A huge number of biological species live on our planet, including those that can parasitize in the human body. These include helminths - parasitic worms. Some of their species can be combined as long worms. In humans, such unexpected cohabitants cause many health problems.
Why are parasites dangerous?
Many believe that the main problem of helminthiasis is the detected long worms in the feces. But such an unpleasant find is only a visible manifestation of the problem. In fact, helminthiasis is a serious disease that causes disturbances in both general well-being and the work of many organs and systems of the body. Currently, science and medicine determine more than 400 species of parasites, the habitat of which is including the human body. They can be divided into 4 groups:
- hairs;
- roundworms;
- flatworms;
- scrapers.
The most extensive group of flatworms, this type includes trematodes and cestodes - the most common cause of helminth infections. Of particular interest to specialists are long worms in humans. Photos of such helminths are located below. It will help to understand the size of the parasites. And also the danger that such cohabitants pose to humans.
Being in the human or animal organism, parasites use it as a medium for carrying out all the processes of their life activity: they feed on nutrients entering the body or those substances that are produced in the body, secrete waste products, which cause poisoning and intoxication, impaired immune system and the production of certain bioactive components. Also, a large accumulation of helminths can cause a violation of the functionality of an organ or system. Helminthiasis treatment is a multicomponent procedure that includes several stages. The very first is diagnosing the problem.
Let's go to the doctor!
Often, a person does not feel the presence of parasites in his body, attributing constant fatigue, irritability, deterioration of his appearance to stressful situations, a fast rhythm of life and improperly organized time. And only the appearance in the feces of such an unsightly sight as a long worm makes you visit a medical specialist. Like most diseases, helminth infection occurs most often in two phases - acute and chronic. The onset of the disease is fixed within 2-4 weeks, rarely, when the acute phase occurs within 1-6 weeks from the time of infection. This period is characterized by skin rashes that have signs of exudative or polymorphic origin, conjunctivitis may develop, signs of damage to the upper respiratory tract and dyspeptic disorders appear. The more massive the defeat of helminths, the more serious health problems arise. If helminthiasis is not diagnosed in time and measures to eliminate the invasion are not taken, then the disease becomes chronic, which causes many complications. Adequate prevention, regular screening for helminths and quality treatment for problems help people of all ages maintain their health.
The longest worms
Parasites that can live in the human body are different. Species of long worms, parasitizing in the intestines, liver and able to migrate through tissues and organs, are especially distinguished. It is clear that the division by this parameter for parasitic worms is rather arbitrary. But the most dimensional specimens are found in the "tapeworms" squad - flat long worms, apparently not in vain that received its name. They differ in size, wide ribbon, different types of tapeworms. However, the length of the worm may not be so significant, but a cyst formed by a cluster of individuals can be a much more terrifying sight. Scientists have found that the widest worm that is parasitic in the human body is the wide ribbon (Diphyllobothrium latum). Its length averages up to 15 meters. This type of parasite is a strobil, starting from the head - scolex and the non-segmented neck. Separate sections - segments of the worm's body - are called proglottids. As individuals grow, old proglottids separate from the strobila, and since they contain both male and female genital organs, they form new individuals. Infection with a wide ribbon can occur in different climatic regions - from subarctic latitudes to the temperate zone. The life cycle of this parasite proceeds in various habitats. So, the eggs of the development period spend in freshwater bodies of water. If the conditions are favorable - the water temperature reaches 15 0 C, then on 6-16 days a ciliated larva hatches from the egg. The viability of the broad tapeworm egg lasts up to six months, which explains such survivability of this type of parasite. Larvae fall into small crustaceans, and then into the muscles and organs of eating fish crustaceans. So goes 6-8 weeks of the life cycle of the broad ribbon. With infected fish meat, which has not undergone thorough heat treatment, the larva that develops to the plerocercoid enters the body of the final host — a human or other mammal that can feed on fish. The tape is parasitic wide in the small intestine, where it is attached to the walls with the help of two cracks-botria. In the human body, this helminth can survive up to 25 years, causing diphyllobothriasis, manifested by nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite, and abdominal pain. Some patients develop pernicious, B12-deficient anemia. Often such an invasion does not give visible external manifestations and then the disease is established only when analyzing feces for helminths and the detection of eosinophilia.
Bull tapeworm
Another longest worm in man is the bull tapeworm, which also applies to tapeworms. Another common name for this helminth is tapeworm. The length of one individual of this worm can reach up to 12 meters, and it is made up of the size of the segments, of which there are up to 5,000 in one individual! On the scolex (head) of the bovine tapeworm there are 4 suction cups that do not have hooks. With their help, the helminth is attached to the walls of the small intestine, where it can live up to 20 years, secreting eggs into the environment along with feces. The life cycle of this long worm consists of two phases: in the form of an egg and a larva, it lives in the body of cattle, and then through infected meat that has not undergone the necessary culinary processing, it enters the human intestine. Helminthiasis, which causes bovine tapeworm, is called teniarinhoz. It is expressed in mechanical damage to the walls of the small intestine, negatively affects the motor and secretory functions of the intestine. Pain sensations occur when the parasite segments pass through the Bauginia valve and resemble attacks of appendicitis. The patient experiences a constant feeling of hunger, he develops bulimia. Most often, the problem of helminthiasis is detected in the analysis of feces, where segments of bovine tapeworm are present.
Pork tapeworm
Long worms in humans are also such a representative of helminths as pork tapeworm. Like its relative bovine tapeworm, this parasite has two stages of development, and if for the first phase of the life cycle both a mammal and a person can be the host, then the final second phase takes place only in the human body. The main difference between a pork tapeworm and a bull’s one, in addition to four suction cups, is also two circles of special hooks, with the help of which the parasite bites almost tightly into the intestinal mucosa. Strobil of this type of helminth is up to 3 meters long. The danger of this type of helminthiasis is that if not a larva but worm eggs enter the human body, it becomes an intermediate habitat in which the oncosphere develops and forms - a six-hook embryo that can penetrate through the intestinal wall into the lymphatic duct, spreading along the body and affecting many organs. Having fixed itself in place, the oncosphere degenerates into a Finn - a full round embryo, causing a serious disease of cysticercosis, which can lead to death. As the final host of an adult, a person becomes ill with teniosis, the characteristic features of which are not present, except for disturbance of health and detection of helminth eggs in the feces.
Long worm from africa
One of the types of helminths that can be infected in the subtropics of Africa or Asia, has an unusual name - dragon, in Latin Dracunculus medinensis. The female of this worm becomes the cause of the development of dracunculiasis. Infection can occur orally - a person or an animal drinks water in which there are small crustaceans infected with helminth larvae. Rishta larva, gnawing through the walls of the intestine, penetrates the lymphatic flows and, migrating through the body, reaches puberty. After mating, the helminth males die, but the females penetrate the subcutaneous tissue, which becomes the habitat of the growing mature individual. The length of such a parasite reaches 80 centimeters. While the worm lives under the skin, ulcers form on the skin through which the parasite releases larvae into the water upon contact. The longest worm affecting the subcutaneous layer can only be removed from the human or animal body by surgery.
Migratory worm
Few people know that a long worm of a spirometer (Spirometra erinacei) can affect the following systems of the human body:
- visceral organs;
- skeletal muscle;
- spinal cord;
- subcutaneous tissue;
- central nervous system.
You can catch this helminth in countries that traditionally eat amphibians - snakes and frogs, since they are the additional hosts of the helminth. On average, the length of this worm reaches 60 centimeters, but there is evidence that a worm was found about 1.5 meters. For this type of helminth, a person is an intermediate owner, but the main owner will be a carnivorous animal of the cat or dog family, it can also be a domestic cat or dog. Once in the cavity of the human body, the worm larva begins to migrate, affecting internal organs and systems. Depending on the location of the larva, the signs of the manifestation of the disease, sparganosis, will depend. Cases of detection of Spirometra erinacei larvae in the conjunctiva of the eye, under the skin, in nervous tissue have been recorded. Especially dangerous is proliferative sparganosis. This type of disease can develop in a person under 25 years old and lead to death. Fortunately, infection with this type of helminth in humans is extremely rare. The problem is diagnosed only by analyzing a removed cyst in which helminth larvae are detected. In cerebral forms of sparganosis, tomography is used in the diagnosis, which can "see" the worm in the tissues of the body.
Roundworm
What is the name of the long worm, the infection of which is most common in developed countries? This is roundworm, and science has discovered several dozen varieties of such worms. In the human body, Ascaris lumbricoides, a human roundworm, most often parasitizes. The difference between this type of helminths from all the ones discussed above is that it does not have attachments - roundworms constantly move, and not with the flow of blood or lymph, but independently, towards the food masses. Ascaris worms also have a kind of skeleton consisting of 10 layers of cuticle. It protects the parasite from mechanical damage, exposure to toxins and digestive enzymes. These are bisexual organisms that reproduce sexually. Females grow up to 40-50 centimeters in length, males are slightly smaller - up to 10-15 centimeters. It has been established that the female lays in the human intestines about 240,000 eggs daily! The eggs have a five-layer shell, and therefore are reliably protected, almost in the same way as adults. Eggs develop into a larva in the ground at a temperature of about 25 degrees. This type of worms enters the human body through food - poorly washed hands, vegetables and fruits become a source of infection. Once in the host organism, microscopic larvae hatch from the eggs, penetrating through the walls of the gastrointestinal tract into the bloodstream. With the flow of blood, they are transferred to the lungs, where they continue to develop. With expectoration, the larvae again enter the intestines, where they reach puberty. The cycle repeats. Many noticed in the feces worms - white, thin, long - most likely they are roundworms. This type of helminth damages the intestinal mucosa, has a toxic effect on the body with its waste products. This causes chronic fatigue, apathy, and a decrease in vitality.
Larvae in cysts
The longest worm in man, as established by scientists today, is a wide ribbon. But parasites can be not only overall in this parameter. Some helminths are able to form colonies that grow to awesome sizes. Echinococci belong to them. For this type of parasite, a person is a temporary shelter - parasite larvae orally enter the intestines. They have six hooks located at the end of the crusher. With the help of these devices, larvae penetrate through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream of the portal vein, through which they enter the liver, bones, lungs, and muscles. At the habitat, the oncosphere of the larva grows, forming a bubble. New bubbles appear on its surface, in which scolexes similar to scolexes of adults develop. The formation of cysts is the main sign of echinococcosis. The disease is very dangerous, because cysts can be quite voluminous, reaching 20 centimeters in diameter. These formations compress the surrounding organs and tissues, and toxic substances released by helminths poison the body. In addition, the fluid with which cysts with larvae and scolexes of echinococcus are filled is toxic to the human body. These thin long worms, although parasitic in the body of animals, but their larvae can cause serious human health problems. In addition, at the moment there is no medical treatment for echinococcosis; only surgery can defeat the disease.
Doubtful champions
People are interested in knowing about the very-most. So much about helminths-champions such information is collected. The worm is the longest ever found in the human intestines - this is a wide ribbon. The largest instance of this type of parasite reached a length of 25 meters! The worm, which was "pulled out" from under the skin of a resident of the subtropical region, was almost two meters long. Such worms can only be removed surgically, pulling out without damaging the integrity of the strobila, so as not to cause intoxication. Perhaps the search for an organism that claims to be the “longest worm” is interesting only to scientists, for a person to become infected with even smaller helminths - a serious danger to health, and in some cases to life.
The most important thing is prevention
In a modern civilized society, the most common problem is long worms in a child. Children are most at risk of contracting parasites due to their age and lack of activity of the immune system. To prevent the penetration of parasites into the body, people of all ages need to carefully and constantly follow preventive measures. Long transparent worms are absolutely unnecessary neighbors in the human body, and simple rules of personal hygiene will help to avoid a close dangerous acquaintance:
- Raw meat and fish must be thoroughly cooked at the required temperatures and for the required time, including products intended for feed to domestic animals (cats and dogs). The use of raw or semi-raw meat or fish dishes, especially those of unknown and dubious origin, is unacceptable.
- Bathing should only be in designated areas, natural bodies of water should be examined for microflora. Avoid swimming in ponds near which there are watering animals. In these same places, it is unnecessary to arrange places for picnics.
- All family members must regularly conduct preventive examinations for infection with helminths. The same applies to pets who need to give anthelmintic drugs for prevention.
- In addition to general cleaning of the house, it is necessary to regularly conduct sanitary treatment of household items for children, toys, a feeding place and a toilet for pets.
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Both long round worms, and their flat or other shaped relatives are dangerous creatures that can cause significant harm to health. No matter how large the parasites are, they take useful substances out of the body, poisoning it with the products of their vital functions. Helminthiasis can not always be cured by drug therapy, in some cases, parasites can be removed from the body only by surgery, and this is an additional burden on the body weakened by parasites. Therefore, infection prevention is the best way to stay healthy.