According to the World Health Organization, approximately 90% of the world's population is infected with one or another type of parasite. About 250 species of worms alone (helminthiases) can live in the human body, but in addition to them there are also protozoa (amoebas, lamblia and others), arthropods, insect larvae and many other parasites.
Most often, residents of large cities become infected with banal worms, roundworms and tapeworms, 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 huge number of parasites; you can become infected with worms by eating food or drinking water with eggs or larvae of parasites, through close contact with a carrier of parasites (animal or human), less often, infection occurs through household items or insect bites.
The most common parasitoses
- 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, which 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 thousand eggs daily, which are released along with feces and infect the soil. Ascaris larvae can migrate throughout the body, affecting internal organs, blood vessels and even the human brain.
- Pinworms- small roundworms that live in the large intestine. Infection with pinworms is common in childhood; the parasites enter the human body when personal hygiene rules are not followed (do not wash your hands after using the toilet, walking and before eating, do not change your underwear on time, lick your fingers, and so on). These roundworms do not cause such severe intoxication as other worms, but 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 eggs in the perianal folds, which causes severe itching in the child, which is the main symptom of worm infection.
- Bovine and pork tapewormare large tapeworms, the length of which can reach 10 m. Despite such impressive sizes, tapeworms are not considered the largest and longest parasites. The longest worm in the world, the broad tapeworm, can reach a length of 25 m. Infection with parasites occurs when eating poorly cooked meat or through contact and household contact. Tapeworms not only cause intoxication and depletion of the host's body, but can also cause blockage of the bile ducts or intestinal obstruction. No less dangerous are the larvae of worms, which penetrate the internal organs, the brain and even the eyeballs.
- Giardia- protozoan or protozoan parasites that live in the small intestine of humans. Infection with protozoa is possible by eating food or water contaminated with cysts. Diagnosing Giardia infection is quite difficult, since there are no specific symptoms of the disease. A sick person feels constantly unwell, often gets sick, or is diagnosed with symptoms of a variety of 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, schistosomes, guinea worms, cysticerci, toxoplasma, loa loa and some other less common parasites.
Filaria
Filaria are round and long worms, their length is about 45 cm; you can become infected with filaria larvae through the bite of blood-sucking insects; mosquitoes usually carry the larvae, and less often other insects. Filariae penetrate the lymphatic vessels and clog them. As a result of infection, a person's lower limbs swell so much that he loses 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 especially dangerous due to the difficulties in diagnosis and treatment - the disease becomes noticeable only when it becomes chronic, which is almost impossible to cure.
Schistosomes
Schistosomes are a special type of worms that live in human blood vessels. Tiny flatworms, up to 2 mm long, enter the human body when swimming or drinking water contaminated with parasite cercariae.
Schistosomiasis is predominantly a tropical disease, contracted by swimming in open water. Once in the human body, schistosomes can cause severe damage to the liver, bladder or intestines.
Guinea worm
Guinea worm or dracunculiasis is another serious parasitic disease that can be contracted by drinking dirty water in tropical countries. Roundworms, entering the human intestine, literally gnaw through it, then penetrate the lymphatic vessels and subcutaneous fat, where they can grow up to 80 cm in length.
Where the parasites live, deep abscesses appear, inside which one or several large worms can be found. Such parasitosis can only be cured surgically.
Loa Loa
Loa Loa or "eye worm" is a round helminth that parasitizes the subcutaneous fat. A person becomes infected by the bite of a blood-sucking insect, which is the intermediate host of the parasite.
Once in the human body, Loa Loa begins to migrate throughout the body, including penetrating the eyeballs, brain or nervous tissue.
Whiskered Vandellia
Unlike other parasites, it belongs to freshwater fish and lives in the rivers of the Amazon. A fairly large fish - up to 15 cm long, due to its transparency and eel-like shape, is almost invisible in the water and quietly swims up to its victims. The whiskered vandellia can swim into the human urethra, attach to the wall of a blood vessel and suck out the blood, literally eating its owner from the inside. You can only get rid of such a parasite through severe surgery.
Anyone can become infected with parasites; hundreds of thousands of dangerous parasites lie in wait for each of us: in water, soil, on tree leaves, in public transport, seafood, on fresh vegetables and fruits. Therefore, it is so important to follow all sanitary and hygienic rules and teach children the rules of personal hygiene as early as possible.
The entry of most parasites into the human body occurs completely unnoticed; the first symptoms of illness appear only several weeks or months after infection. Symptoms of parasitosis can be different: from mild malaise and headaches to a sharp deterioration in condition, fever and hemoptysis.
Only constant monitoring of your health, regular medical examinations and extreme caution when visiting tropical countries will help you avoid infection with the most terrible parasites or, at least, diagnose such an infection in time.