Intestinal or other worms in humans are an invasion that affects the entire body. This disease is caused by infection by worm eggs and larvae and is characterized by a number of specific symptoms.
Diagnosis is made by various tests, both stool and blood. Worms in the abdomen and other organs occur in adults and children, they can appear in the anus, in the stool, or not manifest themselves at all.
Causes
The worms in the intestines are transmitted mainly by the fecal-oral route, that is, for the infection it is necessary to ingest the eggs of the 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, on the ground).
The parasite eggs that the adults lay there can become infected 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 from 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, so it is best to drink bottled water. In areas unfavorable to sanitary conditions, well water can be used only after long boiling;
- The appearance of a roundworm on a baby's bottom 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 the dirt particles, the eggs fall on the vegetables. If such a vegetable is poorly washed, they will enter the host's body, causing a helminthic invasion in a person;
- Swelling and other characteristic symptoms of infestation can occur after eating contaminated meat, fish, or poultry. If an animal, bird, or fish suffered from a helminth infestation during its lifetime, its meat is most likely infected as well, 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 home 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 worm infection in humans can appear after contact with a pet. Cats and dogs that walk on the street almost always have stomach worms (domestic cats are generally not infected). When performing hygiene procedures, the animal spreads the worm's eggs from the anus all over the fur. If you kiss such an animal or do not wash your hands after contact with it, you may have worms in the human body, since animal invasions take root and multiply in the human body;
- A person may notice swelling and other signs of helminths even after swimming in an infected pond. This is a fairly rare method, but infection is possible;
- The transmission of helminthiasis in humans from one individual to another occurs through surfaces, towels, bedding. The eggs and larvae move to the surface or skin tissue of an infected person, and from there migrate to the skin of a healthy person when touched. After that, there is a possibility that they enter the oral cavity of a healthy person and the development of an infection.
It is worth remembering that many types of intestinal parasites are common in groups of children. This is because many children are not overly concerned with 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 main 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. This is why 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 of the time these are white or clear worms, although transparent worms are sometimes found in humans as well. They are flat or round, sometimes having two dark food channels 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, belonging to the roundworm nematodes. Can these guys be very big? Females reach a length of about 25 cm, males - 12 cm;
- Pinworms are more common in children than 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 feces, you need to think about what to do about the worms and start choosing a treatment;
- Trichinosis invasions are characterized by the most severe course, there is fever and facial edema. 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 with worms can be distinguished from the stool of someone who is not infected.
Location
Some people who suspect that they have an invasion are interested in knowing where in the human body 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 hatched from eggs in the intestine enter the bloodstream and spread 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 in the initial stages of their life cycle, after which they can move to the muscles;
- A common place where the location is observed in women is the vagina, the uterus. They can crawl there from the anus or infect the reproductive system in the migratory stage;
- Worms are also found in the ears of a baby or adult because the larvae often infect the ENT organs (including the throat);
- Many worms choose the digestive system and intestines as their location. There they have enough nutrition (blood and serum) and oxygen to maintain a normal life. Treating intestinal parasites is usually easier than others. But even if they were initially in a person's stomach, over time they can infect other organs;
- Signs of worms in the lungs can be confused with the characteristic symptoms of pleurisy or pneumonia. However, this is a common location for worms, so it is important to diagnose their presence in time;
- If parasites accumulate in the brain, the nervous system is damaged. It can manifest as seizures, irritability, irrational anxiety, etc. ;
- If worms in people manifest 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, as this is where they mainly arrive from the intestines via the portal vein.
As can be seen from the above, patients wondering where worms live in humans must take into account 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 don't treat them. The worms cause a generalized intoxication of the organism, which can be very pronounced.
Symptoms of an allergic nature also appear, as the immune system produces histamines to defend itself against foreign invasion. In this case, you need to remember what an allergic rash with helminths looks like: these are medium-sized pink spots, sometimes hives, itching is usually absent.
As with the liver localization, and when localized in other organs, a tapeworm in humans or another parasite, damages the mucosa and local inflammatory processes of a small area.
As a result, an abscess can occur (in the case of the liver, with pus advancing into the abdominal cavity and blood poisoning if left untreated).
As with damage to the bronchi and lungs, coughing often occurs. Then bronchitis, pleurisy, or pneumonia develop, which must be treated with antibiotics, despite the fact that it is a reaction to 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 conditions (up to 38 degrees);
- Chills and fever-like skin symptoms (rashes);
- When the larvae are located 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 of the time, the symptoms of the presence of worms in humans are intestinal, since that is where the parasite is most frequently 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 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: paleness, drowsiness, chronic fatigue, etc.
Skin parasites cause specific symptoms in adults and children. A sign of worms is numbness of the extremities, tingling of the skin, headache, dizziness, much less often - fever. In any case, the incubation period for worms in humans is quite long and can last 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 symptoms in a person of the presence of worms can indicate other diseases, often if a person has worms, this becomes evident only when they enter the stool.
Diagnosis
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 done at home. In laboratories, the following methods are used to help determine whether worms are present, 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 drop in iron and hemoglobin levels. It occurs as a result of the fact that worms in humans cause local bleeding, constantly damage the mucous membranes, and are also parasites that feed directly on the blood;
- If the worms are in the intestines, their waste products will be present in the stool. What signs of worms in an individual are visible in the stool? These are eggs, larvae, or even adults of parasites. Although, if you know what worms look like in humans, adults in feces can be independently identified;
- Regardless of where the worms come from in humans and what type of worms in humans (protozoa, roundworms, tapeworms) antibodies against them appear in the blood. This is due to the fact that as soon as a person has worms, the immune system considers them a foreign invasion and tries to defend itself by producing antibodies. This method helps establish what types of worms are present and what symptoms to expect, as different antibodies are produced for each invasion.
The last diagnostic method 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 throughout the body when a person has worms.
It is also desirable to repeat the course of treatment in adults 2 to 3 weeks after the drugs were used for the first time. Small and large infestations need to be poisoned twice to completely get rid of the larvae.
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 course (several times), which reduces the load on the liver.
Some of those who are wondering how to treat worms in an individual opt for folk methods of struggle, when the worms in an adult or a child are eliminated by natural means.
A mixture of ground pumpkin seeds with honey in a one-to-one ratio is believed to be effective against worms, if consumed daily in one tablespoon.
Effective treatment is carried out by enemas of a garlic milk solution. You can also be treated for pinworms 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 must be followed to protect yourself from worms in humans. In order not to ask the question "I have worms", it is worth doing the following:
- Wash vegetables and fruits well;
- 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 helminth infestation;
- 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.