One of the varieties of worms that parasitize the human body is worms, or in other words, helminths. These parasites have an amazing ability to live and multiply very quickly in various internal organs: the liver and kidneys, the brain and muscle tissues, the eyes and the intestines.
Unfortunately, many of us do not properly assess the danger and severity of these parasites, although the diseases caused by worms occur in different parts of the planet. Therefore, a topic like worms: symptoms in adult patients are extremely important for everyone.
Worms: causes and types
For many of us, it is enough to wash our hands often and follow general hygiene rules to avoid getting infected with worms. But this is not the case. Almost 70% of the world's population is a carrier of helminths.
If you are not a doctor who specializes in this field of medicine, it is very difficult to detect the presence of worms in the body of an adult. This is due to the fact that the disease has virtually no obvious symptoms and signs.
There are some of the most common signs that parasites have formed in the body:
- People get tired quickly, often show aggression and anger for no reason. Patients often suffer from severe depression. Such people do not sleep well or suffer from insomnia.
- The patient often presents with pain and discomfort in the abdomen and rumbling, swelling and flatulence. Sick people lose their appetite and lose weight quickly. Or vice versa - patients have an excessive appetite and can not get enough food. Constipation or diarrhea is common.
- Because helminths feed on their "owner's" blood, the patient often develops symptoms such as anemia or anemia.
- Carriers of helminths often suffer from all kinds of rashes on the surface of the skin or mucous membranes, and they also develop various allergic reactions.
If a person shows at least one of these symptoms, he should be alerted and seek medical attention immediately.
The main route for helminths to enter the body is through the gastrointestinal tract, along with food or drink. Experts parasitologists identify the following main ways of infection with parasites:
- Helminthiasis. Parasites enter the patient's body through alcohol or soil. This could be direct contact with animals or the ingestion of flies' eggs placed on food or fruits and vegetables.
- Contact. This route of infection with parasites most likely involves contact with an already infected person.
- Biohelmintosis. In this case, the parasites enter the body due to the consumption of undercooked meat from animals, birds or fish.
- Insect bites. Mosquitoes are one of the most common carriers of worms. At the same time, a mosquito biting a sick or healthy person infects the latter with worms.
From the above, it follows that there are many ways that can cause infection with worms. However, one of the most common and dangerous methods is faeces (with food and water).
The human body is a very complex mechanism with some special barriers that prevent helminths from entering and growing in the body.
One of the first barriers is saliva, which contains many different enzymes. It is these enzymes that have the unique ability to adversely affect the vast majority of worm species.
If the worms are still able to survive, they will penetrate the stomach. But here, too, they are waiting for a very unpleasant surprise - hydrochloric acid and various enzymes, which have all the necessary properties to destroy many species of parasites. In addition, people's natural intestinal immunity cannot be assessed.
Intestinal microflora, enzymes, blood cells - these are tireless fighters against worms. These natural barriers are designed to protect our body from parasites. However, as this armor weakens, our body begins to be actively attacked by various types of worms.
To know exactly how to fight parasites, you need to know their types and characteristics. By classifying worms, there are three main major groups:
- Roundworms. Representatives of this group are also called nematodes and there are more than 24, 000 species of parasites. A distinctive feature of roundworms is their round shape. They have a long and elongated body with two pointed ends. The most common species of this parasite include roundworm, whipworm, pinworm, and trichina.
- Tapeworms. One of the most distinctive features of the life cycle of this type of parasite is that they are intermediate "hosts" of animals or fish. There is almost a 100% chance that tapeworms can be infected by eating uncooked or raw animal or fish meat. The most common representatives of this species are broad-leaved tapeworms, cattle tapeworms, dwarf tapeworms, etc.
- Suckers. Representatives of this group have a flat, leaf-shaped body up to 1, 5 - 2 m long. At one end of the wire there are two suction cups, with the help of which the parasites are attached to the substrate. As a rule, flukes affect the intestines, muscle tissue or the human nervous system.
Diagnosis of worms in humans
It is very difficult to detect the presence of worms in the body of an adult. This is due to the fact that the symptoms of helminthiasis (headache, loss of appetite, fever, dysfunction of the gastrointestinal tract, etc. ) are quite similar to the symptoms of other diseases.
In addition, often the symptoms of the presence of helminths in the patient's body is a banal allergy. It is often the case that a parasitologist with a high probability suspects that the patient has worms, laboratory tests do not confirm this, and the patient is unsuccessfully treated for dysbiosis for a long time.
Worms: symptoms in adults, treatment - a question that has bothered our society for more than a hundred years. One of the most common and frequently used methods for the detection of helminthiasis in adults is fecal analysis for helminth eggs.
Unfortunately, the effectiveness of this method is only 20%. In the remaining 80% of patients, it is impossible to determine the presence of helminths in the body. The low effectiveness of such an analysis is due to the fact that experts do not take into account such a fact as the period of laying eggs by worms. Consider roundworms as an example. They lay their eggs mainly in the morning (4-5 o'clock). This means that no worm eggs will be seen in the stool taken for analysis in the evening.
Parasitologists often use a method such as enterobiosis. The essence of this technique is that a scratch is taken from the patient in the anal canal. Unfortunately, this method is not very effective.
The patient's blood test also does not give high results to determine the presence of helminths. In both cases, the cause is the same - the time of analysis and the time of eruption of the cyst do not coincide.
Some experts use a specially designed test that can answer about 50% of cases of helminthiasis in a patient. Questions for this test:
- Do you feel itching in your anus?
- Whether there is a rash on the skin.
- Do you feel nauseous in the morning.
- You suffer from sleep disorders.
- Do you have bitterness in your mouth?
- Are your lymph nodes swollen?
- Do you feel pain in the muscle area?
If the patient answers 7 questions in the affirmative, it may indicate the presence of helminths in the body of an adult.
Modern medicine suggests using a method such as testing with an ultraviolet skin scanner. Unfortunately, this method is not often used to diagnose helminthiasis. This is due to the fact that the equipment for its implementation (ultraviolet skin scanner) is quite expensive and not every medical institution can afford it.
Using a method such as a histological coprogram, it is possible to determine the presence of not only worm cysts but also body parts in a person's feces. The essence of this method is to examine several layers of feces under an electron microscope. This method allows parasitologists to obtain the most accurate results.
To determine the presence of worms in the patient's lungs, doctors first prescribe an X-ray, as well as a laboratory examination of the patient's sputum.
Parasitologists can easily use a computed tomography or ultrasound scan to determine if there are any parasites in a patient's organs, such as the liver or brain.
A complete blood count or immunological test will help determine if there are any parasites in the patient's blood. Specialists use several methods to determine if a patient has helminthiasis.
Unfortunately, none of them can give the most reliable results. In this regard, there are cases when the treatment process does not give a positive result, but aggravates the clinical picture and the general condition of the patient.
The most effective drugs for the treatment of various types of worms
Worms, symptoms and treatment in adults - these two concepts are closely related and directly related.
The process of treating helminthiasis is very difficult. For example, some diseases caused by helminths are similar to cancer, such as alveococcosis. Tapeworms or other diseases caused by exinococci can only be treated surgically.
The third type of disease cannot be treated with pills. Properly chosen treatment depends on how well the type of parasites in the body of an adult is established.
The complexity of the treatment is that anthelmintic drugs destroy only the adults, while the larvae and eggs remain in the human body and continue to parasitize there.
All drugs used to kill worms can be divided into the following groups:
- Mebendazole-containing products. This group of drugs is most commonly used for ascariasis, teniasis, echinococcosis, alveococcosis, capillary cocci, mixed helminthiasis, etc. used in the treatment of diseases.
- Preparations containing diethylcarbamazine. In particular, these drugs have shown excellent results in the treatment of diseases affecting the human lymphatic system, subcutaneous fibers and eye tissues.
- Means containing the active ingredient Levamisole. Such drugs are usually used for non-kotoroz, enterobiosis, trichostrogillosis, trichocephalosis, etc.
- Preparations containing albendazole. It is mainly used in the treatment of cysticercosis and ascariasis.
Under no circumstances should you forget that self-medication is not recommended when helminthiasis is detected. This can lead to complications and aggravation of the clinical picture of the disease.
The main reason for this is that most anthelmintic drugs have toxic properties and require a specially designed regimen for their use.
In order to achieve a positive treatment, it is necessary to contact a medical professional who specializes in parasitology. In addition, the precondition for treatment is strict adherence to the recommendations of doctors.
Parasites of the human body, such as worms, are extremely dangerous to human health. In order for the treatment process to be most effective, parasitologists try to determine as accurately as possible the type of parasites that live in the patient's body.
Doctors use a fairly large list of drugs to kill worms. However, self-medication is not recommended in any way. Separate treatment regimens, dosage and course duration are developed for the treatment of helminthiasis. It is recommended to strictly follow the instructions of parasitologists.