Today, as many years ago, helminths were and remain unwanted guests of the human body. Most often, these parasites settle in the body of the child and live off of it. Helminths are capable of delivering an incredible amount of harm to the children's body. Therefore, you need to start treating the pathology as soon as possible. From this article you will learn about how to treat helminths in children, as well as what are the causes of this disease, how to recognize it. Read the information carefully, and you can find the answers to all your questions.
What are helminths?
Helminthiasis is one of the most common diseases worldwide. It is worth considering that these parasites are not only dangerous in themselves, but also lead to a number of concomitant diseases. They can exist in the human body for several years, and the patient will not even guess about it, unsuccessfully engaged in the treatment of other pathologies of internal organs.
Before considering the treatment of helminths in children, you need to figure out what these parasites are. Helminths are popularly called worms. These are parasitic creatures that settle in the body of an animal or person. They settle in the intestines, liver, lungs and other organs.
This disease is considered extremely dangerous, as it worsens the activity of internal organs, weakens the immune system, leads to a state of constant weakness, and also inhibits the activity of the nervous system. In addition, parasites can reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, and also significantly increase the amount of pathogenic microflora in the human body.
Causes of infection
Helminth treatment in children is a very important task. Parents of the baby should figure out why these parasites enter the children's body. Most often, infection occurs through drinking water, as well as food. However, there are other methods of infection. A problem can also arise if the baby does not follow the rules of personal hygiene.
Helminths are also living organisms. It can be both animals and people. In this case, a person can be an intermediate host and transfer his disease to someone else.
How does infection happen?
There are several ways that promote the penetration of worms into the human body.
- Contact gear. In this case, parasites are transmitted from one person to another or from an animal to a person. Moreover, this method is considered quite common. You must have heard of pinworms in children. So, they are transmitted precisely by the contact method.
- Eggs of parasites can enter the child's body through water or soil. Usually they get there due to feces - both humans and animals. In this case, eggs can be carried by insects everywhere. A person can become infected by eating, for example, some fruit, or simply by stroking an animal.
- Another method of infection is the use by a person of poorly processed meat or fish. This includes dried fish, sushi, kebabs and other products that are poorly cooked.
- In some cases, helminth eggs can enter the human body through insect bites. However, this transmission method is considered extremely rare. But still it has a place to be.
Who is at risk?
In order to minimize the risk of infection with worms, it is very important for the child, as well as his parents, to adhere to certain rules and follow them daily. So, following what rules will help eliminate the risk of infection?
- Daily hand wash. Hands should be washed with running water and soap, not only before eating, but also after contact with animals, as well as coming home after a walk.
- It is very important to change underwear daily. You need to do this in the morning and in the evening after carrying out water procedures.
- It is very important to ensure that the child does not bite his nails. To do this, you need to monitor their condition and cut them in time.
- Wean the child to put foreign objects in his mouth.
- In the house where the baby lives, there should not be unsanitary conditions. Do not forget that insects are able to spread helminth eggs, so it is very important to monitor their absence in the home. This is especially true for cockroaches and flies.
- If there are animals in the house, it is very important to monitor their cleanliness. After walking all the walls of the house, be sure to wash your pet's paws.
- Before eating fruits and vegetables, do not forget to wash them thoroughly with running water.
Signs of the presence of parasites
The signs of helminths in children are usually similar. As soon as the parasites settle in the body of the child, they begin to suck out nutrients from it. This leads to poor functioning of the human body. In addition, worms secrete waste products and decay, which is toxic to the body and can even lead to intoxication. Therefore, it is very important to detect the presence of parasites as soon as possible and begin timely treatment of helminths in children. Most often, infection occurs precisely in the warm season, when the baby spends most of his time on the street, and besides, on the shelves of shops you can find a large number of already infected fruits and vegetables.
Quite often, the symptoms of pathology are completely invisible. Therefore, a person does not even realize that he is a carrier of such dangerous parasites. So, their presence in the human body usually makes itself felt when the human immune system malfunctions, and also when his living conditions have worsened.
Parents should constantly monitor the condition of the child. Indeed, the very first sign of the presence of worms in the body is weakness and excessive irritability. The child has constant discomfort in the abdomen. He increasingly complains of headaches present, and also cannot sleep normally and is constantly acting up.
Also, the child has problems with appetite, it is growing rapidly, it is incredibly decreasing. At the same time, many babies experience vomiting and nausea, as well as problems with stools: constantly alternating constipation with diarrhea. If the disease began to actively progress, the child's body temperature may rise slightly. In the presence of allergic reactions to the products of the breakdown of parasites, a rash may appear on the skin of babies.
Since the child does not get enough sleep and an insufficient amount of nutrients gets into his body, his skin becomes pale and large blue circles appear under his eyes.
How to determine the presence of pinworms?
Helminths in children can be very diverse. Most often, the parasites such as pinworms attack the child's body. These are small worms, up to ten millimeters long. If the baby is contagious, then he will spread a large number of eggs around him, which will be stored on all things and objects that surround him. The full life cycle of one parasite is two weeks, so roundworms reproduce very quickly and cause incredible harm to the baby's health.
Helminths in children make themselves felt at night. When the child lies in a warm bed and his body relaxes as much as possible, the pinworm crawls out of the anus and lays an incredible amount of eggs in its folds. This process is accompanied by severe burning, so the child begins to comb this area, which leads to insomnia. Thus, the eggs both remain under the baby’s nails and spread over all things surrounding it.
There are other symptoms of helminths in children. Treatment of such a pathology should be started immediately, otherwise the baby will cease to develop normally. Consider what other signs signal the presence of parasites:
- The child begins to rapidly lose weight and at the same time suffers from a violation of mental processes.
- If pinworms fall into the urethra, then the girls will suffer from a phenomenon such as enuresis. Also, representatives of the fair sex can experience a phenomenon such as vulvovaginitis. After all, pinworms are able to creep into the vagina, causing irritation in it. Sometimes the situation is complicated, and inflammatory processes occur in the uterus, as well as the appendages.
- If a large number of pinworms have accumulated in the rectum, then this can lead to inflammation of the appendicitis.
- In some cases, the child has a grinding of teeth.
Helminths treatment in children
Komarovsky, like no one else, knows the need to treat such a dangerous disease. After all, the presence of parasites in the body of a child can adversely affect his entire future life. Treatment of helminths in children (the symptoms of the disease were described above) depends on the variety of parasites, as well as on the degree of damage to the child's body. It is very important to prescribe the right treatment. Usually, doctors prescribe various medicines for helminths for children, as well as additional procedures, such as the use of laxatives, as well as adherence to a special diet.
Diagnostic tests
Before prescribing anthelmintic drugs for children, it is necessary to carry out a number of diagnostic studies to confirm or, conversely, refute the disease, as well as establish its type. As soon as you find the child has symptoms of the presence of worms or the baby complains about the deterioration of his health, urgently go to the doctor. He will offer you to conduct several diagnostic studies, including:
- Analysis of feces for the presence of helminths. Such an analysis must be taken three times with an interval of several days.
- A general blood test and analysis for the presence of giardiasis and helminths are also given.
- In addition, the doctor takes a scraping to check for pinworms.
Also, if necessary, the doctor can also refer the child to an ultrasound examination of the internal organs, tomography or x-ray.
Helminth preparations for children
It is very important to consider that medicines for helminths have a toxic effect on the baby's body, so you need to take them clearly following all the rules indicated in the instructions for use. Otherwise, you may cause irreparable harm to the health of your child. In no case do not treat yourself at home, even if by all indications you have determined that your child has worms. Be sure to trust a qualified doctor. After all, he can not only choose the drug, but also calculate the dosage, taking into account the individual characteristics of the child's body. In some cases, doctors prescribe several medications at once, which greatly increases the effectiveness of the treatment. However, it is very important to familiarize yourself with contraindications before using helminth tablets for children. Otherwise, human health will be at risk.
Today in any pharmacy you can find a huge number of medicines for helminths. One of them is the old and time-tested piperazine. Despite the fact that this medicine has a low level of toxicity, the spectrum of its effects is rather narrow, since the drug is able to exert its active effect only on nematodes. This medication is capable of destroying only adult individuals, while larvae and eggs can safely continue to exist.
Especially popular with doctors is such a medication as Pirantel. The drug is available in the form of suspensions for internal use. Suitable for the smallest children.
Treatment of helminths in children with drugs is almost always successful. Vermox is able to provide a good therapeutic effect. This medication can be used for children starting from the age of two. The drug is suitable for the treatment of various types of helminths. However, it should be borne in mind that this drug is quite toxic, therefore, it can lead to a large number of side effects.
Is it possible to carry out treatment with folk remedies?
Doctors recommend giving preference to proven medications, however, due to their high toxicity, babies' mothers are still wondering if it is possible to get rid of worms using traditional medicine methods. In truth, such methods alone do not have such an effective therapeutic effect, however, in combination with traditional medicine can give good results.
Consider the most effective folk methods of dealing with worms:
- Take two teaspoons of wormwood and pour them with one liter of boiled water. Allow the cooked infusion to cool, then cool it. You need to take the drug 30 minutes before meals, three times a day. In this case, a single dosage should be two dessert spoons.
- A boiled pomegranate peel also has a good healing effect. Take the skin from one pomegranate, chop it well and fill it with half a liter of purified water. Put this mixture on low heat and cook for half an hour. You need to take the drug one teaspoon every 30 minutes. You need to do this three times, then wait a couple of hours and take a laxative.
- He showed himself well in the treatment of helminths and tansy infusion. Three tablespoons of a dry plant, pour a glass of boiling water and let it brew for one hour. You need to take the medicine one small spoon three times a day.
The importance of preventive measures
Prevention of helminths in children is a very important component of the overall health of the baby. Performing preventive measures is very simple. The main thing is to do it regularly. Teach your child to wash his hands with soap and soap, cut his nails as often as possible, and make sure that the baby does not put various objects into his mouth, especially outside the walls of the house. After contact with animals, you just need to thoroughly wash your hands with an antibacterial soap and hot water.
It is very important to carry out regular wet cleaning in the house, thoroughly wash food, and regularly change clothes.
conclusions
If the child has helminth eggs, panic is not worth it. Be sure to contact the hospital, where the doctor with the help of tests can determine the presence of a disease. Worms are a problem that a huge number of children and adults face in all corners of the world. The eradication of such parasites with medications, of course, is very effective, but far from always safe. Therefore, do not forget to monitor personal hygiene. After all, any disease is much easier to prevent than to treat. Be healthy and take care of yourself and your child!