Chain is a type of tapeworm related to parasitic flat helminths. A person is prone to infection with bovine and pork chains. Rat, dwarfish and cucumber chain are much less common. Most often they become infected with pets and rodents.
All these worms vary greatly in size, but have the same structure: a set of joints connected to each other and attached to the head with 4 suckers. The terminal segments are filled with eggs. From time to time, they detach from the body, disintegrate and release a huge number of ripe eggs, which are the causative agents of the corresponding parasitic diseases.
Infection with a bovine chain
Teniarinhoz is a parasitic disease that develops when a body is infected with a bull chain. The causative agents of the disease are the larvae of the solitaire, which are found in the meat of cattle. The infected person excretes, together with feces, eggs of bovine tapeworm, which fall into the soil and plants. But for a person they are not contagious. Eating such grass, animals are exposed to infection by solitaires.
Worm eggs can not be digested with gastric juice, but enter the intestines, from where they enter through the blood into the muscle tissue of the animal. This causes infection of the whole organism. Therefore, beef meat presents an epidemiological danger if it is poorly thermally processed.
Subsequently, after being in the human body, the larva is fixed to the intestinal wall and for a short time turns into an adult individual bovine chain. A matured solitair can reach a length of more than 5 meters. When eating poorly fried, slightly salted, jerky meat of a sick animal, there is a risk of contracting a teniarinchiasis. Symptoms of this disease are unstable stools, nausea, abdominal pain, weight loss. The main distinguishing feature is the combination of the above characteristics with unnaturally increased appetite. Simultaneously, independent creeping of the parasite segments through the anus, increased irritability, hives and other manifestations of an allergic nature is observed.
Infection with pork chain
If the larvae of this parasite enter the body, a shadow is developed. Infection with eggs of pork chopsticks leads to cysticercosis. Teniosis( parasitic activity in the intestine of an adult pork tailpiece) has the same symptoms as when infected with a bull chain. Except for the fact that in this solitaire the terminal segments are immobile and can not leave independently from the host's body. Therefore, the main method of detecting this helminth is a thorough laboratory study.
Cysticercosis is a more dangerous form of the disease. Larvae of the chainworm, caught from the meat of an infected animal in the human body, can move through the bloodstream and enter various tissues and organs. With the penetration of helminth into the skin, muscles, subcutaneous tissue, there are no clinical manifestations. With cysticercosis of the brain, there is nausea of the central genesis, constant vomiting, after which relief does not occur, memory impairment, mental decline, etc. If the worm larvae penetrated into the eyes, the patient's eyesight deteriorates, inflammations of the eyelids appear. In severe cases, the retina loses its functions and the patient can go blind. When infecting with spinal cord solars, numbness of limbs and problems with motor functions appear( in case of massive lesion paralysis or paresis is observed).
Diagnosis of Chain Infestation
If a suspected infection with larvae of Chain is necessary, a laboratory test should be performed to confirm the diagnosis. The choice of methods depends on the expected localization of the parasite.
- Ovoscopy of perianal scraping helps to detect eggs of helminths
- Stool analysis for detection of parasite body fragments. The terminal segments of the bovine tapeworm differ from the porcine by external signs and mobility.
- Blood test for the detection of specific antibodies to porcine thymus antigens( commonly used in cysticercosis, in which the diagnosis of stool is difficult).
Additional methods of laboratory and instrumental research allow assessing the extent of damage to organs and the body as a whole. For this purpose:
- general blood test. It allows to identify hypochromic anemia of a toxic character and eosinophilia as a manifestation of the body's allergic state
- radiography
- coprogram( the presence of undigested food residues).
Infection with tapeworms of rare species
Infection with a chain of rare species( rat, cucumber, pumpkin) occurs when eggs are accidentally swallowed. They live on animal wool, including pets. Therefore, the risk of infection with chains of this type are unwashed hands after stroking cats or dogs. Most often this situation is observed in children.
But you can get infected from those pets on the body of which fleas live. It is these insects that contain the factors of invasion. They can be swallowed if a person does not wash their hands after contacting their pet. On his hands were pieces of wool containing eggs of helminth. They enter the digestive system and continue to undergo a characteristic cycle of development, acquiring features of pathogenicity.
This infection of tapeworm, common in childhood, can be avoided. To do this, it is necessary to monitor the animals and at the first appearance of fleas immediately use different drugs to remove them. The second direction is the upbringing of the child in order to develop hygienic skills. The kid should know that after contact with a cat or a dog, you should immediately wash your hands, especially if it is someone else's animal.
But do not forget that these soloists of a rare kind for people can be found on vegetables or fruits. There they fall, if food is not isolated from animals, incl.rodents. Running past them, they leave on the vegetables( fruits) particles of invaded wool. Eggs can last for a long time in the environment, without losing their pathogenic properties. For this reason, getting into the body of people, they cause the development of the corresponding diseases. However, this unfavorable outcome can be avoided. To help come all the same rules of hygiene, familiar to everyone from childhood. The main thing is not to eat unwashed vegetables and fruits. It is worth remembering that they can be invaded by helminths, incl.and rare for humans species. Because of this, the diagnosis of these diseases is very often difficult, becausediseases are uncharacteristic for people, and they are thought of in the last place.