Signs of worms in humans and how to get rid of worms at home

Parasitic infestations often go unnoticed. And the first symptoms of worms in humans are non-specific, so the sick person does not go to the doctor for a long time. Thus, the patient may think that he is overworked, suffers from gastritis or poisoning, experiences an exacerbation of allergies or arthritis.

How to suspect the appearance of worms

The signs of helminths in the body depend on the type and location of the parasite. Some symptoms appear soon after infection. Others occur after some time and indicate the migration of worms in the body, increased intoxication, lack of nutrients or vitamins.

The most common signs of worms in adults include:

  1. Increase in body temperature. Fever may not be expressed - up to 37. 5 ° C in the short term. Episodes of increased temperature coincide with periods of deterioration, accompanied by an increase in several groups of lymph nodes.
  2. One of the most common signs of the presence of helminths is abdominal pain. Feelings of discomfort have a specific location - in the belly button, liver or movement. Pain is accompanied by a violation of stool, the appearance of impurities in the stool - mucus, blood. More often there are bouts of diarrhea, but with the blockage of the intestinal lumen by parasites, the development of obstruction is also possible.
  3. Itching in the anus is the first characteristic sign and symptom of worms. It occurs at night, forcing the person to scratch the anus.
  4. Helminths cause allergic skin or respiratory-type reactions as a result of the circulation of their decomposition products, toxins, in the body. So, a person complains of exacerbation of bronchial asthma, the appearance of dermatitis, eczema.
  5. When infected with worms, beriberi develops. It manifests itself in the form of a deterioration in the condition of hair, nails, characteristic "jelly" in the corners of the mouth, dry skin. The lack of iron in the body causes the development of anemia, pallor of the skin, the appearance of bruises under the eyes.
  6. Helminths also have a pathogenic effect on the nervous system, as a result of which the patient is disturbed by headaches, irritability, impaired performance, intermittent sleep and emotional instability.
  7. The worms that migrate through the respiratory system (roundworms) cause a person to have bouts of dry cough. With the movement of parasites in the muscles, the development of intoxication, sick people complain of pain, muscle and joint pain.
Symptoms of worms in an adult's body

On a note!

The first symptoms of infection can appear within a few days after helminths have penetrated the body of an adult. More often, they occur after 2-3 weeks from the moment of contact with the parasite, and with migratory worms - after months, years.

The combination of different symptoms does not clearly indicate a specific disease, but it is a reason to be concerned about your health and see a doctor. If a sick person is involved in self-diagnosis, looking for information on how to understand that you have worms, then they risk wasting time and having life-threatening complications.

What is the danger of parasitic infection

Helminths in the body not only take the necessary nutrients and vitamins from a person. Worms poison the patient with decomposition products, affect the internal organs. Parasitic worms in humans can lead to illnesses so serious that they require urgent surgery and, in some cases, the removal of part of the organ:

  • acute intestinal obstruction;
  • violation of the integrity of the intestine with the development of peritonitis;
  • appendicitis;
  • biliary tract blockage;
  • eye damage.

Important!

Among the late consequences of the invasion, leading to the deterioration of the condition, death of the patient, are cirrhosis and liver cancer, pneumonia, pleurisy, sclerosis of lung tissue, myocarditis, meningitis, hearing and visual impairment, episyndrome.

How does worm infestation occur?

To resolve the issue of helminth prevention, it is necessary to have information about the origin of the parasites. The most common infection mechanisms include: food, household contact, percutaneous, transmissible (associated with hematophagous insects).

Causes of helminth infection

Here are the most typical situations in which worms appear on the body:

  1. The use of vegetables, fruits, berries or greens contaminated with parasite eggs.
  2. Eating undercooked meat, fish with helminth larvae. Feeding game that has not passed veterinary control. Thus, Trichinella can withstand even prolonged cooking of meat and maintain its viability.
  3. Violation of hygiene rules: formal attitude regarding hand washing after returning from the street, contact with pets or strays.
  4. Bath in reservoirs containing worm larvae.
  5. Contact with soil containing parasite larvae while working in the garden.
  6. Work in conditions of greater risk of helminth infection: in children's groups, food, livestock, poultry.

Where are the worms found in the human body

There are many medical myths about where worms live in the human body. Not all are based on parasitological data. Some helminths occupy several sections of the intestine and multiply there. Humans may be the main hosts of the parasite. So-called human worms go through the stage of sexual reproduction in the body, then come out with the feces. In the case of animal helminths, a person is an intermediate host, within which only an asexual (parthenogenetic) phase is possible. The parasites spread to the internal organs, causing damage to them. Thus, worms in the human body can be detected:

  • Under the skin;
  • in the liver;
  • in the bladder;
  • In the eyes;
  • in the muscles;
  • in the lungs and heart;
  • in the brain.

If we consider the descriptions of the life cycle of the helminth in the form of a photo with explanations, we can trace its migration through the body and guess what the main symptoms of the disease will be.

worm diagnosis

The appearance of abdominal pain, fever, rash, cough with sputum, inflammatory and allergic changes in the blood count are the basis for checking a person for parasites. Infectious specialists recommend laboratory tests to detect the helminth or the immune response to its presence in the body.

Methods for diagnosing parasites in the body

The following methods help to identify worms in a person:

  • stool analysis for parasite eggs;
  • scraping or smear for enterobiasis;
  • immunological tests to detect antibodies to the helminth;
  • PCR analysis for worm DNA fragments;
  • worm detection in duodenal contents, tissue biopsy samples.

These methods will help to find out the type of parasite and choose an effective drug. If the internal organs are damaged, the following will help diagnose helminth:

  • Chest X-ray;
  • Ultrasound of the liver, heart, pancreas;
  • cystoscopy;
  • brain magnetic resonance.

If necessary, the infectious disease specialist will refer a neurologist, ophthalmologist, cardiologist, urologist for consultations.

On a note!

You should not try to recognize helminths on your own, resort to "unique computer diagnostics" outside the medical institution. This will lead to wasted time, deterioration of health.

Treatment of worms in humans

If a disease is detected, the infectious disease specialist will give full recommendations on disease treatment, regimen and diet. If necessary, the doctor will suggest admission to the hospital. There is no single "magic" drug for worms, the symptoms and treatment of helminths in an adult can vary.

You need to know the basics of parasitic therapy:

  1. To fight worms, medicines are used. The choice of treatment regimen (dosage, course duration, frequency of administration) depends on the type of helminth, the state of the body of the sick person.
  2. In severe cases of illness, assistance is provided in a hospital environment.
  3. You should not independently reduce the dosage, reduce the duration of treatment with tablets or suspension of worms.
  4. Some drugs require a diet, refusal to drink alcohol.
  5. There are no "magic" remedies that allow you to quickly get rid of any helminths in 1 day. For the treatment of some worms in humans, in fact, short courses are used, but it is impossible to destroy all the parasites in the body with a pill, tincture or ointment.
  6. Herbal preparations are used in sick people who, for health reasons, are contraindicated in medicines in the form of tablets or suspensions.
  7. Antiallergic, hepatoprotective, enterosorbent, immunomodulatory drugs are prescribed as adjuvant therapy. By themselves, they do not help to remove worms from a person, but they improve a person's general well-being by removing unpleasant symptoms of the disease and side effects of treatment.
Treating worms with an anthelmintic drug

Important!

Folk remedies are used only as an auxiliary method of therapy. The independent use of alternative medicine is fraught with deterioration.

pharmacy funds

Treatment with drugs from the group of anthelmintic drugs helps to destroy, expel parasites from the body. Pharmaceutical medicines have different application points:

  • interrupt the absorption of nutrients by the parasites;
  • interrupt the metabolism of the worms;
  • cause paralysis of helminth musculature.

On a note!

With proper use and prevention of helminthiases in the future, worm remedies really help to permanently rid a person of parasites that have settled in the intestines and internal organs. But if the patient neglects the elementary rules of hygiene, reinfection with parasites is possible.

Additionally, an infectious disease specialist can prescribe herbal remedies that help to poison and ward off worms in humans. The doctor will recommend certain herbs, based on information about the state of the body and the type of parasite. To cure the patient, apply: pumpkin seeds, tansy and centaury.

Folk remedies for worms

Many patients refuse traditional methods of therapy, hoping for help from traditional medicine. Infectologists warn that attempts to get rid of worms at home with questionable solutions, infusions can lead to increased intoxication, allergic reactions. If you waste time, the disease will progress, a fatal outcome is possible.

Folk remedies to get rid of worms

To flush out helminths from the body, the following home remedies are widely used:

  • onion decoction;
  • pomegranate peel;
  • enemas and pumpkin seed ingestion;
  • unsweetened sour fruit and vegetable juices;
  • garlic with milk;
  • soda enemas;
  • tincture of absinthe.

treatment reviews

Before starting a course of therapy, patients consider various options for dealing with parasites, trying to understand how to properly poison helminths. In their reviews, people who have suffered helminthic invasion describe traditional drug therapy as a very effective method. It is extremely rare to get rid of helminths with folk remedies.

  1. "I started to worry about itchy anus. She went to the therapist, received advice on scraping. It was very unpleasant that pinworms were found in scrapings. I read how dangerous helminths are and decided not to poison myself with self-medication. On the doctor's advice, she drank an anthelmintic drug - 1 tablet 1 time a week. The course lasted 2 weeks, I immediately felt relief, the itching went away. I believe it was not such a terrible infection, but the drug worked "perfectly well".
  2. "I caught worms after eating fish at a party. Soon the diarrhea started. I lost weight, my skin became dry and itchy. I studied in detail the information on how to treat parasites and how to restore the body later, I started taking an anti-inflammatory drug. - helminthic. I was embarrassed to go to the doctor. The drug did not help. I tried to fight the worms with popular methods: I did a liver cleanse with bitterness, I drank milk with garlic and put an enema. But it did not improve. I had to turn to an infectious disease specialist , I am being treated with an anthelmintic of the benzimidazole class. While I was "getting up" to go to the doctor, I lost 4 kilos, I became pale, nervous".

Prevention

Knowing how worms appear in the body, anyone can protect themselves and their loved ones from infection. Prevention includes:

  1. Wash hands with soap after contact with animals, return home.
  2. Regular deworming for pets.
  3. Timely change of bed linen.
  4. Regular wet cleaning, airing, cleaning carpets and upholstered furniture.
  5. Eating meat that has passed veterinary control.
  6. Complete heat treatment of meat and fish.
  7. Refusal to eat raw meat, fish, offal.

Helminth infection requires prompt treatment. You should watch out for symptoms such as: diarrhea, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, weight loss, rash, cough, fever and immediately consult a specialist. After treatment, precautions should be taken to avoid reinfection.