In the article, we will consider how to identify opisthorchiasis.
Under this ailment is understood a parasitic infection caused by flat and round worms. There are several ways to detect a disease. Analyzes for this pathology are given when the first symptoms of the disease are detected, indicating the fixing of worm larvae in the organs and their reproduction. You can examine feces to find eggs during opisthorchiasis, but it is best to donate blood, in which antibodies to opisthorchia are detected. Next, we will tell about the features of the study, the symptoms and treatment of this ailment.
How to identify opisthorchiasis?
The incubation period, as a rule, is two or four weeks, after which the following symptoms of infection appear:
- The development of general weakness and loss of strength along with fatigue.
- A person’s temperature can jump up to forty degrees.
- Increased sweating and fever.
- The appearance of urticaria on the skin and mucous membrane.
- The occurrence of diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, as well as inflammation, which is localized in the upper respiratory canals.
- The appearance of pain in the stomach along with flatulence and a deterioration in appetite.
Forms of pathology
Medicine distinguishes between acute and chronic phase of opisthorchiasis disease. The first is typical for people who first encountered infection. In the acute stage of opisthorchiasis, the temperature rises to 38 degrees and can stay near this mark for two weeks. Weakness with fatigue is also felt. The second stage is characterized by an increase in temperature to 39 degrees for three weeks, pain in the muscles and joints, urticaria, sometimes diarrhea with vomiting. At the third stage, headache, rashes and damage to the internal organs are manifested.
The chronic phase is typical for residents of areas of localization of opisthorchiasis and is characterized by a variety of manifestations. Parasites in humans live for 10-20 years. Infected patients may feel severe along with swelling in the epigastric region with soreness in the right hypochondrium and loss of appetite. As a rule, the development of chronic hepatitis occurs, the risk of hepatocellular carcinomas and cirrhosis increases. This can lead to liver failure and death. Next, we will talk about medical studies that should be conducted as part of the confirmation of the presence of the described parasitic disease in patients.
How to identify opisthorchiasis, the doctor will tell.
What tests should be taken?
Given the non-specificity of clinical symptoms, the basis of diagnosis are tests aimed at detecting manifestations of helminths in the body.
Preparation for the delivery of feces for analysis is as follows:
- The collection is best planned in the morning. In order to exclude the ingestion of microflora in the feces, which is located on the surface of the body, hygiene procedures (with soap) of the rectal zone are carried out.
- For 2 days, coloring products are excluded from the diet.
- For 3 days, you need to stop taking medications that increase intestinal motility, stimulate the release of gastric juice, antibiotics.
- It is advisable to follow a diet in advance, in which cereals, dairy products, fresh fruits, vegetables and bread are present.
There are several research options in the laboratory that reliably help detect the presence of infection:
- Conducting a feces test to detect helminth eggs.
- Finding adult helminths in the framework of retrograde endoscopic pancreatocholangiography or endoscopy.
- A technique based on the establishment of antibodies to the parasite in the body. An advantage in comparison with different methods of this principle is given to an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for blood parasites.
- Establishment of worm DNA using a polymerase chain reaction.
- Indirect hemagglutination procedure along with serological diagnostic method.
- An analysis of the bile of the parasite through microscopy to detect eggs. Bile can also be examined for the presence of antibodies to parasites.
- Digestion probing with an endoscope. It is worth noting that this procedure is the most accurate diagnostic method, since it allows you to see clusters of worms and cysts. Not applicable for young children.
Below we consider the symptoms of opisthorchiasis in humans and the treatment of this pathology.
Symptoms of opisthorchiasis. How is the disease manifested?
The incubation period, as a rule, is from seven to twenty one days. Perhaps, among other things, the asymptomatic course of this disease. For the acute phase of the disease, such manifestations are characteristic:
- Raising body temperature to around 40 degrees.
- The occurrence of chills, sweating, pain in the muscles and joints.
- The appearance of severe discomfort in the right hypochondrium along with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, allergic reactions, poor appetite, weight loss.
Signs of opisthorchiasis in humans should not go unnoticed.
Chronic opisthorchiasis is characterized by paroxysmal and dull pain with discomfort in the right hypochondrium. In addition, there is the appearance of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea in combination with a decrease in appetite, fatigue, drowsiness, decreased performance, mood swings, headache, dizziness, tremors and depressive states.
Diagnosis of opisthorchiasis
As a rule, an analysis of the anamnesis of pathology and patient complaints is carried out, a physical examination is performed. Among the laboratory diagnostic methods, it is worth mentioning the general and biochemical analysis, the study of feces for opisthorchiasis. In addition, an enzyme immunoassay is conducted for patients along with a polymerase chain reaction. The following techniques are used from instrumental techniques:
- Perform ultrasound examination of the abdominal region.
- Computed tomography along with magnetic resonance imaging.
- Carrying out duodenal sounding and research of bile.
- The implementation of retrograde pancreatocholangiography.
- Also, the patient needs a mandatory consultation of a gastroenterologist.
Symptoms and treatment of opisthorchiasis in humans are interrelated.
Therapy
Therapy of this disease must be carried out comprehensively, depending on the severity of the patient's condition, it can be carried out at home or in the hospital.
During treatment, the patient is prescribed diet food along with antiallergic drugs, sorbents, hepatoprotectors, choleretic drugs, antispasmodics, digestive enzymes, antibacterial pills and special antiparasitic methods to combat the disease in question. In the process of drug therapy, the following drugs are used: "Albendazole", "Nemozol", "Aldazole".
Cat Fluke Life Cycle
With the feces of the final carriers (for example, foxes), invasive helminth eggs enter various water bodies and can be swallowed by mollusks, in the body of which the larvae develop for about two months, turning into cercaria, that is, into their active form. Leaving the mollusk organism, cercariae freely move in water in search of an intermediate new host, for example, fish from the family of cyprinids are suitable for these purposes. Feline fluke larvae are actively introduced into fish and localized in the muscles, and, in addition, in the subcutaneous fat layer, where they form cysts.
Few people know about the life cycle of a cat fluke.
When infected fish are consumed, they penetrate the human body and then leave protective capsules (i.e. cysts), which dissolve in the digestive system. Through the bile duct, parasites enter the liver and gall bladder, where they reach their puberty, proceeding to the active production of eggs (usually up to four thousand per day).
Why is analysis important?
It is difficult to diagnose an ailment according to the clinical picture of the pathology due to the lack of symptoms and syndromes that are characteristic only for this disease. It is not difficult to recognize the presence of opisthorchiasis infestation one month after infection, when the parasites begin to lay their eggs (for this, an ovoscopic examination of the patient's duodenal juice and feces is performed).
Great difficulties can occur in the process of recognizing the early phase of an ailment. The presence of fever, eosinophilic leukocytosis and hepatomegaly among the newcomers in intense foci of opisthorchiasis makes us suspect the early phases of this helminthiasis. Opisthorchiasis can occur with a rather diverse clinical manifestation. Therefore, a thorough x-ray and laboratory (including ultrasound) examination of patients is required. Feline fluke eggs in infested individuals are often detected as part of duodenal sounding.
Feces
Finding opisthorchias in this biomaterial is possible only a few days after infection. This is directly related to the ingestion of larvae, and, in addition, with their spread through the internal organs. This factor is considered a drawback, and the need for re-submission of the material (sometimes up to three times if a false result is detected) should also be attributed to it.
The advantage of the method of such a study should be called quick results. Feces are mixed with glycerin and examined under a microscope for the presence of cysts of opisthorchia. Pre-conduct flotation (enrichment). The degree of parasite infestations is determined by the number of eggs per 1 gram of biological material: from 100 they say about a minor lesion, more than 3000 - about a serious disease.
An alternative way to study feces is the Goryachev technique. Up to 10 grams of feces is dissolved in distilled water, and mixed with 100 milliliters of potassium nitrate. Parasitic eggs usually remain on the surface, and the upper layer collects after three hours and is centrifuged, viewing under a microscope. In order to study stool samples, the polymerase reaction technique is used. The disadvantage is the high cost. And the pluses include determining the type of parasite with great accuracy.
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and its advantage
The indisputable advantage of ELISA is the high sensitivity and specificity of the method. Such properties of the technology make it possible to recognize the desired substance, even if its concentration is low in the sample. Diagnostic error is also noted. In the event that the result is positive, then this means that it was found exactly those antibodies or antigens that were supposed.
ELISA for parasites today largely replaces the gold standard of microbiology, that is, the bacteriological diagnostic method, in which to identify the pathogen it was previously necessary to isolate it from the body, and then grow a culture based on nutrient medium in vitro for several days. All the time the analysis was carried out, doctors were forced to treat patients blindly and only guessed about the origin of the microscopic organism according to the symptoms of the disease. Determination of IgM by ELISA makes it possible to make an accurate diagnosis in the first days of the disease.
Finally
Thus, a high degree of manufacturability of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for parasites minimizes the impact of the human factor, which reduces the likelihood of error. Most of the reagents for ELISA used in a modern laboratory are produced under industrial conditions, which guarantees an accurate result.
Here's how to identify opisthorchiasis.