Parasites in the human body

5 October 2020

The enemy, as they say, "you need to know by sight. "You need to understand who we are dealing with. Illiteracy in this matter will not give any discounts. Let's arm ourselves with information that can be used in practice for the benefit of our health, which will not leave the slightest chance for some parasites to spoil our precious life.

Parasites - who are they?

Parasites(from the Greek parasitos - parasite, parasite) - lower plant and animal organisms that live outside or inside another organism (host) and feed on it. Parasites live inside our body their parallel life, feeding on our energy, our cells and our food, including health products, Parasites in the human body that we consume.

There are parasites that spend their entire life in the host's body or only a part of it; they receive food and shelter from it, without causing any visible harm to the body of their host.

Certain parasites irritate the host and affect its functions; others destroy the host's tissues and release specific toxins that cause poor health and the development of various diseases in the host.In the human bodyvarious species can parasitize: fungi, bacteria, viruses, protozoa and worms.

Parasitesduring their life go through a complex development cycle: there are those that need to change several hosts, inside which the parasite undergoes an intermediate development (the so-called larval stage of developmenthelminth worms). In the body of the last host, the helminth becomes sexually mature and becomes as dangerous as possible.

Parasites are classified as follows:

fungi
viruses
simplest parasites
helminths (worms, worms)
crustacean parasites
arachnid parasites
insects (mainly blood-sucking)

1. Fungi.

These aremicroorganismsthat infect the human body, can settle both on the surface of the skin and on the mucous membrane of internal organs. Diseases caused by pathogenic fungi are calledmycoses. There aremycoses of the skin and nails(dermatomycosis), as well as mycoses of internal organs. Animals are also susceptible to the results of the activity of fungi - they can get intoxication of the body, due to poisoning with toxins of fungi that affect plant feed (mycotoxicosis). There are different types of mycoses, some people only get sick or only animals, other types of people become infected from animals. Disease-causing fungi cause fungal diseases that are considered infectious diseases.
There are several hundredtypes of fungi, two of them are especially dangerous for humans. The first type of fungus -cryptococcus(Cryptococcus neoformans) - causes meningitis (inflammation of the membranes of the brain and spinal cord). Typically, this cryptococcus is spread in the faeces of birds, and is found on fruits, vegetables, animal milk and soil. The second type of fungus -candida(candida albicans) - causes diaper rash, candidiasis of the mucous membranes, balanitis, thrush, mycoses, onyxis (nail damage), sores on the lips, paronychia, athlete's foot (mycoses of toes), fungaldiseases of the genitals.Fungi love sweets, feed mainly on sugar and starch, but, like any living organism, they need amino acids, vitamins and minerals.
Fungiis a separate civilization, it is its own parallel world. They can withstand temperatures from -150 to + 150 degrees, they can neither be frozen nor destroyed. In scientific circles, there is an opinion that it is the mushrooms that are the main earthly civilization, and they use everything around them for their own purposes (and us, people, as well). Mushrooms are white, odorless, cheesy discharge from the nose, mouth, wound, urethra, etc.Mushroomsis a white coating on the tongue, baldness and dandruff, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis. If white deposits on the tonsils, then this is a fungal sore throat. Mushrooms don't hurt, they itch. Mushrooms are everything that peels off, exfoliates, falls off, cracks, rises above the skin, becomes stained, covers the scalp. There is no acute stage of fungal diseases, there is only a chronic one.

2. Viruses.

Virusesare non-cellular living things, they are micro-particles consisting of nucleic acids - carriers of genetic information (RNA and / or DNA), outside covered with a protein membrane. Viruses are capable of infecting any living organism.Virus, translated from Latin (virus) is poison. Viruses cannot be attributed to animals or plants. They are very small, so they can only be studied with an electron microscope. Viruses can live and develop only in the cells of other organisms. Viruses cannot live outside the cells of living organisms, and many of them in the external environment behave like chemicals, presenting the form of crystals. By settling inside the cells of animals and plants, viruses cause many dangerous diseases. Human viral diseases include:herpes, measles, flu, HIV, hepatitis, poliomyelitis, smallpox.

3. The simplest parasites.

Parasitic protozoa-amoeba, lamblia, toxoplasma, cryptosporidium, as well as malaria plasmodia, leishmania, trypanosomes. Among the parasitic protozoa, causative agents of the most dangerous diseases of animals and humans are known, especially in the tropics (Malaria, Dysentery). Plasmodium malaria infect human red blood cells, leading at the stage of mass reproduction to attacks of severe fever, fraught with death. Flagellate trypanosomes and Leishmanias are mainly tropical species that, by feeding on animal tissues, cause ulcers, malaise, and in some cases death. Living in the intestine, the rhizome Entamoeba histolytica is the causative agent of chronic amoebic dysentery, which can penetrate into other tissues and kill the host. The flagellated intestinal parasite Giardia lamblia causes severe diarrhea (giardiasis). This species is found in rivers and lakes polluted with human excrement in subtropical and tropical regions. Some parasites, such as the pneumonia-causing species Pneumocystis carinii, is perhaps closer to fungi than to other protozoa.

4. Helminths (worms, worms)

More than 70 types of worms have been registered, of which the following types of helminths are more common:

roundworms (nematodes)- roundworms, pinworms, whipworms, trichinella, toxocara;

tapeworms (cestodes)- pork and bovine tapeworms, dwarf tapeworm, echinococcus, alveococcus, wide tapeworm;

flatworms (flukes)- opisthorchiasis (feline fluke), liver fluke, Chinese fluke, pulmonary fluke.

Some of these parasitic helminths are ubiquitous, while others are more common in certain areas. For instance:

pinworms and roundwormsare found everywhere around the globe;

whipworm- found everywhere, mainly in hot and humid regions of tropical, subtropical and temperate climates.

Trichinella- in Belarus, Ukraine.

pork tapeworm- recorded everywhere, more often found in Belarus and Ukraine.

bull tapeworm- are found everywhere. Especially in Transcaucasia and Central Asia.

dwarf tapeworm- occurs everywhere, especially in areas with dry and hot climates.

broad tapeworm- usually chooses habitats in areas with a large number of freshwater bodies. Constantly present in the Baltics, Kazakhstan.

opisthorchiasis(cat fluke) - the most intense foci are recorded in Kazakhstan.

liver fluke- ubiquitous. The outbreaks are registered in the Transcaucasia, Central Asia, and the Baltics.

echinococcosis, alveococcosis- in Moldova, in the south of Ukraine, in the Caucasus.

There are more than one and a half hundred varieties of these parasites, but the most common are "only" about 35 species. Depending on the location of parasites in the human body, these diseases are classified as tissue and luminal.

Tissue parasites.

If parasites and their larvae are in the tissues of the human body, in the subcutaneous tissue, move freely through the circulatory or lymphatic system, such a disease is called tissue disease (schistosomiasis, echinococcosis).

Translucent parasites.

If parasites are localized in the intestines or other internal cavities of the human body, then such a disease is called luminal (tapeworms, roundworms).

Parasites are also distinguished by their specific location (habitat) on a person, as their host.

External parasites.

This species parasitizes on the skin of the human body directly from the outside, they do not live inside the host, but use it only during their feeding (mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, lice, horseflies, hornets, leeches). . .

Internal parasites (helminths, worms, bacteria, fungi).

This type of parasite has the following classification:

Flatworms (trematodes), in their structure, bilaterally symmetric free-living or parasitic organisms. The length of the trematodes ranges from 0. 1 mm to several meters, the body structure is mostly flattened, oval or more or less elongated; in parasitic forms, it is equipped with organs of attachment to the "host" in the form of suckers, proboscis, hooks, etc. Representatives of flatworms are turbellaria, or ciliary worms; opisthorchiasis (feline fluke), planaria, hepatic fluke, clonorchus, fasciolae, schistosomes, pulmonary fluke.

Roundworms (nematodes), free-living parasites of this class live in salt and fresh water bodies, soil. In most cases, their sizes are small, even microscopic, but among the parasitic individuals there are also rather large ones, reaching a length of more than seven meters (cetacean helminth). The most common representatives of roundworms of human parasites are roundworms, pinworms, whipworms, filaria, strongyloids, hookworms, trichinella, toxocara, rishta.

Tapeworms (cestodes, tapeworms),This category of helminths is distinguished by a characteristic long ribbon-like body (from several fractions of a millimeter to tens of meters). Cestodes - worms with an elongated body, similar to a ribbon, consisting of a head, a neck and individual segments, are distinguished by enormous fertility (some species are capable of producing up to 600 million eggs per year) - pork and bovine tapeworms, dwarf tapeworm - the cyclophyllid detachment; echinococcus, alveococcus, broad tapeworm, sheep's brain.

Bacteriosis. Bacteriosis is an infectious disease caused by various types of bacteria and parasites.
Bacteriosis is a fairly widespread diagnosis throughout the world. Some bacterioses are caused by bacteria of one type, others are caused by bacteria of several types. Representatives of this class of parasites are - leptospira, staphylococcus, streptococcus, shigella.

Mycoses- diseases caused by parasitic fungi. More than 350 species of pathogenic fungi have been identified; they parasitize on humans, domestic and wild animals, birds, insects, amphibians, fish and plants. The most famous pathogens of mycoses are candida, cryptococci, penicilliums.

Protozoa or protozoa parasitesare unicellular organisms that have a heterotrophic type of nutrition, that is, they are not able to produce organic substances necessary for their vital activity from inorganic ones. The consequence of this is their need for organic substances produced by other organisms (amoeba, lamblia, coccidia, Trichomonas).

Sad facts about worms and other parasites:

Chronic, incl. oncological diseasesin 80% of cases are caused by the influence of parasites (worms, fungi, protozoa).

The causative agent of opisthorchiasisbelongs to the first group of carcinogens (causing cancer) - according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

The number one biological enemy for humans is Trichomonas.By forming colonies on the walls of blood vessels, Trichomonas lead to the development of atherosclerosis with all the consequences.

1989 - the property of Trichomonas is discovered to turn ordinary cells into malignant ones.

Parasitic diseases in the worldaffect more than 4. 5 billion people, 9 out of 10 cases are worms, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).Every third inhabitant in Europe is affected by parasites (including worms)!

The incidence of parasitosis in frequency is comparable to the incidence of influenza.

So, there are several ways for parasites to enter the human body:

Alimentary - lack of personal hygiene(through contaminated food, water, dirty hands);

Contact-household - creating external conditions for the active development of parasites(through household items, from infected family members, pets);

Transmissible - no precautions(via blood-sucking insects);

Percutaneous, or active - non-compliance with safety measures(in which the larva of the parasite penetrates the skin or mucous membranes into the human body during contact with contaminated soil, when swimming in open water).