Today we will talk about how to determine the presence of parasites in the human body, what symptoms may indicate their presence, and which methods of instrumental diagnosis are most effective. The symptoms of helminthiasis are sometimes very difficult to recognize, because many signs are similar in nature to other diseases. To protect yourself, you should know how to accurately determine the presence of parasites. Therefore - this article is only for a healthy person who cares about the health of the whole family.
Many of my friends ask if it is possible to recognize helminths at home or is it better to consult a specialist. To understand which method better shows their presence, I wrote this material. The article will reveal such points: how to recognize parasites in the human body - traditional and non-traditional methods.
We correctly diagnose parasites in the human body
You can find out that a person is bothered by parasites by the appearance and work of the whole organism - the presence of helminths is clearly visible. The signals given by the body cannot always be correctly interpreted for the simple reason that the symptoms are very similar to those typical of other common diseases.
Therefore, do not self-medicate - it will not affect helminths. If you notice recurrent symptoms of anxiety, it is best to see a doctor.
How to find out if an adult has parasites
Worms can stay in the body for a long time without showing obvious signs, entering the human body with one touch of the animal, when they eat unwashed fruits and vegetables.
It is important to know how to understand if a person has worms, because the consequences of long-term worm activity in the body can result in serious health problems for the person.
As soon as the worms start their activity in the body, it is very difficult to "calculate" them, so there are no symptoms in the initial stages of the infection. The obvious symptoms of worms in the body begin to appear when the parasites begin to multiply and lead an active life, literally feeding on the human body and depleting it.
Signs of parasites in adults will be as follows:
- diarrhea of prolonged or episodic nature (this symptom may be caused by the fact that some types of parasites secrete an enzyme that causes intestinal disorders, as well as the fact that parasites cause disorders of the gastrointestinal tract);
- bloating, gas, abdominal discomfort;
- constipation and bile stagnation - worms, which are large in size, can block the bile ducts, which in turn causes constipation (the same happens if parasites multiply and remain in the body in colonies);
- allergy, which occurs due to the fact that worms weaken the immune system, as well as due to the fact that the activity of worms poisons the body, and allergy is the inability of the body to cope with these toxins and attacks;
- cider irritable bowel - occurs because worms constantly irritate the walls of the intestine, which makes them inflamed;
- muscle and joint pain - some types of worms can live in joint fluid and injure muscles and joints, causing the same discomfort as osteoarthritis;
- presence of dermatitis, urticaria, eczema and other skin rashes;
- acne, pimples, hair loss, yellowing under the eyes - all this speaks of worms, because they take away from the body the nutrients necessary to maintain a normal appearance;
- anemia - the symptom occurs due to the fact that the parasites stick to the walls of the intestine and suck blood from the veins;
- sharp weight loss in the background of gastrointestinal problems and increased appetite.
It is possible to understand that a person has worms if at least 5 of the above symptoms occur.
By itself, the gnashing of teeth in a dream has nothing to do with worms! This is a symptom of a malfunction of the nervous system. Finding these symptoms in yourself is the first stage. Further activities are aimed at confirming the diagnosis and determining which parasites have attacked the body.
How to find out if a child has worms
Children are most susceptible to worm infection, which can be caused by their close contact with the outside world, as well as the use of shared utensils and bathrooms in kindergartens and schools.
Because parents cannot keep track of what their child is touching, it is important for them to know the symptoms of the parasite in children, which are much more pronounced than in adults.
In preschoolers and school-age children, the signs of the parasite are as follows:
- Sharp or abdominal pain;
- Flatulence;
- diarrhea, constipation or vomiting;
- Expressed apathy, lethargy.
There are a number of additional symptoms that can indicate that pinworms, roundworms and lamblia have settled in a child's body:
- nocturnal itching in anal area;
- restless sleep;
- has weakened immunity and frequent colds in this background.
In addition to warning parents of these symptoms, they can also test for parasites in children at home.
There are two ways to do this:
- In the morning, you should apply the tape to the baby’s anus and then examine this piece of tape under a magnifying glass. If there are parasites, their eggs will be visible on the tape.
- Baby feces can be seen because roundworms sometimes come out with feces.
- Sometimes children get sick, then in vomiting you can find pinworms that come out that way when there are a lot of them in the stomach.
It is very difficult to identify the presence of worms in newborns and in those patients who have the disease in a latent form, because in the first case babies can not declare and tell about the symptoms, therefore, parents have no reason to worry and in the second case, symptoms are simply absent.
Despite the fact that there are some domestic methods for determining the presence of parasites in the body, only laboratory tests can reliably determine this fact.
Therefore, it is important to know how to recognize the signs of parasites in the body and contact medical institutions in time for diagnosis. Only a careful attitude towards your body will help avoid complications with mumps, as well as their appearance in general.
How to determine the presence of parasites in the human body - diagnostic methods
According to the World Health Organization, every fourth inhabitant of the planet has signs of parasite infestation, and even more people are potential helminth carriers.
The presence of "illegal immigrants" does not pass without leaving a trace of the body - they poison it with the products of their vital activity, restore the functioning of the immune system, cause inflammatory changes in the digestive system and damage other organs.
Helminthiasis can be masked in various diseases, which complicates the timely diagnosis of parasites in the patient's body and leads to delays in the pathological process.
Routine analyzes are not always reliable, some types of helminths can only be detected by an expensive examination. Therefore, the question of how to recognize parasites in the human body is very relevant for most of the world’s population.
Suspicion of the presence of a parasitic being (or creature) in the human body does not have to arise immediately. For a long time, "illegal immigrants" did not show up in any way, especially among adults with good immunity.
However, the presence of parasites in the body can be suspected if there is a combination of several of the following:
- Persistent and stubborn allergies - permanent skin rashes, itching, recurrent urticaria, dermatitis that does not respond to conventional therapy. In particular, allergic skin reactions can be found in echinococcosis, toxocariasis and ascariasis.
Patients are often diagnosed with bronchial asthma.
- Weakening of immunity - increasing susceptibility to viruses, pathogenic fungi and bacteria to the development of such serious diseases as oncology, HIV.
- Weight loss with increased or retained appetite.
- Itching in the anus in the evening and at night - combined with the detection of live spasms of small worms in the feces, this is a one hundred percent sign of pinworm infection and does not require additional examination.
- Asthenia - weakness, increased fatigue, decreased performance, headache, sleep disturbance. These symptoms are associated with constant poisoning of the nervous system with parasite toxins.
- Dyspepsia - nausea in the morning, bloating, unstable stools from diarrhea to constipation, increased salivation.
These signs are not specific for determining the presence of parasites, they may be present in various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
- Other symptoms - papillomas on the skin, cracked heels, "geographical language", anemia in blood tests, frequent cough that is difficult to treat, swelling of the legs, pain in the muscles and joints, etc.
Traditional analyzes
Diagnosis of parasites living in the human gut is most often performed by an old proven, at the same time accessible and reliable way of detecting their eggs in the feces under a microscope. To do this, you need to collect fresh feces in a glass jar after an independent stool, it is better to do it in the morning.
As a last resort, the collected material is allowed to be stored in the refrigerator for a maximum of 10 hours. It happens that it is necessary to give feces for worms at least 3 times in 2 or 3 weeks, which is related to the peculiarities of the life cycle of the parasite.
This test detects or does not detect worms living in the human body.
This method is effective for such types of helminths as:
- Strongyloids (bumps), roundworms, whips;
- Pork and bull tapeworm, broad tapeworm;
- Hepatic (feline) fluke, schistosomes.
We often diagnose enterobiasis ourselves with nocturnal itching and pinworms in the feces, especially in children. There are ways to remove scraping from the perianal zone - at home using duct tape or in a clinic where the fence is made by a medical professional using a special spatula.
The reliability of this analysis is high if done in the morning before stool and hygienic procedures. Sometimes a number of repeated studies at intervals of several days are required.
Not everyone likes to donate feces several times, so the question arises how to use blood tests to detect parasites in the human body. Modern science offers three main methods:
- PCR (polymerase chain reaction) - detection of worm DNA in human blood;
- serological diagnosis (ELISA) - detection of antibodies against parasites;
- genetic research - research of the genome of a pathogen.
Blood tests are performed in specialized laboratories and are used to diagnose diseases such as:
- Echinococcosis;
- Opisthorchiasis; Giardiasis; Cysticercosis; Fascioliasis;
- Amoebic dysentery; Toxocariasis; Trichinosis.
In addition, a blood test can determine the stage of the disease and the duration of the infection.
Unconventional diagnostics
Unwanted tenants can live in the body of the host for decades. The symptoms of the disease they cause often appear when there is a lot of helminths. Unfortunately, sometimes the detection of parasites in the human body occurs late.
Worms cannot always be found by conventional means, even repeated fecal tests can give no more than 20% positive results.
Serological methods for diagnosing parasites in the body of patients are more precise and effective methods, especially when carried out in the later stages of the disease.
One of the most modern methods is the examination of vegetative resonance or bioresonance diagnostics, the essence of which is the registration of electromagnetic waves emitted by parasites with a frequency characteristic of their specific type.
Computer diagnostics is based on the use of special programs that enable comparative analysis of healthy and diseased organs in patients.
Practitioners do not always welcome this type of patient examination, preferring traditional tests. However, everyone has the right to decide for themselves how to recognize parasites in the human body, the main thing is to do it on time and reliably.
Diagnostic difficulties: how to find out if a person has worms
About 1. 2 billion people become infected with helminths each year. Moreover, most do not even know about it. Poor health, weakness, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, we would rather blame stress and poor nutrition.
But these and other symptoms can signal an "alien invasion. "How to find them and how to treat them? Helminthiasis is an insidious disease and can be masked by symptoms characteristic of a wide range of diseases.
For example, if parasites have settled in the lungs, a person will be bothered by bouts of dry cough that occurs for no reason and does not go away even after long-term treatment.
If the worms have settled in the intestines, the symptoms may manifest as abdominal discomfort, a tendency to constipation or diarrhea, intolerance to fatty foods, nausea and edema. Such complaints are not uncommon. You can treat for years, for example, gastritis or dysbiosis, not realizing that the cause of weakness are helminths that parasitize in the human body.
What tests will help identify parasites
If you suspect the presence of uninvited guests at your place or with your child, be sure to consult a doctor and undergo an examination. Diagnosing helminthiasis is not an easy task, because it is quite problematic to detect parasites.
The most common method is to test the feces for worm eggs. But unfortunately, this is ineffective because worms have several stages of development and do not always lay eggs. To identify parasites, you need to do a stool test 3-4 times. There is a guarantee that the analysis will show the real picture.
The method of immunological blood testing is considered more accurate.
This analysis allows to determine the presence of antibodies to helminths in the body, helps to determine the type of parasites, their number, monitoring the dynamics of the process. It is recommended to take blood tests for worms regularly, especially if there are families with small children and pets.
Recently, the presence of parasites has been determined only by duodenal probing and analysis of feces using microscopic studies aimed at detecting isolated helminths or their fragments, eggs and larvae.
Eggs and larvae of helminths that parasitize the liver, biliary tract, pancreas and duodenum were found in the contents of the bile and duodenum. Faecal samples for intestinal forms of helminthiasis were examined. If you suspect sputum is tested for paragonimiasis, urine for urogenital schistosomiasis.
However, the reliability of these studies depends on the professionalism of the staff - whether the laboratory technician will notice parasites during the microscopic examination.
In addition, if the parasite did not lay eggs at the time of the test, its presence will go unnoticed even by a highly qualified laboratory assistant. Often only from 8-10 attempts you can get a positive result.
Today, there are immunological studies that allow you to determine the presence of antigens and antibodies to parasites of different types in the blood of an infected person. The reliability of such analyzes depends on the life cycle of the parasite and their amount in the body:
- Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is used to determine antibodies (immunoglobulins) and antigens (parasites themselves, their metabolic products). Immunoglobulins (substances of a protein nature) are produced in the body and antibodies are naantigens. This method has a high sensitivity and specificity, which is 90%.
The main advantage of this method is the ability to determine the type of parasites, their number and the ability to monitor the dynamics of process development, which is indicated by the level of antibodies.
- ELISA tests are evidence of the body's response to invasion. In this case, laboratory tests that identify parasites or their larvae, cysts, eggs (microscopic examination of biological material) are also necessary. However, direct identification of the parasite is not always possible due to its localization in the tissue (trichinosis, echinococcosis, toxocariasis) or due to the small number of parasitic individuals and their concentration in the test material. In these cases, the sensitivity of ELISA tests has a clear and unconditional advantage.
- In the diagnosis of the acute phase of helminthiasis and diseases caused by tissue helminths or larval stages (echinococcosis, cysticercosis, trichinosis, toxocariasis), other serological methods (blood test methods) are widely used detection of antigens and antibodies: RNA reaction (RNGA)(latex agglutination reaction), RSK (complement fixation reaction), RIF (immunofluorescence reaction); as well as ultrasound and X-ray examination of the organ, computed tomography, endoscopy and endobiopsy.
- PCR Diagnostics offers parasite analysis based on DNA analysis. This method can detect invasions of protozoa, viruses, as well as intracellular parasites (for example, chlamydia, which parasitizes in trichomonas).
But this method does not allow to detect the severity of the invasion - the number of parasites in the body.
- Energy-information medicine offers bioresonance diagnostics based on the fact that each object and living being creates a certain frequency of vibrations by which they are identified. And even if there are no symptoms of the disease yet, this method can identify the pathogen.
What you need to know about egg worm tests
In order not to repeat the tests, it is important to consider a few nuances when donating feces on an egg worm:
- It is necessary to take the material for analysis, or feces, approximately 2-3 hours after a meal.
- Bowel emptying should occur no later than 24 hours before the test.
- The most accurate results can be obtained if the analysis is performed 30 minutes after discharge.
- Store the analysis material in a cool place, in a closed plastic or glass container.
- The material should be taken from the side, in the middle and at the beginning and at the end of the faeces.
In addition, they may prescribe an analysis such as an enterobiase swab.
It is performed as follows: a police officer holds a special stick in the area between the buttocks - where the anus is located. This analysis helps identify the presence of pinworms in the body.
What symptoms indicate parasite infection
Most often one wonders how to determine if there are parasites in the body, and then when the health condition is already seriously impaired. The problem of parasitism is underestimated in society and is not so much emphasized in preventive medicine as desired.
People usually reject signs of damage to the body by uninvited guests as long as the vital activity of the parasite does not affect normal health. In order to recognize the parasitic enemy in time and get rid of it successfully, you should know the main signs of its presence in the body.
Unwanted guests
Parasites are different life forms that survive on the body of the host. Human parasites can live on the surface of the skin, infect the mucous membranes, internal organs and cells, feed on tissues, blood.
They rob the owner, consuming nutrients from food, while constantly poisoning the human body with the products of their vital activities.
Types of parasites by habitats in the human body:
- Endoparasites are lower animals and plant organisms that live within a host. These are helminths (worms), lamblia, toxoplasmas, echinococci, parasitizing protozoa and other organisms. This category also includes viruses, fungi and bacteria.
- Ectoparasites are parasites that live on the surface of the body, in the environment, feeding on blood and human tissue cells. The most common are lice, bed bugs, ticks, fleas, catfish, as well as bivalves (mosquitoes, gadflies, flies).
It is very easy to determine the defeat of the human body by ectoparasites, because their activity is often characterized by pronounced symptoms:
- Itching;
- Rash;
- Incineration;
- Redness;
- Pain at the site of the bite;
- Presence of visible bite or penetrating wound.
Diagnostic analysis is performed by visual identification or microscopy (magnification under a microscope).
It is much harder to find ectoparasites, because in the process of evolution, internal "parasites" have learned to feel great and perform destructive work in the body of the host, practically without showing off.
Protozoa and helminths (worms) - the most ancient human companions, insidious and dangerous neighbors, can especially boast of this skill. There is evidence that, from the time of infection to the onset of symptoms, indicating the presence of an intruder, it can take from a few months to ten years.
External manifestations
Most parasites have a long life cycle and multiply quite actively in the body of the host, causing diseases that are characterized by recurrent and chronic course.External manifestations of parasite infestation include:
- Various types of allergic reactions, expressed:
- rash;
- itching;
- hives; Quincke's edema;
- fever.
- Disorders of the digestive tract (vomiting, nausea, belching, indigestion, salivation).
- Skin lesions (eczema, ulcers, dermatitis, papillomas, acne, acne).
- Pale skin and mucous membranes.
- Cosmetological problems (brittle nails, trimmed hair ends, seborrhea, excessive dry skin, hair loss, early wrinkles).
- Weight jumps. There is weight loss due to lack of nutrients and decreased appetite, as well as obesity due to general weakening of the body and metabolic disorders, cravings for sweets.
- Chronic fatigue syndrome, manifested by general fatigue, drowsiness, insomnia, weakness, decreased concentration and memory impairment.
- Constant headaches caused by intoxication of the body.
- Bruxism (grinding teeth in sleep).This symptom is most pronounced in children.
- Swelling of limbs.
- Occasional cough without other symptoms.
- Muscle and joint pain of unclear etiology.
- Nervous disorders. Parasites often cause depression, anxiety, anxiety, irritability.
The degree of manifestation of allergy depends on the position of the parasite in the body, its contact with tissues and organs, as well as the amount of toxins released.
It is equally important to know about the obvious signs of helminths in the body:
- Intestinal disorders (constipation, diarrhea, bloating, bloating, cramps, irritable bowel syndrome, fatty stools, discoloration of stools). Worms in the human body can reach significant sizes, so they are physically blocked by the movement of feces, disrupting the work of other organs (bile ducts, etc. ).
- Itching in the perineum and anus.
- Visual detection of helminths in the folds of the anus.
- Presence of helminthic invasion in vomiting.