How to determine the presence of worms in a person

2023 Author: Alfred Shackley | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 13:14

According to scientists, every fourth person on the planet has helminths in the body, which he does not even know about. They gradually infect vital organs, disrupting their work, provoking the onset of life-threatening diseases.

Before starting work on removing worms from the body, you need to know what type of worms is localized in it, what symptoms indicate this.

Varieties of worms, the place of their localization in the human body

Biologists distinguish three types of worms: round, tape, flukes. Many of them find comfortable conditions for life in the intestines, others - in the ducts of the gallbladder, blood vessels, and some settle in the liver, lungs, and human brain.

Features of round parasites

A feature of roundworms, or nematodes, is the sharpness of the anterior and posterior ends of the body, the roundness of their shape when cross-sectioned. More than twenty thousand species of worms on earth belong to this species.

Some are common in children and adults:

• Less than one centimeter long, pinworms live in the small and large intestines. Most often, children suffer from them. When laying eggs in the anal area, the infected person feels severe itching in this area. Pinworms pass from a sick child to a healthy one through direct contact, when there is no observance of basic hygiene rules. Enterobiasis can be self-infected by patients when, after scratching the anus, the eggs of the parasites are swallowed;
• Roundworms, large worms, reaching a length of 25 to 40 centimeters, are also dangerous. They enter the body through unwashed fruits, vegetables, and raw water. Due to the fact that these worms have no adaptations to attach to any organ, they move freely towards the nutrient masses in the small intestine. Ascaris infestation occurs due to toxins released by worms into the blood;
• Small white helminths, called whipworms, settle in the cecum, feed on its mucous membrane and blood. With a small amount of round whipworm, the symptoms of its appearance are difficult to identify. An increase in the number of helminths causes various symptoms: inflammation, diarrhea, rectal prolapse;
• And such three-millimeter worms, like trichina, live, develop in the human body, settling in the muscles of the heart, lungs, eyes. Invasive consequences can even lead to the death of the patient due to paralysis of the muscles of the respiratory system, cardiac arrest.

Tape parasites: penetration routes, developmental features

Flatworms, which include several types of tapeworm, tapeworms, enter the human body through food. Meat of killed animals, fish caught in the river are carriers of tapeworm larvae. Poorly processed foods bring diseases to a person caused by poisoning of the metabolism of parasites - trichinosis or diphyllobothriasis.

Having a weak nervous, digestive system, tapeworms grow and multiply rapidly, reaching a length of about two tens of meters. Attaching to the intestinal walls with special suction cups located on their head, they parasitize on human organs. The useful substances of undigested food by a person pass through the cells of their body, being completely absorbed by them. Often, you can find out if the eggs of these parasites are in the body by carefully analyzing the human stool.

The structure of flukes, their habitat in the body

Having a flat body about one and a half meters long, flukes, or trematodes, look like a leaf or tongue. They enter the human body in the same way as tape helminths through fish, seafood, cooked without sufficient heat treatment.

Once inside the human body, they migrate, finding themselves in the most unexpected places. Parasitizing human organs, flukes live up to their name, absorbing blood, mucus, intestinal contents, thereby supporting their developed digestive system.

Common signs indicating the presence of worms

The defeat of worms has been known since ancient times, therefore they have adapted so much, developed different versions of existence in the human body, that it is rather difficult to find out about their presence.

But still, there are some signs by which we can talk about the presence of helminths inside a person:

• Many types of worms live in the intestines, leading to disturbances in its work. In an infected person, there is increased gas formation, muscles inside the abdomen become inflamed. Blocking the canals, the worms cause constipation, or the substances they release, on the contrary, lead to the appearance of loose stools. In addition, parasites constantly irritate the intestinal mucosa, which interferes with the better absorption of fats by tissues;
• Penetrating into the tissues of muscles, joints, worms provoke the occurrence of inflammatory processes in them, which is reflected by pain in this area;
• In patients with helminthic invasions, the nervous system suffers: they are in constant irritation, depression, and do not sleep well. Hence, there is a decrease in physical, mental activity during the day;
• The toxins released by helminths slowly poison the human body, reducing its immunity. In some cases, a reaction to poisons can be an allergy in the form of itching, rash;
• Due to the fact that worms parasitize in the human body, absorbing some of the substances useful for increasing energy, metabolic processes in it slow down or accelerate. At the same time, body weight changes sharply in the direction of increase or decrease;
• Signs of invasion may also include skin rashes in the form of urticaria, accompanied by itching, blistering, and fever. Dysfunctions of the digestive tract can result in eczema, when, in addition to the skin, the scalp is also affected;
• Helminths entering the respiratory system cause a cough that does not respond to conventional treatment;
• A sign of a worm infestation, such as grinding teeth during sleep in a child or adult, indicates that the body is irritated as a result of poisoning with worms.

It is possible to determine infection with worms in children by the presence of profuse salivation at night, in the morning, an irresistible craving for sweets, dry skin on the eyelids, brittle nails, lethargy.

An accurate diagnosis indicating the appearance of worms in the human body can only be made by a specialist on the basis of the tests taken.

Worms: symptoms of invasion by type of parasite

Each type of helminth can be identified by its characteristic features that appear at a certain time of the day and year.

1. Pinworms prefer to settle in a child's body than in an adult. They can be identified by itching in the anal area, which intensifies at night, in the off-season. The frequency of recurrence of the symptom depends on the stage of the disease's neglect.
2. The signs of ascaris, migrating to all organs, include a dry type cough, in which blood and pus are released. It is accompanied by weakness, malaise, low-grade fever, allergic skin rashes. A strong degree of ascariasis usually leads to pneumonia, asthmatic bronchitis. With the intestinal form of ascarid invasion, a person loses weight greatly, he may develop intestinal obstruction, pancreatitis, hepatitis.
3. Regular abdominal pain, loss of appetite are signs of whipworm damage
4. You can become infected with trichinosis through animal meat, and after three days a person has loose stools, he is nauseous, and his stomach hurts. Then painful sensations appear in the muscles, first the eyelids swell, and then the whole face.
5. Roundworms cause a parasitic disease such as strongyloidosis, which is asymptomatic. The larvae of worms enter the body through contact with the ground in regions with a humid climate, subtropics, and tropics. Having penetrated the human skin inside, the parasites travel through the organs with the blood stream, infecting it with toxins. It is difficult for a weakened body to cope with worms, it reacts to infection with allergic rashes, pathologies of the respiratory system, and the digestive tract.
6. The ducts of the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas are affected when infected with small parasites related to hepatic flukes. Sucking to the walls of the mucous membrane of the excretory organs, the worms pull it inward, pinching the vessels and tissues. In this case, the patient experiences muscle, joint pain, rashes appear on his skin, he is inhibited, suffers from insomnia. Disorders in the liver are manifested by symptoms of jaundice, digestive organs - bloating, upset stools. Some have added cough, pain in the sternum.

The presence of several of the above symptoms indicates that helminths have settled in the body. And the doctor can clarify this by examining the patient's analyzes.