According to the World Health Organization, approximately 90% of the world's population is infected with one type of parasite or another. Only about 250 types of worms (helminthiasis) can live in the human body, but apart from them there are also protozoa (amoeba, lamblia and others), arthropods, insect larvae and many other parasites.
Most often, residents of big cities are infected with banal worms, roundworms and tapeworms, dangerous to health and very unpleasant parasites, but only residents of tropical countries and tourists who go on vacation to the south usually encounter truly terrible creatures that parasitize the human body. America, Africa or Australia.
Every day every person encounters a huge number of parasites; You can become infected with worms by eating food or drinking water with parasite eggs or larvae, close contact with a parasite carrier (animal or human), less often, infection occurs through household objects or insect bites.
The most common parasitosis
- Roundworms- representatives of this type of worm are diagnosed in 100 million people in the world every year. An adult roundworm is a roundworm, up to 40 cm long, which can exist in the human intestine for years, feeding on its red blood cells and poisoning the human body with waste products. Female roundworms can lay up to 200, 000 eggs per day, which are released along with feces and infect the soil. Ascaris larvae can migrate throughout the body, affecting internal organs, blood vessels and even the human brain.
- Pinworms- small round worms that live in the large intestine. Pinworm infection is common in childhood; parasites enter the human body when the rules of personal hygiene are not observed (do not wash your hands after using the toilet, walking and before eating, do not change your underwear on time, lick your fingers, etc. ). These roundworms do not cause as strong intoxication as other worms, but they can cause the development of diseases such as enterocolitis, vulvovaginitis, salpingitis, cystitis and others. In the mating season, adult worms leave the lower parts of the large intestine and lay eggs in the perianal folds, which causes severe itching in the child, which is the main symptom of worm infection.
- Beef and pork tapewormare large tapeworms, whose length can reach 10 m. Despite such impressive sizes, tapeworms are not considered the largest and longest parasites. The longest worm in the world, the broad tapeworm, can reach a length of 25 m. Infection with parasites occurs when eating poorly cooked meat or through contact and household contact. Tapeworms not only cause intoxication and exhaustion of the host's body, but can also cause blockage of the bile ducts or intestinal obstruction. No less dangerous are the larvae of the worms, which penetrate the internal organs, the brain, and even the eyeballs.
- Giardia- protozoa or protozoan parasites that live in the small intestine of humans. Protozoan infection is possible by consuming food or water contaminated with cysts. Diagnosing a Giardia infection is quite difficult, because there are no specific symptoms of the disease. A sick person constantly feels bad, often gets sick or is diagnosed with symptoms of various diseases of internal organs.
Which parasites are considered the most dangerous?
Representatives of the following species are considered the most terrible and dangerous parasites in the world: filaria, schistosomes, guinea worms, cysticer, toxoplasma, loa loa and some other rare parasites.
Filaria
Filariae are round and long worms, about 45 cm long; you can get infected with filaria larvae from the bite of blood-sucking insects; larvae are most often carried by mosquitoes, and less often by other insects. Filariae penetrate the lymphatic vessels and clog them. As a result of the infection, a person's lower limbs swell so much that he loses the ability to move independently.
"Elephant disease" is widespread in hot countries, affecting both local residents and tourists, and in a more severe form. This disease is considered particularly dangerous due to the difficulties in diagnosis and treatment - the disease becomes noticeable only when it becomes chronic, which is almost impossible to cure.
Schistosomes
Schistosomes are a special type of worms that live in human blood vessels. Tiny flatworms, up to 2 mm long, enter the human body when swimming or drinking water contaminated with the parasite's cercariae.
Schistosomiasis is a predominantly tropical disease contracted by swimming in open water. Once in the human body, schistosomes can cause serious damage to the liver, bladder or intestines.
Guinea worm
Guinea worm or dracunculiasis is another serious parasitic disease that can be contracted by drinking dirty water in tropical countries. Roundworms, entering the human intestine, literally bite through it, then penetrate the lymphatic vessels and subcutaneous fatty tissue, where they can grow up to 80 cm in length.
Where the parasites live, deep abscesses appear, inside which one or more large worms can be found. Such parasitosis can only be cured surgically.
Loa Loa
Loa Loa or "eyeworm" is a round helminth that parasitizes subcutaneous fatty tissue. A person becomes infected by the bite of a blood-sucking insect, which is the intermediate host of the parasite.
Once inside the human body, Loa Loa begins to migrate throughout the body, including penetrating the eyeballs, brain or nervous tissue.
Whiskered Vandellia
Unlike other parasites, it belongs to freshwater fish and lives in Amazon rivers. A fairly large fish - up to 15 cm long, due to its transparency and eel-like shape, it is almost invisible in the water and quietly swims to its victims. Whiskered Vandelia can swim into the human urethra, attach itself to the blood vessel wall and suck blood, literally eating its owner from the inside. You can get rid of such a parasite only with a difficult operation.
Anyone can become infected with parasites; hundreds of thousands of dangerous parasites await each of us: in water, soil, on tree leaves, in public transport, seafood, fresh vegetables and fruits. Therefore, it is important to follow all sanitary and hygienic rules and teach children the rules of personal hygiene as soon as possible.
Most parasites enter the human body completely unnoticed, and the first symptoms of the disease appear only a few weeks or months after infection. The symptoms of parasitosis can be different: from mild weakness and headache to a sharp worsening of the condition, fever and hemoptysis.
Only constant monitoring of your health, regular medical examinations and extreme caution when visiting tropical countries will help you avoid infection with the most terrible parasites or at least diagnose such an infection in time.