According to the World Health Organization, about 90% of the world's population is infected with one type of parasite or another. About 250 species of worms (helminthiasis) alone can live in the human body, but in addition to them, protozoa (amoeba, lamblia and others), arthropods, insect larvae and many other parasites can also be found.
Most often, residents of big cities are infected with banal worms, roundworms and tapeworms, which are 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 is faced with a lot of parasites; you can become infected with worms if you eat food or drink water with eggs or larvae of parasites, through close contact with the carrier of parasites (animal or human), less often, infection occurs through household items or insect bites.
The most common parasitosis
- Roundworms- representatives of this type of worms are diagnosed in 100 million people in the world every year. An adult roundworm is a roundworm up to 40 cm long that 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 with the feces and infect the soil. Ascaris larvae can migrate throughout the body, affecting internal organs, blood vessels and even the human brain.
- Pinworms- small cylindrical worms living in the large intestine. Fungal infections are common in childhood, parasites enter the human body if personal hygiene rules are not followed (do not wash your hands before using the toilet, walking or eating, do not change your underwear in time, lick your fingers quickly). These roundworms do not cause as serious poisoning as other worms, but they can cause the development of diseases such as enterocolitis, vulvovaginitis, salpingitis, cystitis and others. During the breeding season, adult worms leave the lower parts of the large intestine and lay their eggs in the perianal folds, which causes severe itching in the child, which is the main symptom of worm infection.
- Cattle and pig tapewormlarge tapeworms that can reach 10 meters in length. Despite such impressive sizes, tapeworms cannot be considered the largest and longest parasites. The world's longest worm, the broad tapeworm, can reach a length of 25 meters. Infection with parasites occurs when eating poorly cooked meat, or during contact and household contact. Tapeworms not only cause poisoning and exhaustion of the host, 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 eyeball.
- Giardia- protozoan or protozoan parasites that live in the small intestine of humans. Infection with protozoa is possible by consuming food or water contaminated with cysts. Diagnosing Giardia infection is quite difficult, as the disease has no specific symptoms. The sick person constantly feels bad, often gets sick, or is diagnosed with symptoms of various diseases of the 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, schistosoma, guinea worms, cysticerci, toxoplasma, loa loa and some other less common parasites.
Filaria
Filaria are round and long worms, about 45 cm long. Filaria larvae can be infected by the bite of blood-sucking insects. The larvae are usually carried by mosquitoes, less often by other insects. The filariae penetrate the lymphatic vessels and clog them. As a result of the infection, a person's lower limbs swell so much that they lose the ability to move independently.
"Elephant disease" is widespread in hot countries, affecting both local residents and tourists, and the latter in a more severe form. This disease is considered particularly dangerous due to the difficulties of diagnosis and treatment - the disease becomes noticeable only when it becomes chronic, whichalmost impossible to cure.
Schistosomes
Schistosomes are special worms that live in human blood vessels. The tiny flatworms, up to 2 mm long, enter the human body when swimming or drinking water contaminated with parasitic cercariae.
Schistosomiasis is predominantly a tropical disease contracted by swimming in open water. Once inside the human body, schistosomes can cause severe damage to the liver, bladder or intestines.
Nematode
Guinea worm or dracunculiasis is another serious parasitic disease that can be contracted by drinking dirty water in tropical countries. Roundworms that enter the human intestine literally chew through it, then penetrate the lymphatic vessels and subcutaneous fat, where they can grow up to 80 cm in length.
Deep abscesses appear where the parasites live, with one or more large worms inside. Such parasitosis can only be cured by surgery.
Loa Loa
Loa The loa or "eyeworm" is a round worm that parasitizes in the subcutaneous fat. Humans become infected by the bite of a blood-sucking insect, which is the parasite's intermediate host.
Once inside the human body, the Loa Loa begins to migrate throughout the body, including the eyeballs, brain or nervous tissue.
mustachioed Vandellia
Unlike other parasites, it is a freshwater fish and lives in the rivers of the Amazon. A rather large fish - up to 15 cm long, due to its transparency and eel-like shape, it is almost invisible in the water and swims silently to its victims. The mustachioed vandellia swims into the human urethra, clings to the vessel wall and sucks the blood, literally eating its host from the inside. You can get rid of such a parasite only with serious surgery.
Anyone can become infected with parasites, hundreds of thousands of dangerous parasites lurk for all of us: in water, soil, tree leaves, public transport, seafood, fresh vegetables and fruits. Therefore, it is very important to follow all health and hygiene rules and to teach children the rules of personal hygiene as soon as possible.
Most parasites enter the human body completely unnoticed, the first symptoms of the disease appear only a few weeks or months after infection. The symptoms of parasitosis can be different: from mild malaise and headache to a sharp deterioration of the condition, fever and bleeding.
Only constant monitoring of health status, regular medical examinations and extreme caution when visiting tropical countries will help to avoid infection with the most terrible parasites, or at least to diagnose such an infection in time.