Intestinal or other worms in humans are an invasion that affects the entire body. This disease is caused by infection by the eggs and larvae of worms and is characterized by a number of specific symptoms.
Diagnosis is carried out by several tests, both feces 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 manifest themselves in any way.
Causes
Worms in the intestines are transmitted mainly by the fecal-oral route, that is, for infection, it is necessary to swallow the eggs of parasites or the 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 host's body (for example, in water, in soil).
The eggs of the parasites that the adults lay there remain capable of infection for several months. This feature leads to the fact that some types of worms in children and adults are very widespread.
The main routes of infection are as follows:
- Infection through the use of untreated water, which can be in a well, a natural reservoir, and even flow from the tap. Almost all intestinal parasites in humans survive and multiply in water for a long time, therefore it is better to drink bottled water. In areas unfavorable for sanitary conditions, the water in the well can be used only after prolonged boiling;
- The appearance of a worm in the butt of a baby can occur as a result of eating a poorly washed vegetable. If manure was used to fertilize the soil, which was infected with worms, then their larvae, eggs and adults appear and survive for a long time in the soil. Together with soil particles, the eggs fall on the vegetables. If such a vegetable is poorly washed, then they will enter the host's body, provoking helminthic invasion in a person;
- Bloating and other characteristic symptoms of infestation can occur after eating contaminated meat, fish, or poultry. If an animal, bird or fish suffered from helminthic infestation during life, then its meat is most likely also infected, while parasites (for example, fish) easily take root in the human body. You can get rid of them only as a result of careful and prolonged heat treatment of meat (boiling or frying at maximum temperatures). You can also defeat the invasion by freezing. But since most modern household freezers are capable of giving a maximum temperature of about 8 degrees, it is necessary to keep meat, fish or poultry there for at least a week;
- Signs of infection with worms in humans may appear after contact with a pet. Dogs and cats walking on the street almost always have worms in their stomachs (domestic cats, usually, are not infected). When performing hygiene procedures, the animal spreads the eggs of the worm from the anus throughout the coat. If you kiss such an animal or do not wash your hands after contact with it, then you can get worms in the human body, since animal invasions take root and multiply in the human body;
- A person can notice bloating and other signs of the presence of helminths even after swimming in an infected pond. This is a rather rare method, but infection is possible;
- The transmission of helminthiasis in humans from one individual to another occurs through surfaces, towels, linen. Eggs and larvae move to the surface or tissue from the skin of an infected person, and from there migrate to the skin of a healthy person when touched. After that, there is a likelihood of getting them into the oral cavity of a healthy person and the development of infection.
It is worth remembering that many types of intestinal parasites are common in children's groups. This is because many children are not too concerned about hygiene and many surfaces in kindergartens are covered with helminth eggs, the photo of which is presented below, even if only one child was initially ill.
For this reason, the primary task of parents is to explain to the baby that all types of worms in humans are dangerous and can persist on the skin of the hands and get into the mouth from it. 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 posted at the end of the material.
Varieties
Some patients are interested in what color the worms are 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 channels on the sides.
- The largest human worms are called tapeworms. The largest in 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 large? Females reach a length of about 25 cm, males - 12 cm;
- Pinworms are more common in children than in adults. These 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 found in the stool, you need to think about what to do with 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 features and are visible in the feces. Therefore, the stool of a person with worms can be distinguished from the stool of someone who is not infected.
Localization
Some people who suspect they have an invasion are interested in where in the human body the worms are localized? 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 hatched from eggs in the intestine enter the bloodstream and spread with 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 parasite that is carried by insects (tsetse fly, specific tropical mites, etc. ). Parasites under the skin are almost never found in the middle lane, but there is a risk of infection with them on a tour. Such parasites are localized under the skin only at the initial 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 at the migratory stage;
- Worms in the ears of a baby or an adult are also found because the larvae often infect the ENT organs (including the throat);
- Many worms choose the digestive system and intestines as their site of localization. There they have enough nourishment (blood and serum) and oxygen to maintain normal life. Treating intestinal parasites is usually easier than others. But even if initially they were in a person's stomach, then over time they can infect other organs;
- Signs of worms in the lungs can be confused with the characteristic symptoms of pleurisy or pneumonia. Nevertheless, this is a common place of localization of worms, therefore it is important to diagnose their presence in time;
- If parasites are wound up in the brain, then the nervous system is damaged. It can manifest itself as convulsions, irritability, unreasonable anxiety, etc. ;
- If worms in people manifest themselves in the heart, then tachycardia, rhythm disturbances and more are possible. In especially severe cases, heart failure develops;
- In the liver, helminths are also common, since it is there that they get primarily from the intestines through the portal vein.
As can be seen from the above, patients who are wondering where worms live in humans should take into account not only the type of invasion, but also the stage of infection.
Complications
It is important to know what the 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, since the immune system produces histamines in order to defend against 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, usually, is absent.
As with hepatic localization, and when located 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 may occur (in the case of the liver, with a breakthrough of pus into the abdominal cavity and blood poisoning if untreated).
As with damage to the bronchi and lungs, a cough often appears. Then bronchitis, pleurisy or pneumonia develops, which must be treated with antibiotics, despite the fact that this is a reaction to the invasion.
With the localization of parasites in the vagina, exacerbations of chronic diseases and microflora disorders 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:
- Elevated temperature in normal general condition (up to 38 degrees);
- Chills and skin symptoms (rashes) similar to fever;
- When the larvae are localized in the lungs or bronchi, the 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 it is there that the parasite is most often localized. These are symptoms of infection with worms 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 foods, which eventually leads to weight loss;
- The first signs of worms in adults can also be flatulence and bloating;
- Over time, pain in the abdomen and stomach develops, not depending on 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 of 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 take from several weeks to several months.
For this reason, the first signs of worms in a person may not appear soon. And since almost all the symptoms in a person of the presence of worms may indicate other diseases, often if a person has worms, this becomes clear only when they enter the feces.
Diagnostics
Even knowing how the 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 carried out 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 analysis. 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. It occurs as a result of the fact that worms in humans cause local bleeding, constantly damage mucous membranes, and they are also parasites that feed directly on blood;
- If the worms are in the intestines, then their waste products will be present in the stool. What signs of worms in an individual are visible in the feces? These are eggs, larvae, or even adults of parasites. Although, if you know what worms look like in humans, adults in the stool can be identified independently;
- Regardless of where the worms come from in humans and what kind of worms in humans (protozoa, round worms, tape worms) appear antibodies to them in the blood. This is due to the fact that as soon as a person has worms, the immune system regards them as a foreign invasion and tries to defend against it by producing antibodies. This method helps to establish what types of worms are present, and what symptoms should be expected, since different antibodies are produced for each invasion.
The latter method of diagnosis is especially good because it allows you to learn about worms at an early stage, identify the types of worms and find out how to treat worms in humans.
Treatment
Some of those 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 drug treatment regimen for worms in adults involves a single dose of an anthelmintic drug that acts on the entire body when a person has worms.
It is also desirable to repeat the course of treatment in adults 2 - 3 weeks after the drugs were used for the first time. It is necessary to poison small and large infestations twice to completely get rid of the larvae.
Other 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 course (several times), which reduces the load on the liver.
Some of those who wonder how to treat worms in an individual opt for folk methods of struggle, 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 using enemas from a garlic-milk solution. You can also be treated for worms in the intestines by drinking a similar solution. In the presence of worms in a person, the symptoms will begin to manifest themselves weaker after a week.
Prophylaxis
Knowing what worms come from, where pinworms come from, you can determine a list of rules that should be followed in order 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 fruits thoroughly;
- Boil or fry the meat thoroughly, you can also freeze it for a long time;
- Use only bottled or purified water for drinking;
- Limit contact with pets and carry out regular prevention of helminthic infestation;
- Wash 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.