For a parasitologist, parasites in the human body are a standard aspect of the job. For an ordinary patient, helminthic invasion is a terrible pathology. The situation is aggravated by the fact that a person is inclined to escalate the problem without knowing the enemy by sight. Basic knowledge of the types of parasites that can live in the human body will help to overcome fear. And knowing the problem, you can already competently build methods of dealing with it or the principles of protection against it. In the material below, we will discuss which worms parasitize on the human body.
Types of worms in the human body
It is worth knowing that not all real-life worms in the human body can live. For many, the natural habitat is animal organisms, water, or simply the ground. Below is a list of the most common parasites in the human body with concomitant clinical manifestations.
Roundworm
This is the most common parasite that enters the human body. Furthermore, even humanoid primates can suffer from enterobiasis. Most often, the roundworm is localized in the body of children of preschool age. Children 1 to 10 years old are sick.
Pinworm infection occurs when a healthy person comes into contact with an infected person (shaking hands, touching dirty clothes, towels, etc. ) without washing their hands. Also, with food, pinworm eggs enter the human body.
Important: insects (flies, cockroaches) can also carry helminth eggs.
An adult female comes out of the anus at night and lays her eggs in the folds of the skin of the anus, causing intense itching. Also, the patient may experience periodic pain in the lower abdomen if the intensity of the helminth invasion is already high. It is these symptoms of parasite infection that indicate pinworms in the body. They can be mixed with general fatigue and allergic skin reactions.
Giardia
Protozoa of the genus flagellate. The localization of such parasites in the human body occurs most often in the small intestine. However, with blood flow, protozoa can reach the liver and gallbladder. Parasites enter a person through dirty hands, unwashed vegetables / fruits, or by drinking dirty water.
The symptoms of lamblia parasites are:
- Pain in the right upper quadrant;
- Stool disorders;
- Excessive gas formation;
- Nausea;
- Neurosis;
- Allergic manifestations on the skin.
Ascaris
Human roundworms that most often live in the small intestine. But at the same time, with the blood flow, they can easily migrate to any organ. It is often located in the heart, lungs, liver, and even the brain.
Helminth infection occurs through dirty hands, in which the parasite eggs of vegetables, fruits, soil, etc. could remain. In this case, the symptoms of the parasites vary depending on the phase of the disease course. So, during the migration of the larva, the following symptoms of parasites are noticed in the body:
- Increase in body temperature (38 degrees);
- Dry night cough with shortness of breath;
- Swollen lymph nodes.
With the additional location of worms in the human body, the following symptoms are formed:
- Stool disorder (constipation and diarrhea);
- Nervous disorders;
- pneumonia;
- Heart failure;
- Nausea;
- Vomiting;
- Frequent headaches;
- Stomach pain.
Histological amoeba
The amoeba is a protozoan parasite. It affects the human body through dirty hands, through the use of dirty food (vegetables, fruits, herbs) and even through anal intercourse. Flies can also transmit amebiosis. The amoeba causes the formation of ulcers on the walls of the large intestine and further damage to other organs and systems. In this case, the signs of parasites in the body will be the following:
- Bloody stools and mucus;
- Pain in the abdomen;
- Anemia;
- General weakness and fatigue;
- Abscess formation in those organs in which the parasite can be located.
Toksokara
Round helminth that causes a helminthic invasion called toxocariasis. In this case, the parasite can be localized in the intestines, in the eyes, in the brain. Carriers of toxocar are canines (dogs, wolves, foxes, etc. ). The infection occurs by contact with a sick animal or by indirect contact with its feces. Infection with parasites of this type carries a variety of symptoms, depending on the organ in which the larvae of the worm have settled. So with intestinal toxocariasis, the symptoms will be as follows:
- Nausea and vomiting;
- Diarrhea and constipation;
- Pain in the abdomen.
With ocular toxocariasis, the patient shows the following signs of parasitic infestation:
- Decreased vision;
- Purulent discharge from the affected eye;
- Formation of boils on the eyelids;
- Redness of the whites of the eyes;
- Retinal detachment.
If the toxocara settles in the brain, the patient has the following signs of the presence of a parasite in the body:
- Headaches;
- Dizziness and fainting;
- Increased intracranial pressure;
- Nervousness and hallucinations;
- Decreased vision and concentration.
In this case, the clinical picture is often confused with brain oncology.
- With cardiac toxocariasis, the patient will experience heart failure, such as tachycardia, arrhythmia, valve failure, and pain in the heart.
- If the respiratory system is affected by toxocar, there will be signs of pneumonia or bronchitis, as well as frequent shortness of breath.
- If the worm settles under the skin, the patient will feel itching, movement, and redness on the skin at the location of the helminth.
Wide ribbon
This helminth lives in the small intestine of its biological host. It comes through the mouth together with contaminated food (fish, fish roe) or with water. The signs of worms in such a body are as follows:
- Pain in the abdomen;
- Nausea;
- Persistent anemia that cannot be corrected with iron supplements;
- In an advanced stage of the pathology, the patient develops an intestinal obstruction due to a large accumulation of parasites in it.
Pork tapeworm
This helminth lives in the body of cattle (rabbits, pigs), as well as in the body of dogs and even camels. It enters the human body along with contaminated meat that has undergone insufficient heat treatment. If an adult worm is found in the patient's body, the diagnosis is "taeniasis. "If the helminth is detected in the larval stage, the diagnosis is "cysticercosis. "
Important: a patient with taeniasis is dangerous both for him (the ingestion of parasite larvae in the brain, eyes, bone skeleton) and for others.
The list of symptoms of the parasite in the human body looks like this:
- A severe decrease in appetite;
- Severe headaches;
- Pain in the abdomen;
- Fainting;
- Decreased vision (with ocular taeniasis).
Important: treatment of the swine tapeworm is carried out only in a hospital under the supervision of specialists.
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Bovine tapeworm (tapeworm)
A parasite that lives in the human body in a single individual. It comes with infected beef. The list of signs of the parasite in the human body looks like this:
- Irrepressible appetite and lack of weight gain;
- Unstable chair;
- Pain in the abdomen;
- Serious allergic manifestations;
- Nausea.
Important: The parasite comes out on its own when certain anthelmintic drugs are used. In addition, its maximum length can be about 12 meters.
Necator and hookworm
These round parasites routinely enter the human body through dirty hands and food, or through the ground through contact with them. The symptoms of the presence of these parasites in the human body look like this:
- Rash on the body in the form of papules and vesicles (pimples with purulent content);
- Severe dry cough with shortness of breath;
- Abdominal pain;
- Persistent anemia;
- Diarrhea;
- Nausea;
- Critical loss of appetite.
Alveococcus
This parasite belongs to the group of cestodes. At the same time, it is worth knowing that helminth is extremely dangerous for humans, since it first forms a primary inflammatory focus in the liver, and then its metastases spread to other organs. Human infection occurs by ingestion of helminths-oncospheres in the human mouth. Most of the time, this happens when carcasses of animals are cut, during hunting, when using herbs and berries collected in the forest and not processed enough as food, as well as through direct contact with pets infected with the invasion. . In this case, only a specialist should evaluate the symptoms and treatment tactics. The clinical picture of helminthic invasion looks like this:
- Specific nausea and belching;
- Right upper quadrant pain;
- Allergy;
- Severe itching of the skin;
- Suppuration from the site where the parasite is located and the abscess has burst.
Important: The site of such an invasion is often in the lungs or brain. They just get rid of the parasite quickly.
Echinococcus
Canids and cats are carriers of echinococci. In this case, a person for the parasite is only an intermediate host. The danger of echinococcus for humans lies in the fact that the helminth seriously affects the organs and systems of a person, causing the formation of cysts in them. Most of the people who work with animals and slaughter meat are infected with echinococci. That is, the parasite can enter the human body by cutting the carcass of an animal, by eating contaminated meat or water. It is worth knowing here that the signs of the presence of parasites in an adult may not appear for a long time. When the symptom-free phase ends, the following clinical picture appears:
- Severe urticaria;
- Itchy skin;
- Pain at the location of the parasite larva;
- Fever and fever (subject to suppuration of cysts).
Gnatostoma
This type of helminth enters the human body with contaminated poultry, fish or frog meat. You can also become infected with dirty water that contains maggot larvae. The presence of such worms in the human body is manifested by the following symptoms:
- Severe dry cough;
- Pain in the area of the parasite larva;
- Severe swelling;
- Severe itching of the skin;
- Increase in body temperature.
Important: After a week, all symptoms disappear on their own, but reappear regularly for many years. A great danger is damage to the eyes and brain by worms. This can be fatal.
Schistosoma
Flow worm. It is dangerous because it can penetrate the human body even through intact skin. The infection occurs in dirty water (more often in Africa), when washing clothes with dirty water or watering the ground with it. In the acute stage of invasion, the following first signs appear:
- Excessively high body temperature (up to 39 degrees and above);
- Papule formation on the body;
- Intense itching of the skin.
In the chronic stage, the disease manifests itself in the form of symptoms of prostatitis, colitis, colitis, ascites, renal hydronephrosis, etc. Schistosomiasis can be detected by testing the urine.
Trichinella
A round parasite that parasitizes the muscles of the human body in the larval stage and migrates to the small intestine upon reaching maturity. Trichinella is deadly to humans. You can become infected with such an invasion by eating poorly fried / cooked meat from worm-infected wild and domestic animals. If the reader does not know how to determine the presence of said parasite in the body, then the clinical picture of the pathology looks like this:
- Vomiting and severe diarrhea;
- Pain in the abdomen;
- Loss of appetite;
- Muscle pain;
- Skin rashes;
- Swelling of the eyelids;
- The temperature rises to 40 degrees.
Important: Trichinosis is the only helminthic invasion in the human body that is also treated with corticosteroids.
Having learned what parasites can live in the human body and how infection occurs, as well as what are the symptoms of helminth infestation, you can insure yourself and your loved ones against infection. And if you suspect that you are infected with one or another type of parasite, seek specialized help in time.