According to experts, almost 80% of children attending pre-school or school institutions suffer from various types of helminthiasis. For example, ascarids in children are quite common, because at this age they actively learn the world and taste everything. Infection often occurs in the summer, due to the fact that children play in the sandbox, eat vegetables and fruits that can contain soil particles. Ascaridosis in children can be suspected by several characteristic symptoms, they should be known to all parents.
Dr. Komarovsky, a famous pediatrician, believes that the appearance of ascarids in children is not at all a sign of parental negligence. It is very difficult for children to keep track of their babies, in addition, many often have a bad habit of gnawing their nails, sometimes it is enough to catch ascaridosis. Even in families where the rules of hygiene are strictly observed, the risk of infection is high.
Ascarids in children( as they look you can see in the photo) do not always cause symptoms of helminthic invasion, so at the initial stage the disease is difficult to recognize. Parasites can live in the body for years, but as soon as the defenses of the body weaken, they will make themselves felt. With massive infection, as a rule, immediately there is a pronounced symptomatology. Dr. Komarovsky is sure that ascarids in children are harmless parasites, because they can cause serious health problems. You can see useful recommendations of the doctor on the video.
The causative agent of ascaridosis in children
Ascarids look like long white worms. Sometimes parents discover them in the feces of children. This parasite is from the class of roundworms, from 15 cm to 40 cm in size. The male is always smaller than the female, the female is very prolific, in a day it can lay aside about 240 thousand eggs. They go out with feces, but they can not be seen with the naked eye, since they are very small.
How to look like eggs of parasites can be seen in the photo. When they stand out with feces, they are not yet contagious, because they need some time to ripen in the ground. Eggs are covered with a dense shell, so they can remain viable for several years. For them, destructive only direct sunlight, as well as gasoline, alcohol and ether.
Dr. Komarovsky claims that children can get ascaridosis almost everywhere. For example, when they play in the playground, they often take dirty toys and hands in their mouths. In addition, unwashed vegetables and fruits often become a source of contamination, especially children at risk who live in rural areas. It is difficult for them to walk in the garden and not to try vegetables, fruits and berries directly from the garden. Ascariasis can not be called a childhood disease, it happens in people of all ages.
What are the symptoms of ascaridosis in children?
Askarids in feces( pictured) appear when they are already dying. Live worms rarely go out. Infection with ascariasis occurs when an invasive egg enters the patient's body. In the small intestine larvae appear from the eggs, they are so small that they penetrate into the venous vessels without problems. It is from this moment that the migration phase begins.
How to identify ascaris in a child? At an early stage, there may not be any symptoms, especially if the number of swallowed eggs is negligible. Larvae during the migration release toxic substances that can cause allergy especially in a baby under 2 years old. Such parasites as ascarids migrate to the organs, as soon as they enter the lungs and accumulate there, the patient develops a cough. Together with phlegm, the larvae enter the mouth, the baby swallows the parasites again, and they re-enter the small intestine. This ends the migratory phase and begins intestinal.
In this period, ascarids in infants and in older children( 1, 2, 3 years) cause the following symptoms: weakness, pale skin, fever, and when helminths enter the lungs there is a cough and shortness of breath. Ascarids in a one-year-old child can cause severe complications in the form of pneumonia, which can result in a fatal outcome. In the lungs during X-ray examination, the patient usually finds infiltrates.
With massive infection in young children 1, 2, 3 years, helminthiosis can occur with serious complications, since their immunity is still poorly developed and can not withstand helminths. Especially in the risk group are infants, with the slightest suspicion of a helminthic invasion, parents need to immediately show the baby to the doctor.
How to recognize ascariasis in children in the intestinal stage?
If the parents found ascaris in the feces of the baby, then it means that the disease was already in the intestinal stage. When the larvae reached the small intestine a second time, then their migration stops, they chose their habitat. Here they will grow for two months, and will turn into adults, which will be ready for reproduction.
Ascaridosis in a child under two years of age often occurs with complications. Usually the intestinal stage characterizes itself with the following symptoms: there are signs of damage to the digestive system, appetite changes, nausea, weakness, and sometimes there is pain in the abdomen, which is mainly localized in the navel.
Ascarids in children can cause various disorders of the central nervous system. They show themselves hysterical fits, sleep disturbances, nightmares and throwing in a dream. The baby has weakness, fast fatigue and memory loss.
In some cases, ascarids in children under one year of age or older can cause various visual impairments, for example, photophobia or an increase in pupils. They often have anemia due to poor assimilation of microelements. In addition, ascariasis can provoke various diseases of the mucous membranes, as well as skin. Because of helminthic infestation, children are exposed to various infectious diseases, they do not recover for a long time.
Askaridosis in infants
Many people are interested in the question, how can a newborn get infected with ascariasis? Infection can occur if a woman has already been infected during pregnancy. Rarely, it happens that the larvae penetrate the developing fetus through the placenta. In this case, when the baby is born, then in his stomach will already be adults.
That's why Dr. Komarovsky recommends immediately to see a doctor if during pregnancy or while breastfeeding a woman suspected a helminthic infestation. Many drugs are very toxic, but the doctor will choose a medicine that will be relatively safe for both the baby and the mother. Typically, Pirantel is prescribed, infants are advised to give infants Albendazole. But, in no case you can not choose the drug yourself, because it is dangerous and only the doctor can correctly calculate the dosage and take into account all contraindications.
What is the risk of ascaridosis in children?
Ascarids in children during migration can create a serious health hazard, because they injure the tissues of organs and cause inflammation. In addition, various blood vessels can be damaged, because of this, hemorrhages of different intensity occur - all of this is very dangerous for a child's unstable body.
Adult worms with massive infection strongly deplete the body, they suck all the nutrients and poison the patient with the products of their vital activity. If helminthic invasion is not treated in time, then ascarids in children can cause severe allergic reactions, bronchial asthma, and dysbacteriosis. Because of the decrease in immunity, the children's body is greatly weakened and can no longer resist various infections.
Massive infection of children with ascarids can be very dangerous for health, for example, the most frequent complication is intestinal obstruction caused by worms. In addition, the worms can crawl into the bile ducts and cause an attack of acute cholecystitis, and if parasites get into the appendix, then it can become inflamed, then without surgical intervention it will be difficult to do. Dr. Komarovsky does not consider parasitic diseases harmless, therefore, he recommends that you treat children with special medications prescribed by a doctor, you can see his recommendations on video.
How to identify children's ascariasis?
For the detection of ascaris in children, a doctor can prescribe a stool test. This analysis can be done in any laboratory, if a person is really infected, then eggs of these helminths will be found in the feces, adult worms rarely leave, only when they die. This analysis can not be considered very reliable, because after infection the worms begin to lay eggs in about 90 days. And if in an organism of the patient there are no adult females, and only males, then there will be no eggs. For greater accuracy, this analysis is recommended to be submitted three times with a certain periodicity.
How to detect ascarids in children? There is another way to detect parasites - this is a blood test for antibodies. In infected people, special antibodies are secreted in the blood, according to which it is possible to suspect the presence of infestation. This method of diagnosis is still rarely used because it is expensive.
From all of the above it becomes clear that the ascarids in children - this is a serious problem that can not be ignored. This parasitic disease can cause a child to lag behind in physical and mental development. Treatment of this disease is only medicamentous, folk methods of treatment will not help get rid of parasites, they can only intensify the migration of worms in the body.