Intestinal and other worms in humans are an invasion that affects the whole body. This disease is caused by infection with the eggs and larvae of worms and is characterized by a number of specific symptoms.
Diagnosis is made by several tests, both fecal and blood. Worms in the abdomen and other organs occur in adults and children, may appear in the anus, in the stool, or do not appear in any way.
Causes
Worms in the intestines are transmitted mainly through the fecal-oral route, that is, for infection it is necessary to swallow the eggs of parasites or larvae of the worm. An unpleasant feature of this invasion is that some types of helminths in children and adults remain viable for a long time outside the body of the host (for example, in water, in soil).
The parasite eggs that adults lay there remain susceptible to infection for several months. This feature leads to the fact that some types of worms in children and adults are very common.
The main routes of infection are:
- Infection from the use of untreated water, which may be in a well, natural reservoir, and even draining from the tap. Almost all intestinal parasites in humans survive and multiply in water for a long time, so bottled water is best to drink. In areas unfavorable to sanitary conditions, water from the well can be used only after prolonged boiling;
- The appearance of a worm in the buttocks of a baby can occur as a result of consuming an improperly washed vegetable. If manure was used to fertilize the soil, which was infected with worms, their larvae, eggs and adults appear and survive for a long time in the soil. Along with the soil particles, the eggs fall on the vegetables. If such a vegetable is improperly washed, it will enter the body of the host, causing a helminthic invasion in a person;
- Bloating and other symptoms characteristic of the infestation can occur after eating contaminated meat, fish or poultry. If an animal, bird or fish has suffered from a helminthic infestation during its lifetime, its meat is probably also infected, while the parasites (eg fish) easily take root in the human body. You can get rid of it only after careful and prolonged heat treatment of the meat (boiling or frying at maximum temperatures). You can also defeat the invasion by freezing. But since most modern household freezers are able to give a maximum temperature of about 8 degrees, it is necessary to store meat, fish or poultry in them for at least a week;
- Signs of worm infection in humans may appear after contact with a pet. Dogs and cats walking down the street almost always have worms in their stomachs (house cats are usually not infected). When performing hygienic procedures, the animal spreads the eggs of the anus worm throughout the coat. If you kiss such an animal or do not wash your hands after contact with it, you can get worms in the human body, since animal invasions take root and multiply in the human body;
- A person may notice bloating and other signs of the presence of helminths even after swimming in an infected pond. This is a fairly rare method, but infection is possible;
- The transmission of helminthiases in humans from one individual to another occurs through surfaces, towels, laundry. Eggs and larvae travel to the surface or tissue of the skin of an infected person, and from there migrate to the skin of a healthy person when touched. After that, it is likely that they will enter the oral cavity of a healthy person and an infection will develop.
It should be remembered that many types of intestinal parasites are common in groups of children. Indeed, many children do not care too much about hygiene, and many surfaces in kindergartens are covered with helminth eggs, the photo of which is shown below, even though only one child was initiallysick.
For this reason, the main task of parents is to explain to the baby that all types of worms in humans are dangerous and can linger on the skin of the hands and get into the mouth. For this reason, good hygiene is important. A video about the spread of worms in women, men and children and the peculiarities of their development is published at the end of the material.
Varieties
Some patients are interested in the color of the worms and how to visually determine what they are in the stool? Most often these are white or light worms, although sometimes transparent worms are also found in humans. They are flat or round, sometimes they have two dark food ducts on the sides.
- The largest human worms are called tapeworms. The largest of this group is the bull tapeworm. According to scientific research, they can live in the intestines for up to 40 years and reach several meters in length.
- Roundworms are the most common type of pest, which belongs to the roundworm nematodes. Can such individuals be very tall? Females reach a length of about 25 cm, males - 12 cm;
- Pinworms are more common in children than in adults. They are small individuals, similar in description to roundworms, but smaller. The largest pinworm barely reaches 10-12 cm;
- Giardia is the smallest type of parasite. It is quite common. If it is in the stool, you need to think about what to do with the worms and start choosing a treatment;
- Trichinosis invasions are characterized by the most severe course, fever and facial edema are present. Such invasions are called those caused by Trichinella nematodes.
The most common types of individuals have common characteristics and are visible in the stool. Therefore, the stool of a person infected with worms can be distinguished from the stool of an uninfected person.
Location
Some people who suspect they have an invasion are interested in the place in the human body where the worms are located? Although it is traditionally believed that worms occur in the human body in the intestines, this is not entirely true.
Almost all varieties of helminths in humans can develop in many organs and systems, which is associated with the peculiarities of their migration, when the larvae from eggs in the intestine enter the bloodstream and spreadwith it throughout the body.
They enter the human body through the mouth, but their manifestation can occur in the following places:
- Subcutaneous parasites are not a very common type of tropical parasites which are carried by insects (tsetse flies, specific tropical mites, etc. ). Parasites under the skin are almost never found in the middle lane, but there is a risk of infection when touring. These parasites are localized under the skin only at the early stages of their life cycle, after which they can move to the muscles;
- A common place where localization is observed in women is the vagina, uterus. They can crawl there from the anus or infect the reproductive system during the migratory stage;
- Worms are also found in the ears of a baby or an adult because the larvae often infect ENT organs (including the throat);
- Many worms choose the digestive system and intestines as the site of localization. There they have enough food (blood and serum) and oxygen to maintain normal life. Treatment for intestinal parasites is usually easier than others. But even though they were initially in a person's stomach, they can then infect other organs over time.
- Signs of worms in the lungs can be mistaken for characteristic symptoms of pleurisy or pneumonia. Nevertheless, this is a common place of localization of worms, so it is important to diagnose their presence in time;
- If parasites are coiled in the brain, the nervous system is damaged. It can manifest as seizures, irritability, unreasonable anxiety, etc.
- If worms in people manifest in the heart, tachycardia, arrhythmias and more are possible. In particularly severe cases, heart failure develops;
- In the liver, helminths are also common, as this is where they mainly originate from the intestines through the portal vein.
As the above shows, patients wondering where worms live in humans should consider not only the type of invasion, but also the stage of infection.
Complications
It is important to know what worms lead to and what will happen if you do not treat them? Worms cause general intoxication of the body, which can be very pronounced.
Symptoms of an allergic nature also appear, as the immune system produces histamines in order to defend itself against a foreign invasion. In this case, you need to remember what an allergic rash looks like with helminths - these are medium-sized pink spots, sometimes hives, itching is usually absent.
As with liver localization, and when localized in other organs, a tapeworm in humans or another parasite, causes damage to the mucous membrane and local inflammatory processes of a small area.
As a result, an abscess can occur (in the case of the liver, with a breakthrough of pus in the abdominal cavity and blood poisoning if left untreated).
As with damage to the bronchi and lungs, a cough often appears. Then bronchitis, pleurisy or pneumonia develop, which must be treated with antibiotics, despite being a reaction to the invasion.
With the localization of parasites in the vagina, exacerbations of chronic diseases and disorders of the microflora may appear. It is believed that such a phenomenon can lead to infertility.
Symptoms
Symptoms of worms in humans are varied, but they are characteristic of almost all types of parasites. However, chronic and acute infections can have different symptoms in adults. In acute infection, the following symptoms of the disease are characteristic:
- High temperature in a general normal condition (up to 38 degrees);
- Chills and skin symptoms (rashes) similar to fever;
- When the larvae are located in the lungs or bronchi, symptoms in the body are expressed by coughing;
- Inflammatory processes are signs of the presence of worms in the human body, therefore, an increase in lymph nodes occurs;
- Worms and allergies in an individual are associated, therefore, signs of the appearance of worms in a person in the form of rashes and allergic reactions are possible.
But most often the symptoms of the presence of worms in humans are intestinal, since this is where the parasite is most often located. These are symptoms of worm infection in an individual, such as:
- Stool disorders - constipation or diarrhea, sometimes bloody;
- The first symptoms of worms are loss of appetite, nausea, aversion to certain types of food, which eventually leads to weight loss;
- The first signs of worms in adults can also be gas and bloating;
- Over time, pain in the abdomen and stomach develops, regardless of food intake, intermittent or constant;
- With worms, a person develops symptoms of general intoxication - pallor, drowsiness, chronic fatigue, etc.
Skin parasites cause specific symptoms in adults and children. A sign of worms is numbness in the extremities, tingling in the skin, headache, dizziness, much less often - fever. In any case, the incubation period of worms in humans is quite long and can range from several weeks to several months.
Because of this, the first signs of worms in a person may not appear soon. And since almost any symptom in a person of the presence of worms can indicate other diseases, often if a person has worms, it only becomes clear when they enter the stool.
Diagnostic
Even knowing how worms appear, you may not notice their appearance. Some types of worms do not appear for a long time, and the diagnosis of worms in humans cannot be made at home. In laboratories, the following methods are used to help determine if there are worms, the symptoms and treatment of which are discussed in this article:
- General blood test. Worms can be in the event that there are deviations in it. It looks like severe anemia - a significant decrease in iron and hemoglobin levels. This results from the fact that worms in humans cause local bleeding, constantly damage the mucous membranes, and are also parasites that feed directly on blood;
- If the worms are in the intestines, their waste will be present in the stool. What signs of worms in an individual are visible in the stool? They are the eggs, larvae and even adults of parasites. Although, if you know what worms look like in humans, adults in stool can be identified independently;
- It does not matter where worms in humans come from and what type of worms in humans (protozoa, roundworms, tapeworms) appear antibodies against them in the blood. This is because as soon as a person has worms, the immune system sees them as a foreign invasion and tries to defend against it by producing antibodies. This method helps establish what types of worms are present and what symptoms should be expected, as different antibodies are produced for each invasion.
The latter diagnostic method is particularly effective because it allows you to learn about worms at an early stage, identify types of worms, and find out how to treat worms in humans.
Processing
Some of these patients who are interested in what human worms look like and how they enter the body also want to know how to cure them in an individual. The official treatment regimen for worms in adults involves a single dose of an anthelmintic drug that works throughout the body when a person has worms.
It is also desirable to repeat the treatment in adults 2-3 weeks after the first use of the drugs. It is necessary to poison both small and large infestations twice to get rid of the larvae completely.
Another treatment is suggested if the worms are in children. Because the drugs are toxic, treatment in adults has a negative effect on the liver. For children, drugs are prescribed that can be taken in a short time (several times), which reduces the load on the liver.
Some of those who wonder how to treat worms in an individual opt for traditional control methods, when worms in an adult or child are eliminated by natural means.
It is believed that a mixture of ground pumpkin seeds with honey in a one-to-one ratio is effective against worms, if consumed daily in a tablespoon.
Effective treatment is carried out with the help of enemas from a solution of garlic and milk. You can also be treated for worms in the intestines by drinking a similar solution. In the presence of worms in a person, symptoms will begin to appear weaker after a week.
Prophylaxis
By knowing where the worms come from, where the pinworms come from, you can determine a list of rules to follow to protect yourself from worms in humans. In order not to ask the question "do I have worms", it is worth doing the following:
- Wash vegetables and fruit thoroughly;
- Boil or fry the meat well, you can also freeze it for a long time;
- Use only bottled or purified water for drinking;
- Limit contact with domestic animals and carry out regular prevention of helminthic infestations;
- Wash your hands regularly, especially after being in public places.
If an infection is suspected, it is recommended to regularly examine the stool for the presence of helminths.