One of the types of worms that parasitize in the human body is worms, or in other words, helminths. These parasites have an amazing ability to live and multiply extremely quickly in a wide variety of internal organs: the liver and kidneys, brain and muscle tissue, eyes and intestines.
To our great regret, many of us simply underestimate the danger and severity of these parasites as diseases caused by worms occur in different parts of the world. Therefore, a subject like worms: symptoms in adult patients is of great concern to everyone.
Worms: causes and types
Many of us think that it is enough to wash our hands more often and to adhere to general hygiene rules in order not to get infected with worms. But it is not like that. Almost 70% of the world's population are carriers of helminths.
It is quite difficult to detect the presence of worms in an adult's body unless you are a doctor who specializes in this field of medicine. This is because the disease has practically no obvious symptoms and signs.
There are some of the most common signs that may indicate that parasites have appeared in the body:
- A person gets tired quickly, often showing aggression and anger for no apparent reason. Patients are often severely depressed. Such people do not sleep well or suffer from insomnia.
- In the patient's abdomen, pain and discomfort, as well as growling, flatulence, and flatulence are often manifested. Sick people lose their appetite and lose weight quickly. Or maybe the other way around - patients have an excessively strong appetite and cannot get enough food. Constipation or diarrhea are common.
- By feeding on the blood of their "owner" to helminths, the patient often develops symptoms such as anemia or anemia.
- Often, wearers of helminths suffer from skin or mucous membrane rashes of all kinds, and also develop various allergic reactions.
If a person shows at least one of these signs, it should alert them and initiate an urgent request to a medical facility.
The main route that helminths enter the body is through the gastrointestinal tract, along with food or drink. Parasitologists differentiate between the following main ways of parasite infestation:
- Helminthiasis. Parasites enter the patient's body through drinks or soil. This can be direct contact with animals or the ingestion of eggs from flies that have been laid on food or fruit and vegetables.
- Contact. This route of infection with parasites is likely to occur through contact with an already infected person.
- Biohelminthiasis. In this case, parasites get into the body from eating poorly cooked meat from animals, poultry or fish.
- Insect bites. Mosquitoes are one of the most common vectors of worms. While the mosquito bites one sick and healthy person, it infects the second with worms.
From the foregoing, it follows that there are many ways to cause worm infection. However, one of the most common and dangerous methods is the fecal-oral (with food and water).
The human body is a rather complex mechanism that has some specific barriers that prevent helminths from entering and developing into the body.
One of the first barriers is saliva, which contains many different enzymes. It is these enzymes that have a unique ability to adversely affect the vast majority of species of worms.
If the worms still survive, they will invade the stomach. But even here, a rather unpleasant surprise awaits them - hydrochloric acid and various enzymes, which have all the necessary properties to destroy a large number of species of parasites. In addition, the natural intestinal immunity of humans should not be underestimated.
Intestinal flora, enzymes, blood cells - these are the tireless fighters against worms. It is these natural barriers that are supposed to protect our body from parasites. However, once this armor wears off, our bodies are actively attacked by various types of worms.
In order to know exactly how to deal with parasites, you need to know their varieties and properties. When classifying worms, there are three major main groups:
- Roundworms. Representatives of this group are also called nematodes and have more than 24, 000 types of parasites. A special feature of roundworms is their round shape in cross-section. They have a long and elongated body, both ends of which are pointed. The most common types of this type of parasite include roundworms, whipworms, pinworms, and trichinae.
- Tapeworms. Among the most characteristic features of the life cycle of this type of parasite is the fact that they have an intermediate "host" which is an animal or a fish. Eating poorly cooked or raw animal or fish meat has an almost 100 percent chance of contracting tapeworms. The most common representatives of this species are broad-bandworm, beef tapeworm, dwarf tapeworm, etc.
- Mammal. Representatives of this group have a flat, leaf-shaped body, up to 1, 5 - 2 m long. At one end of the valley there are two suction cups that are used to attach the parasites to the substrate. Usually, leeches affect the intestines, muscle tissue, or the human nervous system.
Diagnosing worms in humans
It is quite difficult to determine the presence of worms in an adult's body. This is because the symptoms of helminthiasis (headache, loss of appetite, fever, gastrointestinal dysfunction, etc. ) are very similar to symptoms of other diseases.
In addition, often the symptoms of the presence of helminths in the patient's body are a banal allergy. There are often cases when a parasitologist suspects with a high probability that the patient has worms, laboratory tests do not confirm this, and the patient has been unsuccessfully treated for dysbiosis for a long time.
Worms: symptoms in adults, treatment - a question that has preoccupied our society for more than a hundred years. One of the most common and widely used methods of determining helminthiasis in adults is to analyze feces for helminth eggs.
Unfortunately, the percentage efficiency of this method is only 20%. And in the remaining 80% of patients, it is impossible to diagnose the presence of helminths in the body. The low efficiency of such an analysis lies in the fact that specialists do not take into account such a fact as the laying of eggs by worms. As an example, consider roundworms. They lay eggs mainly in the morning (around 4 a. m. - 5 a. m. ). This means that the feces removed for analysis in the evening will not have worm eggs in them.
Parasitologists often use a method such as enterobiasis. The essence of this technique is that a scraping is taken from the patient in the anal canal. Unfortunately, this method is not very effective either.
The patient's blood test also does not give high rates of detection of the presence of helminths. In both cases, the reason is the same - the time of analysis and the period of cyst shedding do not coincide.
Some experts use a specially designed test, by answering it, it is possible to determine about 50% of the development of helminthiasis in a patient. Here are the questions for this test:
- Do you feel itching in your anus?
- Whether there is a rash.
- Feel sick in the morning.
- Do you suffer from insomnia?
- Do you have a bitterness in your mouth?
- Are Your Lymph Nodes Swollen?
- Do you notice pain in the muscle area?
If the patient answers positively to 7 questions, it may indicate the presence of helminths in the body of an adult.
Modern medicine suggests using such a method as testing with an ultraviolet skin scanner. Unfortunately, this method of diagnosing helminthiasis is not often used. This is because the equipment to do it (ultraviolet skin scanners) is quite expensive and not every medical establishment can afford to buy it.
It is possible to determine the presence of worm cysts in a person's feces, but also parts of their body, using a method such as a histological coprogram. The essence of this method is to examine multiple layers of feces under an electron microscope. This method allows parasitologists to get 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.
Using computed tomography or ultrasound, parasitologists can easily determine the presence of parasites in the patient's organs, such as the liver or brain.
A complete blood count or immunological tests will help detect the presence of parasites in the patient's blood. To determine whether a patient has helminthiasis, specialists use various methods.
Unfortunately, none of them can give the most reliable result. In this regard, there are cases when the treatment process does not give positive results, but only aggravates the clinical picture and general condition of the patient.
The most effective drugs used to treat different types of worms
Adult worms, symptoms and treatment - these two concepts are closely related and directly related.
The process of treating helminthiasis is quite a difficult task. For example, some diseases caused by helminths are similar to cancer, such as alveococosis. Other diseases caused by tapeworms or echinococci can only be treated surgically.
The third type of disease cannot be treated with pills. The correctly chosen method of treatment depends on how correctly the type of parasites that have settled in the body of an adult has been determined.
The complexity of treatment lies in the fact that anthelmintics only destroy adults, and the larvae and eggs remain in the human body and continue to parasitize there.
All drugs that are used to kill worms can conditionally be divided into the following groups:
- Means containing mebendazole. This group of drugs is most widely used in the treatment of diseases such as ascariasis, teniasis, echinococcosis, alveococcosis, capillary coccosis, mixed-type helminthiasis, etc.
- Preparations containing diethylcarbamazine. Basically, these agents have shown excellent results in the treatment of diseases affecting the human lymphatic system, the fibers located under the skin and eye tissues.
- Means, the active substance of which is levamisole. Such agents are usually used to treat non-cotorosis, enterobiasis, trichostroglilosis, trichocephalosis, etc.
- Preparations containing albendazole. It is mainly used to treat cysticercosis and ascariasis.
In no case, do not forget that self-medication is not recommended if helminthiasis is detected. This can lead to complications and a worsening of the clinical picture.
The main reason for this is that most anthelmintics have toxic properties and require a specially designed scheme for their administration.
To achieve positive treatment, it is necessary to contact a doctor who specializes in parasitology. Strict adherence to medical recommendations is also a prerequisite for treatment.
Such parasites of the human body as worms are extremely dangerous to human health. In order for the treatment process to be most effective, parasitologists try to determine as precisely as possible to which species the parasites that have settled in the patient's body belong.
To destroy worms, doctors use a fairly large list of drugs. However, self-medication is by no means recommended. For the treatment of helminthiasis, separate treatment regimens, dosage and duration of the course are developed. It is recommended to strictly follow the instructions of the parasitologist.