's body, it is called "cysticercosis".
Pork tapeworm infection occurs when thermally unprocessed pork is eaten. Sometimes the sources of the cysticercini sow hands or water. A patient with teniasis poses an epidemiological danger both to himself (infection by the larvae of the brain, skin, eyes or skeletal muscles) and to others.
Symptoms of teniasis: abdominal pain, loss of appetite, upset stool, headache, frequent dizziness, fainting (teniasis of the brain and eyes is extremely dangerous). The patient is admitted to hospital for treatment of teniasis. He is prescribed anthelmintics under medical supervision. After 2 hours, the patient takes a saline laxative, which is used to remove the segments and eggs of the worm. Surgical intervention is required to treat cysticercosis of the eyes and brain.
Echinococcus
Echinococcus is a tapeworm from the order Cyclophyllidae. Adults parasitize in the intestines of dogs and cats and are found in jackals and wolves. For humans, parasite larvae are dangerous, which can cause a serious disease - echinococcosis. Larvae can infect a person's internal organs and form echinococcal cysts within them. In the case of echinococci, humans act as intermediate hosts.
Infection occurs through contact (when cutting carcasses, when interacting with a sick animal) or through food (when consuming contaminated food or water). People who work in animal husbandry or who have constant contact with animals are at risk. Symptoms may not appear for many years.
When the asymptomatic stage ends, pain, skin itching and urticaria appear at the site of larval invasion. In addition, the function of the organ in which the Echinococcus larva parasitizes suffers. An increase in body temperature and fever are observed during cyst suppuration.
A complete cure of echinococcosis is only possible through an operation. The cyst is peeled, being careful not to damage the membrane. If the bladder is very large, it will be punctured and the contents suctioned out. Before and after the operation, the patient is prescribed antiparasitic drugs. With radical removal of the cyst, the prognosis for recovery is favorable.
Alveococcus
Alveococcus is a helminth from the cestode group. The worm screams for life-threatening alveococcosis, which is characterized by the formation of a primary focus in the liver with subsequent metastasis spreading to other organs. Infection occurs when oncospheres of the parasite enter the mouth.
This can happen while hunting, when cutting wild animal carcasses, when coming into contact with pets, or when consuming unprocessed berries and herbs from the forest. Symptoms of alveococcosis are reduced to pain in the right hypochondrium, belching, and nausea. Often there are itchy, allergic reactions. The suppuration of a tumor with a parasite and its breakthrough into the abdominal or pleural cavity is not excluded.
Alveococcal metastases can be found in the brain and lungs. Treatment of the disease is immediate, but should be supplemented by taking antiparasitic drugs.
Giardia
Giardia (another name for Giardia) are flagellate parasites that belong to the Diplomonadid order. Giardia provokes a disease called "giardiasis" and parasitizes in the small intestine of humans as well as many other mammals and even birds.
Giardia infection occurs via the fecal-oral route: food, water and contact household methods. Of paramount importance in the transmission of infection is the use of raw water, contaminated food, and public objects studded with lamblia cysts. The main symptoms of giardiasis are nausea, painful sensations in the abdomen, stool disorders, and excessive gas.
In addition, patients suffer from allergic reactions, poisoning and neurotic disorders. Therapy of giardiasis is carried out with the help of antiprotozoal drugs, as well as with the inclusion of enzymes, choleretics and enterosorbents in the treatment regimen.
Histological amoeba
Histological amoeba is a protozoal 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. Amoeba infection occurs via the fecal-oral route after mature cysts enter the human gastrointestinal tract from water or food. Possible contact transmission of parasites through unwashed hands. Flies can carry amoeba.
Another way to spread amebiasis is through the sexual route (anal intercourse). Symptoms of amebiasis: strong mucous stool, abdominal pain, blood in the stool, weight loss, anemia. In addition, extraintestinal amebiasis is characterized by the formation of abscesses in the organs affected by the parasites (lungs, brain, liver, etc. ).
Antiprotozoal drugs are prescribed for the treatment of intestinal ambiasis.
The duration of therapy is determined by the severity of the amebiasis.
A disease called gnatostomosis is caused by larvae and sexually mature nematodes Gnathostoma spinigerum. Infection occurs when eating unprocessed fish, frog, or bird meat and drinking uncooked, uncontaminated water. The symptoms of the disease are manifested in cough and pain in the place of penetration of the larva under the skin, in local inflammation and an increase in body temperature.
Severe edema and itching are typical. They usually go away a week after symptoms appear, but will return over the years. Dangerous damage to the eyeball and brain, it is often fatal. Treatment includes taking anthelmintics and surgery. During the operation, parasites are removed from under the skin.
Trichinella
Trichinae are round parasitic worms that live in the muscles (oculomotor, masticatory muscles, diaphragmatic muscles) in the larval stage and in the lumen of the small intestine in adulthood. The disease caused by Trichinella is called "trichinosis". It's deadly.
Humans are infected through the consumption of raw or poorly processed meat from wild animals and domestic animals. Symptoms include loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. In the future there will be muscle pain, swelling of the eyelids and rashes. The treatment of the parasitic infestation is carried out with the help of anthelmintics. At the same time, antihistamines and, if necessary, corticosteroids are prescribed.
Schistosomes
Schistosomes are random worms of the genus Trematodes. They provoke a disease called schistosomiasis. Human infection occurs during bathing, washing clothes or watering the soil with water with schistosome larvae.
They can even penetrate the human body through intact skin and mucous membranes. Symptoms in the acute stage of the disease are manifested by an increase in temperature to a high level, itchy skin and the appearance of papules all over the body.
After the disease becomes chronic, the infected person may show signs of colpitis, prostatitis, colitis, ascites, hydronephrosis, etc. Anthelmintics are used to treat the disease. If there are complications of genitourinary scistosomiasis, surgical intervention is required.
There are many parasites that can harm the human body. Most of them enter their owner's body via the gastrointestinal tract if safe food preparation technology is not followed and basic hygiene procedures are not followed.
Parasites in the body - adaptive properties
- long life expectancy (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 immunodeficiency arises, conditions are created for the penetration of pathogens from outside and for the “disinhibition” of internal sources of infection);
- Many types of helminths that enter the digestive tract release anti-enzymes that protect them from death. The digestive process is disturbed, toxic-allergic reactions of varying severity occur: urticaria, bronchial asthma, neurodermatitis;
- stages of development (egg, larva, change of ownership);
- the ability of eggs to survive in the external environment for years;
- sexual reproduction, in which the exchange of genetic information takes place, and this is already the highest stage of development, which leads to an increase in the heterogeneous population, that is, parasites become less susceptible;
- 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, and to drink only clean water.
Most of the experts are in favor of the drug prevention of helminthiasis with pharmaceutical antiparasitic drugs - a parasitologist will help you choose the necessary drug and correctly calculate its dosage.
You can supplement this therapy with folk remedies with anthelmintic effects - for example, eat more onions, garlic, various spices and pumpkin seeds regularly.