Based on statistics, it has been proven that more than one billion people are infected with helminths, which are popularly called worms. However, these indicators are conditional, because they were established based on the number of people who sought help from specialists who diagnosed helminth infection.
In life, every person encounters worms at least once in his life (regardless of age and gender), but many are simply not aware of their infection and continue to transmit worms to other people. In the initial stages of infection, they do not cause discomfort, but in case of massive infections they can lead to toxic poisoning and even death. Therefore, you should know what worms are, what they look like in the body and how to overcome the acquired disease.
Doctors have already studied many "uninvited guests" in the body of animals and humans that overwhelm the immune system and are able to make holes in blood vessels by eroding them. This causes serious consequences in the form of erosions and other diseases, so helminthic infections must be treated first.
Types of worms
Among the many varieties of helminths, the greatest damage can be caused to the body by 3 classes of worms: tapeworms, roundworms and tapeworms. Let's see what these worms look like in humans.
Roundworms
The class of roundworms is commonly called nematodes. This is one of the most common types of worms that infect the human body. However, in addition to parasitic nematodes, there are also free-living nematodes, so they are not found inside the human body.
In the photo you can see the body of nematodes, which is characterized by a round shape and therefore they have been added to the class of roundworms. They have a thin and elongated body, and its edges are pointed on both sides.
During the examination, the following worms of this class are most often found in the human body: whipworm, roundworm, trichina (Trichinella) and pink worm. These types of worms in humans can be seen in the photo.
Male wormshave a shorter body length than females. Females can grow up to 40 centimeters. Roundworms are located in the intestine, poisoning the body with toxic substances. When there is a large accumulation of parasites within this cavity, they are able to close the lumen of the intestine and obstruct the passage. If you refuse treatment, the invasion can lead to death, because unnecessary substances in the body will no longer be eliminated and toxic poisoning will reach its limit.
Red wormsThey bark in smaller sizes compared to roundworms. Their body length does not exceed 1 cm. These representatives reproduce actively, because living in the small intestine and rectum, they have access to the anus, and crawling out of it, the females place larvae in the intrafemoral part, the anus, between the buttocks. At a time, an individual worm can lay up to 15, 000 eggs, creating skin irritation. Then the infected person begins to scratch the irritant, contributing to the spread of helminths to others. Most often, breast worms are found in children, therefore, in preschool and school institutions, institutions with large crowds of people, an examination for worm eggs is required.
The whipwormis an equally dangerous parasite, because the females of this helminth lay 3000-4000 eggs per day. When the worm has reached sexual maturity, it has a thread-like front end, which is 2/3 of the body length, and a thick grayish-pink rear end with transverse stripes. The average length of a helminth is 3-5 cm. The tails of female and male representatives differ: in females it is characterized by a bend, and in males it is spiral-shaped.
The danger of whipworm infection is that this worm penetrates the mucosa and deep layers. It can touch smooth muscle and feed on tissue fluid.
trichinais a particularly dangerous parasite that lives inside the muscles and intestinal walls of humans. Visually, the worm looks like a long, twisted thread, reaching 4. 5 mm and 1. 6 mm in diameter. The vital activity of such a helminth can lead to the death of the carrier if therapeutic measures are not taken in time.
Flukes
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Many people are interested in what parasites in the human body (photo) of the fluke class look like. In medical practice, they are called trematodes, but the most interesting thing is that they do not absorb anything from the body, but feed on mucus, blood and what passes through the area affected by worms. Trematodes can grow up to 1. 5 meters in length and are located not only in the intestines, but also in other organs (even in the conjunctival sac).
However, worms of the fluke class are able to adhere to the walls of the intestine, and thus resist accidental excretion along with feces. These parasites have a functional digestive tract and reproductive system, but the respiratory and circulatory systems function at a minimal level.
Tapeworms
Tapeworms- a class of flatworms, which is divided into tapeworms and tapeworms. These individuals rarely enter the human body directly. Most often, infection with them occurs due to a person eating fish infected with these parasites, but in animals they occur only in the larval stage and reach maturity within an individual that has a backbone.
Parasites of this class have a special anatomical structure of the body, so the head of the worm serves only for attachment to the intestinal wall, and this worm receives food using the whole body. The food of their host serves as food for tapeworms, but the helminth is not digested by gastric juice because it releases a substance called antikinase.
Despite the similarity of these worms, when making a diagnosis it is necessary to distinguish them in order to decide the appropriate method of treatment.
Tapeworms have 2 suckers on their heads, allowing them to adhere well to the intestinal wall, unlike representatives - tapeworms, which have 4 adhesive teeth. The length of the tapeworm's body can reach 18 meters and occupy the entire length of the small intestine.
How can you get infected with these worms?
The spread of helminths begins with stage 1, characterized by the entry of helminth eggs into the human body. They then hatch, becoming larvae (stage 2) and move throughout the body until they settle in organs or systems, but most often remain in the gut. In stage 3, the worms are no longer able to migrate throughout the body, but are quite capable of multiplying and infecting a healthy population.
Despite the variety of worms and their characteristics, the infection can be combined. This indicates the possibility of simultaneous stay in the digestive tract or organs of different types of worms, without interfering with each other.
Infection with worms can occur in 3 ways:
- From person to person.
- Through the earth.
- When you follow a raw food diet and eat lightly processed foods, especially vegetables and fruits, herbs.
Signs of infection
Signs of helminth infection can be very different, but first of all you need to start from the stage of infection:
- Acute. It lasts no more than 20 days. In this case, extensive allergic reactions of unknown origin are observed. This is due to the immune system's response to a stimulus. Allergy causes skin rash and clinical blood tests show higher than normal levels of eosinophils.
- Winner. The disease at this stage can develop in 2-3 years. In this case, the symptoms depend on the organ in which the parasites live, their number and how much they have damaged the tissue walls or body systems. In severe situations, they cause inflammation and fast-growing species can have fatal consequences.
It is very important to know what parasites of any kind look like, because sometimes dead adults can pass along with feces, then based on the description of their appearance, you can speed up the diagnosis and quickly choose a treatment method.
Timely detection of helminths plays an important role in human life, because not all parasites are able to exist practically harmless inside the body. It is recommended that the whole family be examined by a doctor at least 1-2 times a year, wash your hands before eating, eat only well-processed foods and use folk anthelmintic drugs for prevention: clove powder or wormwood, bark solutionof the nut.