Helminthiases are diseases caused by parasitic organisms. The insidiousness of the diseases of this group consists in:
- prevalence,
- ineffectiveness of preventive measures in places of mass congestion, which promotes the spread of helminthiases,
- latency of the disease in the first stage,
- similarity of symptoms with manifestations of other diseases,
- by the large number of parasite species that can parasitizein the person.
Today more than 200 forms of helminthiosis are described in specialized literature and medical textbooks. In this case, the patient can be sick at the same time with several forms of the disease. And since there are a lot of worms in nature, the main task of parasitologists is to reveal the type of parasites in order to prescribe adequate treatment.
The most common worm
Among the huge number of parasites, the most common worms in humans are the following:
- Ringworms( nematodes) are parasites whose body in cross-section has the shape of a ring. These include pinworms, withers, ascarids and trichinella.
- Belt parasites( cestodes) are worms, whose flat body looks like a narrow ribbon. A characteristic feature of cestodes is the absence of a digestive system. This group includes bovine and porcine tapeworm, lentets and echinococcus.
- Flat worms are distinguished by an asexual body. The general name of the trematode, the group includes various flukes and flukes.
Although many worms settle in the intestine and the digestive tract, various types of these parasites choose other areas and organs for implantation - the liver and lungs, the brain and skeletal muscles, skin, eyes and other places.
The spread of helminthiases can occur in many ways. Basically the body is affected:
- through water and soil, in which there are many eggs and worm larvae;
- in contact with a person or other carrier( pets, cats and dogs), patients with helminthiasis;
- many cases of infection are recorded when the patient consumes raw fish, as well as meat, subjected to insufficient heat treatment.
It should be noted that the bite of many insects, such as wasps or mosquitoes, can cause invasion, and home cockroaches and flies are carriers of the eggs of worms.
The most common worms in people
The most common worms in humans are, without a doubt, pinworms( a kind of annelid worms).According to medical statistics, many cases of infection with children's pinworms are recorded. As a rule, it happens as follows: on the hands of the child eggs of pinworms:
- when communicating with a sick person or a pet;
- during games by someone else's toys;
- when using the toilet in kindergarten or school;
- during walks.
With the unwashed hands through the mouth, the pinworm eggs enter the stomach, and in the small intestine their reincarnation into the larva begins and then into the adult individuals, which begin to multiply actively. To do this, they lay a lot of eggs around the anus, in the folds of the anus. In this case, the eggs of the worms are not only on the skin, but also on bed and underwear. Further, both self-infection and infection of other persons occurs during communication. Therefore, the course of treatment of this type of helminthiosis involves the inclusion in the process of all people entering into the circle of communication of a child infected with worms.
In adults, the most common worms are ascarids. Infection with these parasites is different. Since egg ripening occurs directly in the soil, the variant of infection from another carrier is completely excluded. Eggs of worms from the soil enter the body through unwashed hands, vegetables and fruits or toys raised from the ground. From the intestine, the larvae enter the liver or lungs through the bloodstream. Developed in these organs to a certain extent, they through the bronchi return back to the esophagus, in which they grow up in sexually mature individuals and begin to reproduce.
Geography of the spread of worms
Many types of worms live everywhere, regardless of climatic conditions and the level of development of the society. Such worms include pinworms and ascarids. Widow is widely spread. This helminth chooses wet areas of the tropics and subtropics. Trichinella, pork and bovine tapeworm are found in almost all regions of Russia. Dwarf tartar is common in many regions with a dry warm climate. Lentets wide lives near freshwater reservoirs. Resistant foci of infection are lacustrine regions of Karelia, northern Siberia, the Baikal region, the Far East. Siberian fluke lives in the basins of the Irtysh, the Volga, the Don, in Western Siberia. Hepatic fluke occurs in all regions of Russia.