Ascaridosis among parasitic diseases caused by roundworms is one of the most common. This disease causes serious damage to health, such helminths can migrate throughout the body, traumatizing different organs. Infection with ascarids is especially difficult to avoid for children, because they often neglect the rules of hygiene. To protect yourself from this disease, a person needs to know the main ways of infection.
In view of the prevalence of such a diagnosis, as the ascaridosis of many people is concerned with the question, how do they become infected with helminths? The main source of infestation is a sick person. It excretes with the feces eggs of worms that enter the soil and there ripen and only then they become invasive. Eggs of these helminths are very resistant to external influences, they tolerate frost well. Can stay in the soil, preserving viability, for several years. Patients with close personal contact are not contagious to others.
Ways of infection with ascaridosis
The path of infection with ascarid human is mainly fecal-oral. That is, this disease can be "picked up" if you do not wash your hands before eating, drink water from dubious sources, there are unwashed vegetables and fruits from the garden. How can I get infected if I follow the rules of hygiene? In this case, the risk of the disease is minimal.
Ascaridosis is most affected by people living in rural areas and associated with agriculture. Especially the concentration of eggs in the ground is where the soil is fertilized with feces. Invasion can occur at any age. But especially children suffer from this disease. Even if the parents monitor the hygiene of the child, it is still possible to become infected, because the children are very curious and can try the sand for taste or eat unwashed strawberries from the bed.
Are Askarids Contagious?
The ways of infection with ascarids are understandable, but how the parasite behaves in the body. When infested, the larvae enter the intestine, where they penetrate the organ wall and enter the blood vessels, and then begin to migrate throughout the body, causing allergic reactions. The fact that getting into the body, the worms secrete poison, to which the immune response reacts with a rash.
Blood larvae enter the liver, lungs, then into the bronchi, so they can penetrate into the pharynx and into the oral cavity. The patient with saliva swallows them again, they re-enter the intestine, where the larvae turn into adult individuals. Can I get ascarids from a person?
Eggs of adults are excreted together with feces outside, but at this stage they are still immature, they need to lie down for a while in the soil. That is why household contact with a patient is usually not dangerous. Askarids are contagious if a person swallows their eggs from unwashed vegetables and fruits, or when they get into the body through dirty hands. Self-infection for the above-described reason is rare.
An adult in the intestine can live on average about a year. After that, she dies and stands out with feces. If you see a dead large white worm in the stool, do not be scared and quickly wash it off, it is better to put it in a jar of alcohol and take it to a specialist.
Even if a person becomes infected with ascarids, then at least a year later the disease passes, but during this time worms can cause irreparable harm to the body. Not only are they powerful allergens, they are traumatizing their organs by their migration. In a massive attack, helminths can cause intestinal obstruction or an attack of appendicitis. It is possible to re-invade, if the recovered patient does not comply with the rules of hygiene and uses unwashed vegetables and fruits for food. In this case, the population of helminths in his intestines will be constantly replenished.
Can I get ascarids from animals?
It is impossible to infect ascarids from animals, because the main source of these worms can be a child or an adult with weakened immunity. In fully healthy people, there are almost no such diseases, because the immune system works well.
Ways of infection have been described above to get this type of helminthiosis, you need to have contact with the soil. There are cases when worms of this type were found in animals, but they can not reproduce outside the human body. Some people, seeing in the feces of domestic pets of white worms, mistakenly take them for ascaris. In fact, these are toksokary, but they can also harm human health.
Is it possible to get ascariasis from fish? Such helminths do not live directly in fish, but infection can not be ruled out if the fish contain soil particles. It is also possible to pick up this kind of worms from animals, only if a person strokes a cat who walked on the street and lay in the ground, and then does not wash his hands before dinner.
Many people ask the question: Is it possible to get sick with ascariasis if you eat unroasted meat? Grab other no less dangerous worms, but ascarids can not be infected in this way.
Recurring infection with ascarids
How can a person get a recurrence of this helminthiasis? Repeated infection is possible, unfortunately, the body does not develop immunity to parasitic diseases. That's why if a person has again become infected with ascaris, for example, ate an unwashed strawberry and swallowed eggs, then the helminth will again repeat its life cycle, which was described above.
Infection with ascarids occurs only when the hygiene rules are not respected. It is important for parents to explain to children who are most susceptible to parasitic diseases, what they need after the street, to communicate with animals, before eating, be sure to wash their hands. To avoid the disease you can not eat unwashed fruits and vegetables, and drink from dubious sources.
Mostly people become infected with ascariasis in the summer season, especially after a rest in the countryside. Parents need to ensure that children do not play in the land in which the larvae of these helminths may be contained. The risk of invasion is high in those areas where fecal gardens are fertilized.
How the infection with ascarids is now understood, people can pick up this disease everywhere, this is a very common type of helminths, its larvae can be found:
- under the fingernails, on dirty hands;
- on handrails and door handles;
- on bills and coins;
- in the dust;
- in foods that are contaminated with soil.
A person can get ascarids everywhere, this disease is very common around the globe. It is very dangerous for health and can even cause death. That is why the prevention of ascaridosis is very important, you can not tolerate infection. And if there are signs of the disease, for example, an allergic reaction to the skin, weakness, painful cough or frequent digestive disorder and anemia, you should immediately consult a doctor. Especially infestation is dangerous for children, it can lead to serious health problems up to a lethal outcome.