Table of contents:
2023 Author: Alfred Shackley | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 13:14
Worms as a class of worms parasitizing in humans, animals and even, often, insects, along with the inhabitants of the deep sea, is very diverse. Their lion's share are relatively small parasites up to 2 cm long. But tapeworm is another matter.
This category includes really large helminths, capable of reaching 30 cm or more in length. Therefore, even if a very large colony of pinworms, of course, is unlikely to affect our digestion in a positive way and will definitely require treatment.
But it will not cause a blockage in our intestines under any circumstances. But tapeworms and tapeworms are quite capable of this, especially when several of them settle in the body, or the parasite was originally one, but died for some reason.
What is this parasite - cucumber tapeworm?
It is extremely difficult not to suspect yourself of being infected with any of the tapeworms.
First, the level of discomfort in the digestive tract increases as the worm itself grows.
Secondly, even a tapeworm that died somewhere in the intestine or other organ is a serious health threat, since the total weight of its body can exceed 1 kg.
When all this volume of tissue begins to decompose (if for some reason it did not leave the body naturally), poisoning is no less pronounced than in the case of eating stale meat.
And then, whether alive or dead, an adult tapeworm is easily able to block the course of food in the intestines due to the rings of its long body. This is how they usually die (unless we tried to poison them on purpose).
But another thing is that in this scenario, the host person can also end up on the operating table for urgent treatment.
Cucumber tapeworm is one of such extremely dangerous, long, although relatively rare "guests" in our digestive tract. It got its name for the similarity of the segments of its body (and it can reach half a meter in length) with cucumber seeds. Infection with it of the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals is called dipylidiosis.
Symptoms of dipyldiosis
Cucumber tapeworm feels good in the human body - for example, unlike toxocaras and other helminths that are characteristic of the animal kingdom and are not common among people. But it is difficult for him to get into it, and below we will see why.
As a rule, as it grows, the patient has the following symptoms:
- Salivation, especially between meals;
- Nausea, mostly on an empty stomach or shortly after eating;
- Vomiting, in which the former attacks of one nausea are completed more and more often, in accordance with the growth rate of the worm;
- Almost constant aching pain in the abdomen, which increases with palpation, especially in the navel;
- Bloating, in which gas production is objectively increased, but not much. The patient's abdomen is simply enlarged and tense, but the typical "rumbling" in the intestines of gas does not appear very often;
- Stool disorder resulting in regular bouts of diarrhea. And the transition to continuous constipation with this pathology is not observed;
- Dizziness, especially unmotivated, but frequent;
- Other neurological symptoms such as hyperexcitability, sleep disturbances, tremors in the limbs, nervous tics. All worms, without exception, secrete the products of their vital activity into the intestinal cavity and, therefore, the blood, and a significant part of them refers to neurotoxins - poisons for nerve cells. Therefore, such symptoms are always present. But the set of its signs in each specific case can be very different due to the peculiarities of the development and work of the central nervous system in individuals;
- Pallor - including the skin and mucous membranes of the mouth;
- Unexplained apparent weight loss.
It should be noted that the last two symptoms, which indicate increasing exhaustion, are observed only in stages when the parasite has already grown and requires urgent treatment. Moreover, the smaller (in terms of purely physical size, not age) the organism in which the cucumber tapeworm has settled, the earlier and more noticeably they appear.
Sources of dipylidiosis infection
Cucumber tapeworm readily parasitizes in humans and carnivores. Interestingly, if usually the eggs of the worms enter the soil and water around us with feces, and then wait there in the wings (the opportunity to get on our skin or mouth), then the eggs of this helminth are transferred in a different way. They infect fleas, lice and other blood-sucking insects that usually inhabit the coat or hair.
These insects serve as their main carriers - moreover, not only in the animal kingdom, but also among people. True, there is one difficulty, due to which this type of parasite is not very common in humans and remains mainly an animal. The fact is that in order to infect it with eggs, you need to swallow not the eggs themselves (for example, those caught on the fingers when stroking the pet) and not even the wool (rarely, but it happens, because it is very volatile), but the directly infected insect.
Treatment of dipylidiosis
Infection with any types of tapeworms, including cucumber, is not a reason for experimenting with folk remedies. Usually, traditional medicine really recommends treating helminthic infestations with decoctions and infusions of herbs with toxic properties.
But the toxicity of such plants as celandine, wormwood, oak bark, etc. must be assessed correctly. The human stomach and intestines, of course, will be "noticed" if we start poisoning them with tannins and alkaloids every day. Here are just all these compounds they can assimilate and will assimilate, absorbing them into the blood.
This means:
- in the intestinal cavity itself, the poison will not last long, and the tapeworm with its rather large size will survive this half an hour without harm to health;
- the main "blow" from such treatment will not be at all on the digestive tract, but on the organs that filter the blood from such compounds and other decay products - the spleen, liver, kidneys.
Unlike natural herbal poisons, anthelmintic drugs contain special poisons - strong antibiotics, the action of which is narrowly directed against worms, if only because they are practically not absorbed from the intestines into the blood.
Naturally, such powerful and versatile representatives of their series as albendazole freely enter the bloodstream and liver. But albendazole is intended for the treatment of extensive invasions, when not only the digestive tract is affected by worms. In case of dipylidiosis, treatment is generally not indicated for them - well, perhaps in the second place. And the first to be prescribed the antibiotic niclosamide.
Niclosamide is specially formulated as an effective treatment for various types of tapeworms, including cucumber. It can be found, for example, in the composition of the drug "Fenasal" or "Fenagep", although, of course, we can choose any other, if only it was based on this active substance.
Niclosamide is contraindicated in pregnancy, lactation and individual sensitivity to it.
Plus, only a doctor has the right to prescribe it to children under 2 years old, since at this age it is usually safer to prescribe praziquantel (once, at the rate of 5 mg for every 1 kg of the child's body weight).
- Children from 2 to 5 years old should take niclosamide once, chewing each tablet thoroughly, at a dosage of 750 mg, 3-5 hours before meals. After 2 hours, the child should be given a laxative, the course should be repeated after 2 weeks;
- Children from 5 to 12 years old are also shown a single intake on an empty stomach and followed by a laxative, only in a dosage of 1000 mg of active ingredient;
- Adolescents and adults need to take a single dose of 2 g of active ingredient on an empty stomach, then drink a laxative after 2 hours and eat only after another 3 hours.
Prevention of dipylidiosis infection
Theoretically, everyone who often deals with animals - hunters, veterinarians, farmers and, most importantly, children who have four-legged friends - are at risk for its invasions. But they only become infected by swallowing wool insects, since its larva, called cysticercoid, is infectious, and it matures from an egg in the digestive tract of fleas.
Therefore, here you can, of course, advise you never to swallow fleas or lice, but this advice will surely sound ridiculous. This means that it will be more relevant to simply observe hygiene when dealing with animals and make sure that children do not bite their furry "wards" by the ears or withers, including out of imitation of them.