Today, diseases caused by numerous types of protozoa and helminths are widespread.The danger of such ailments is explained not only by the complications and dysfunctions in the body that protozoa and worms cause in humans, but also by the difficulty in diagnosing the disease due to the similarity of symptoms with various non-parasitic ailments.
Helminths and protozoa cause:
- disturbances in the gastrointestinal tract (constipation, diarrhea, vomiting);
- allergic skin reactions;
- general intoxication of the body;
- muscle and joint pain;
- dehydration.
In order to avoid diagnostic errors and prescribe inappropriate treatment, which, at best, will simply be ineffective and, at worst, can cause complications, the type of helminths and the degree of infection of the body with them must be accurately determined.
Routes of infection by protozoan helminths.
All worms enter the body from the outside.The same occurs with protozoan helminths.In the environment, they live in soil and bodies of water.In addition to washing your hands and eating low-quality food, you can become infected with them at home, through contact with a carrier.
The main mechanism of any infection is usually oral-fecal, that is, a person simply swallows worm eggs along with food, water, and less commonly, some helminthic infestations occur from the bites of infected insects.
Protozoan worms living in humans belong to the class of unicellular organisms.The infection is called protozoosis.Depending on the type and degree of invasion, the course of the disease can be severe and even cause the death of the patient.
What helminths are called protozoa?
Protozoan helminths can have a constant (ciliated and flagellated) and variable body shape, a clear representative of the amoeba.Their sizes are very small and range between 4-5 micrometers and 1-3 millimeters.Often the cell of these microorganisms has several nuclei.The organs of locomotion are pseudopodia, cilia and flagella.The reproduction process, depending on the species, occurs by halving or by a complex sexual method.
To protect themselves from unfavorable external conditions, as well as for further spread, protozoan helminths can turn into cysts, which are cells covered by a protective membrane.This allows them to go from a non-motile cyst to an active state if they enter a favorable environment.
There are often situations when the host's body does not even notice the protozoan helminths parasitizing on it.In other cases, the infestation causes the death of the host.For example, some species of African antelope are permanent “hosts” of trypanosomatids.And the bite of a person by a tsetse fly, which carries these helminths, can infect them and cause sleeping sickness, which, as is known, endangers their life.
The most studied protozoan helminths.
Parasites of the human body that belong to the class of flagellates:
- Giardia is a parasite that usually lives in the intestines, bile ducts and liver of vertebrates (humans and animals).They can be transmitted through food, water and other factors.This group of protozoa is the cause of a disease such as giardiasis, a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract, that is, the small intestine.Many patients infected with Giardia do not experience any obvious symptoms.
- Leishmania is a protozoan helminth transmitted by mosquitoes.After a person is bitten by an insect, there is a high probability of contracting leishmaniasis.Signs of the disease include damage to the skin, mucous membranes and some internal organs;Fever and anemia are often signs of the disease.
- Trypanosomatids are protozoa transmitted by insects.When the body becomes infected, the disease causes trypanosomiasis.This disease has a long course.Depending on the type of trypanosomatids, various systems and organs are affected.
- Amoeba dysentery parasitizes the intestines.The invasion occurs in the form of a 4-nucleated cyst.Although the dysentery amoeba is found almost everywhere, the most common cases of infection are recorded in tropical countries.The amoeba is the cause of a protozoan disease as infectious in humans as amoebiasis.The clinical picture of the disease is ulcerative colitis, which is characterized by relapses and exacerbations.There are also cases of extraintestinal amoebiasis: these protozoan helminths pass from the intestine to other organs and even the skin.The last form of the disease is called cutaneous amoebiasis: obvious signs of ulceration and necrosis are observed on the buttocks and perineum.
- Trichomonas causes trichomoniasis.Currently several subspecies of Trichomonas have been studied.Intestinal, the parasitic zone of which is located in the large intestine and the helminth does not cause any particular damage to the intestines.The area of parasitism of genitourinary Trichomonas, as its name indicates, is the genitourinary system.The infection occurs through sexual contact.This subspecies of protozoa is the cause of a disease such as trichomoniasis.This infectious disease is manifested by inflammatory phenomena in the genitourinary system.Oral Trichomonas parasitizes the oral cavity and does not pose any danger to humans.
Protozoan sporozoan species are represented by malarial plasmodium and coccidia:
- Plasmodium falciparum, transmitted by mosquitoes and causing malaria, is a protozoan microorganism.Parasite in the blood.Malaria in a person infected with this parasite is manifested by the following symptoms: hypochromic anemia, fever attacks, enlargement of organs such as the liver and spleen.
- Coccidia are protozoa that live in the epithelial tissue of the intestines of many animals.Several species of coccidia are the causative agents of the disease coccidiosis.In humans, this disease presents with mild poisoning and symptoms of gastroenteritis or enteritis.
Ciliates: balantidia.This order of protozoa living in the large intestine is the cause of a disease such as ciliate dysentery (balantidiasis).
Diagnosis and treatment of protozoan helminths.
Very often, when the presence of helminths in the body occurs without symptoms, the disease remains undiagnosed for a long time.Invasion can be suspected by specific symptoms and detected only by laboratory tests of feces, urine, blood, and fluids obtained by puncture of various organs and systems.
In medical practice, there are general principles for the treatment of protozoan invasion:
- antiparasitic medications;
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs;
- detoxifying medications;
- When a secondary bacterial infection occurs, antibiotics are specifically used.
The doctor prescribes specific treatment depending on the type of protozoan helminth and the degree of infestation.