How to understand that you have worms? This question worries many people who complain of gastrointestinal problems and sudden weight loss. Sometimes patients suggest the presence of parasites in the body after eating poorly processed meat or contact with infected domestic animals. It is very difficult to detect helminthic invasion at home, this requires special tests. But there are some signs that may indirectly indicate infection with helminth eggs.
Species of parasitic worms
Before you understand the question of how to understand that a person has worms, you need to know the main types of helminths. Parasitic worms can be divided into 2 large groups:
Enlightened worms are most common. They parasitize in the intestines of humans and animals. Tissue helminths do not live in the gastrointestinal tract, they settle in other organs: lungs, muscles, brain, liver. A very common type of worms is roundworms. They are both tissue and luminal, can settle both in the intestine and in the liver, lungs or heart.
In biology, worms are divided into several classes:
- Nematodes (roundworms): roundworms, pinworms, filarias, trichinella, whipworms.
- Cestodes (tapeworms): lentec, echinococcus, pork and bovine tapeworm.
- Trematodes (flatworms): cat fluke (hepatic trematode).
How to understand that you have worms of one of the above varieties? To do this, you need to know all the possible routes of transmission of invasion.
Geogelmintosis
A large number of worm eggs are found in the soil. They get there with the feces of sick animals. Infection most often occurs through hands contaminated with particles of earth. But this is not the only way of invasion. Poorly washed vegetables and greens from gardens and beds can also contain parasite eggs. And also worms can penetrate from the soil into the water that a person uses for drinking. In the summer, flies become distributors of helminths. These insects sit on animal feces, and then transfer worm eggs to food lying on the table.
A method of infecting worms through the soil is called geohelminthiasis. Avoiding invasion is easy enough. It is necessary to thoroughly wash vegetables and herbs and, if possible, subject them to heat treatment. Flies must not be allowed into the room where the food is displayed. After working in the garden, you need to not only wash your hands with soap, but also remove particles of earth from under the nails.
Contact household method
It is in this way that children usually infect pinworms. The eggs of these helminths can be found on pet hair. Even if the pet never leaves the apartment, this does not exclude the presence of worms. If the child does not wash his hands after playing with a cat or dog, then invasion is very likely.
Pinworm eggs from pets spread very quickly around the house. The source of infection can be any surface of objects and bedding. If the house has animals that have not undergone anthelmintic prevention, and small children, then parents need to be very careful. How to understand if a child has worms? When infected with pinworms from animals, the baby is tormented by severe itching in the anus. Children become nervous, restless and constantly scratch the lesion.
Biohelminthiasis
Biohelminthiasis is called infection with worms when eating poorly processed meat and fish, as well as when swallowing water. Animals and inhabitants of reservoirs often become intermediate hosts of helminths. Their meat is a source of infection. Worm eggs are destroyed at high temperatures. To get infected, sometimes it’s enough not to boil a little or not to fry the product. Poor heat treatment of wild meat and river fish is especially dangerous.
Often the following products become a source of invasion:
- blood steaks;
- sushi;
- fish rolls;
- incorrectly salted herring;
- dried fish products.
You can get infected not only by eating poorly processed food, but also with insufficient hand washing after cutting raw meat or fish. How to understand that you have worms transmitted by biohelminthiasis? The danger of such parasites is that invasion can be asymptomatic for a long time. The first signs of the disease are detected when serious organ damage has begun. Sometimes worm eggs enter the human body when swallowing river water while swimming. Many parasites live in fresh water, where fish, crustaceans and mollusks become their intermediate hosts.
Infection through insect bites
This is a rather rare way of transmission of helminthiases. In this way, infection with filarias - filamentous subcutaneous worms spreads. Some mosquito species are carriers of these parasites. The source of infection is sick cats or dogs, but the person does not receive an invasion directly from pets. Mosquitoes bite animals and transfer worm eggs to humans.
Common symptoms of invasion
How to understand that you have worms? Signs of infection may vary depending on the type of parasite. But there are general manifestations that are characteristic of most helminthiases:
- dyspeptic symptoms (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation);
- general weakness;
- malaise, drowsiness;
- frequent incidence of infections, low immunity;
- causeless weight loss;
- frequent allergic reactions.
The severity of these signs depends on the degree of invasion. However, such manifestations are not specific for infection by parasites and can be observed in many other diseases.
Worms in children
How to understand that a child has worms? Symptoms of invasion in children have their own specifics. Helminth infection can be manifested by the following symptoms:
- Violations of the digestive tract. Problems with the stomach can be observed in children not only with helminthiases. But with persistent diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, flatulence, it is necessary to undergo examination for worm eggs.
- Itching in the exit area of the rectum.
- Restless sleep, gnashing of teeth at night.
- Increased saliva.
- Peeling of the skin, poor condition of hair and nails.
- Lethargy and drowsiness or nervousness and anxiety.
Symptoms from the gastrointestinal tract
How to understand that in an adult, worms live in the intestinal lumen? The digestive organs usually attack roundworms, pinworms, lentesi. These parasites secrete substances that interfere with the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. At the first stage of invasion, frequent, loose stools and abdominal pain are observed.
A person infected with worms can lose weight for no apparent reason. This is due to the fact that parasites absorb nutrients from the body. If a person suffers from constipation, then this means that the intestines are clogged with clusters of adult worms. Usually this phenomenon is observed with prolonged invasion. Symptoms from the digestive organs occur only when infected with luminal worms that live in the intestines. Tissue helminths do not cause gastric symptoms.
What do intestinal worms look like?
Many patients are interested in the question of how to understand what the worms are coming out of. With feces, only luminal parasites from the intestine can be released. Worms that live in other organs and tissues cannot exit through the digestive tract. It is important to remember that worm eggs cannot be seen with the naked eye, since they have microscopic dimensions. You can notice only adults. They come out with severe invasion and anthelmintic therapy.
Consider what the most common intestinal parasites in human feces look like:
- Pinworms. These worms look like gray and white threads. Usually, weakened or dead individuals, as well as fragments of the body of helminths, come out.
- Roundworm. These parasites very rarely leave the human body alive. Usually, dead worms are released after taking anthelmintic drugs with feces. This is a helminth 20-40 cm long with a pinkish body. Dead individuals are yellowish in color.
- Lentec. Outside are segments of the parasite, which have the appearance of white ribbons with a length of 30 cm to 3 m.
- Pork and bovine tapeworm. In bovine tapeworm with feces, only segments are secreted; they are similar to strips of light color 1.6-3 cm long. The segments of pork tapeworm do not creep out and are not found in feces.
Disorders of the nervous system
Sometimes the patient is not concerned about the manifestations of the gastrointestinal tract, but the person suspects that he might have been infected with parasites. How to understand if you have worms in the absence of dyspeptic manifestations? It is necessary to pay attention to the work of the central nervous system. With helminth infestation, severe intoxication of the body with the waste products of parasites occurs.
The following symptoms are observed:
- nausea and vomiting not associated with eating;
- migraine headache;
- joint pain
- fatigue, drowsiness, weakness.
Children may experience nightmares, anxiety during sleep, and their concentration of attention decreases. For this reason, student performance may decline, as it is difficult for the child to concentrate.
Allergic manifestations
Sometimes manifestations from the intestines and nervous system are absent. This happens when infected with tissue parasites. How to understand that a person has worms? Symptoms of invasion may resemble signs of an allergy. The human body perceives the helminths waste products as foreign substances and begins to produce antibodies. An allergic reaction occurs. In such cases, redness of the skin, a rash of the type of urticaria, itching appears. Sometimes patients complain of a runny nose, choking, coughing. Deteriorating condition of nails, hair and skin.
Symptoms of infection with different types of parasites
The general symptoms of invasion were considered above. This will help answer the question of how to understand that you have worms. However, each type of parasitic worms causes manifestations that are characteristic only for a certain type of helminth disease. The incubation period can last from several days to many months. Infection with roundworms is manifested most quickly, a person feels the symptoms of the disease after 2-3 days. Filariasis invasion can be asymptomatic for a very long time. In a person with strong immunity, the first signs of the disease occur only after 1-1.5 years. When infected with most parasites, the incubation period lasts 2-3 weeks.
How to understand whether a person has roundworm worms? After entering the body, their larvae move with a blood stream. Cough, fever, general allergic reaction are observed. Then there are manifestations from the gastrointestinal tract: diarrhea, severe weight loss. In advanced cases, roundworm infestation leads to jaundice, pancreatitis, bowel obstruction.
The main symptom of pinworm infection is itching in the anus. This phenomenon is especially worrying the patient at night. Skin irritation may disappear for several days, and then worsen again. Tapeworms (wide ribbon, tapeworms) cause anemia, impaired absorption of vitamins and intestinal dysbiosis. Such manifestations relate to infection with luminal helminths.
How to understand if an adult has worms if an invasion of tissue parasites has occurred? The poisons of these worms affect various organs and systems. Symptoms of diseases can be manifold:
- When infected with Trichinella, the patient feels muscle pain, severe fever, swelling of the face and affected areas are observed.
- Cat fluke affects the liver. In this case, there are symptoms of jaundice, cholecystitis, pain in the right hypochondrium. The spleen and liver increase in size.
- Filarias live under the skin. The invasion is asymptomatic for a long time. Then nodes form on the skin, in places of accumulation of parasites edema appears.
At home, it is very difficult to detect infection with worms. One can only assume the presence of helminthiasis. The final diagnosis can only be made by a doctor after analysis of parasite eggs.