The question of how to get rid of parasites in the body has become topical.
The article describes what helminths are, where or how they get infected, how to get rid of parasites quickly and how to properly treat yourself at home.
How does the body get infected with parasites?
According to statistics, more than 4 billion people suffer from helminthiasis. Most kinds of parasites have lived in the human body for many years, practically nothing about themselves, and the patient writes off the malaise from poisoning with the waste products of the parasites for ordinary fatigue or gastrointestinal problems.
Why do so many people suffer from helminthiasis? The main problem is that "catching" parasites is not difficult even for a very wealthy person who observes personal hygiene. Parasites often appear in children because they do not have fully developed hygienic skills.
The most common ways to infect the body:
- nutritional route of infection - parasites enter the human body through food, water and dirty hands;
- Contact Household - Infection through touching household items and through contact with infected households or pets;
- communicable - infection with parasites through the blood in insect bites;
- percutaneous - the larva penetrates the skin on contact with the ground or when swimming in bodies of water.
Usually, parasites enter the human body through the mouth. In this way, helminths are particularly common in children who, for example, play in the sandpit and then pull dirty fingers into their mouths.
To prevent infection of the body in this way, you need to strictly adhere to the rules of personal hygiene and carefully ensure that the child eats only washed fruits and vegetables.
Please note that the eggs of the worms are covered with a sticky mass, thanks to which they firmly adhere to surfaces. Therefore, before cooking or eating, you need to wash the food thoroughly.
There is a fairly common disease - giardiasis. It becomes infected by drinking untreated water from the mains or by swallowing water from an open reservoir.
Dogs and cats carry more than a dozen dangerous parasites. If the family has pets, then you need to pay attention to the prevention of infection with parasites: to vaccinate animals, and be sure to wash their paws after walking on the street.
There are certain types of insects (mosquitoes and flies) that carry the eggs of parasites and protozoa.
Parasites can enter the human body through the skin. For example, while walking barefoot on the beach, vacationers risk becoming infected with a hookworm infection: helminth larvae pass through the skin into the bloodstream and then into the small intestine.
A disease called schistosomal dermatitis (bathing itch) is common.
You can get infected with this type of parasite by swimming in a pond that got the feces of a sick person with poorly treated drains.
There is a high risk of contracting parasites from eating poorly processed foods.
Beef and pork are particularly dangerous - cattle and pigs carry parasites such as beef and pork tapeworms.
The disease caused by these parasites is called cysticercosis. The presence of the parasite can be determined by examining the carcass in special laboratories.
With extreme caution, you need to eat the meat of wild animals, for example, wild boar, bears - they can live with Trichinella bacteria that cause trichinosis.
The disease is often fatal. Experts warn that you need to be careful not only with meat, but also when buying lard.
Types of helminths
There are many worms that can parasitize the human body. It is worth considering the most common types of helminths.
Roundworms live in the small intestine, the length of the parasite is 15 - 40 cm. The eggs of these parasites leave the body together with the feces and are in the ground, which is why you must thoroughly rinse the vegetables from the beds before serving.
This type of parasite provokes allergic reactions, internal bleeding, disrupts the functions of the gastrointestinal tract, causes general weakness and decreased performance.
Pinworms get into the human body through contact and everyday life. The length of the adults is 4 - 12 mm. One of the most characteristic symptoms of enterobiasis is itching in the anus.
Trichocephalosis (infection with whipworms) is characterized by symptoms such as seizures, frequent migraines, sleep disorders, gastrointestinal problems (diarrhea, constipation, nausea, in severe cases vomiting).
Trichinella are thin worms, 4-5 mm long. Your body is infected by poorly processed pork or poultry meat.
Symptoms of the disease: the face becomes swollen, a fever occurs, muscle pain.
A few days after infection, the temperature rises sharply, sometimes the blinking becomes painful. Trichinosis can even be fatal.
The beef tapeworm is a long worm that can grow up to 10 m long. The worm can appear in the body of a person who consumes poorly cooked meat.
There is a risk of infection for housewives who taste minced meat while cooking. The disease causes headache, dizziness, vomiting, and loss of appetite.
Wide tapeworm - the length of the worm is up to 15 m and is dangerous to the organisms of those who consume poorly processed river fish.
Typical manifestations of infection are the appearance of bright cracks or spots on the tongue. The symptoms of diphyllobothriasis are mild: it may be drooling, weakness, trouble sleeping, etc.
In public places, the body is often infected with the dwarf tapeworm (the length of the adult worms is only 3 - 5 cm).
Hymenolepiasis causes general deterioration in performance, stomach problems, even epileptic seizures.
Echinococcus is a parasitic organism that is infected through contact with cats and dogs. Its length is 5-6 mm.
Helminth can affect any organ in the body, the clinical picture in each case will be different.
Sometimes only surgery will help get rid of this parasite in the body.
Siberian leech is a small worm 4-13 mm in length. The parasite gets into the body from eating fish that has been cooked without adequate heat treatment.
Opisthorchiasis causes a high fever that can last for several months, jaundice, and gastrointestinal problems can occur.
How do worms appear?
There are many symptoms that indicate the presence of parasites in the body.
It is worth sounding the alarm if a person suddenly begins to lose weight without limiting himself to food - this is one of the sure signs of the appearance of helminths in the body.
A sharp gain in weight, which diets are powerless, can also indicate the presence of parasites in the body.
If, for no good reason, you began to experience insomnia and performance problems, you quickly became tired, headaches became more frequent, an unprecedented allergy developed, then you must definitely go to the clinic for the presence of a specialist to diagnose worms in the body.
Stomach pain, diarrhea, constipation, and other gastrointestinal problems can also indicate the presence of parasites in the body.
So, the following signs may indicate the appearance of worms in the body:
- disruption of the gastrointestinal tract - frequent diarrhea and constipation, abdominal pain, most often in the navel, periodic vomiting, flatulence;
- Central nervous system problems - dizziness, nausea, migraines, fever, sometimes fever;
- allergy - itchy skin, rash, cough appear;
- Decreased immunity - chronic diseases may get worse, diseases of the nasopharynx or problems with the reproductive system may appear.
If you notice any signs of worm infection in yourself, be sure to take the time to see a doctor.
A professional will tell you the best way to get rid of parasites and what medications to use to solve your specific problem.
Choosing the right medication will make your treatment more effective and speed up your recovery.
By the way, it is important to remember that if any person in the family is infected with parasites, then there is a high probability that it will be detected in the body of the rest of the household. In such situations, doctors advise each family member to examine themselves and undergo prophylaxis.
How to treat helminthiasis with drugs
If the suspicion of the presence of parasites in the body has been confirmed by tests, then it is time to start thinking about how to get rid of the worms.
The appearance of parasites in the body can lead to serious health problems, so the only option is to get treatment as soon as possible.
Most often, doctors suggest getting rid of parasites in the body with drugs. The most suitable drug for removing parasites from the body is recommended by a specialist.
Antiparasitic agents treat enterobiasis, ascariasis, necatorosis, toxoplasmosis. Various side effects are possible, for example allergies, insomnia, diarrhea, migraines.
Treatment of parasites at home
Few people like to go back to the clinic and stand in line for a doctor's appointment, so the relevant question is how to get rid of parasites at home. In addition to drug treatment, you can treat parasites and folk methods.
There are a variety of ways to get rid of parasites in the human body without resorting to pharmacological drugs:
- Onion tincture: chopped onion is mixed with vodka, pour the mixture into a half-liter glass, let insist for 10 days. After removing the onion from the tincture and taking the liquid before meals in the amount of two tablespoons;
- Broth from onions: finely chopped onions need to be mixed with water and boiled. Dosage: 50-100 ml 2-3 times a day before meals;
- Horseradish Garlic Tincture: Chopped horseradish and garlic are mixed with vodka (25 grams of each component) and left to steep for 10 days. Dosage: 3 times a day before meals;
- Enema with a decoction of garlic: mix 2 crushed cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons of tansy and half a liter of milk, boil the resulting composition for 10 minutes, then cool the broth and make an enema twice a day. You need to do a weekly course
Garlic is very popular with people.
There are a number of recipes for using it:
- Soften the garlic in the oven and place on the navel for an hour. You can put a couple of cloves of garlic in it;
- a few hours before bedtime, make enemas from garlic, grated and mixed with water;
- Apply thinly chopped garlic to your feet throughout the day. When walking, juice is released from the garlic and penetrates into the blood through absorption into the skin;
- to treat worms in children, a mixture of grated garlic with boiled milk will help. It is recommended to take such a "cocktail" 400 ml twice a day.
Do not get carried away with folk remedies, because modern medicine has a huge arsenal of various pharmacological drugs that allow you to get rid of parasites quickly and effectively.