How to know if you have parasites

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Advertising informs that all people are infected with parasites and need treatment. But is it?

Who are the parasites

The first thing you need to know: "parasites" and "worms" are not one disease, but a large group of very different infections. There are few common features:

1. All parasites are more or less adapted to life inside a person.
2. They are of no benefit to a person, but they can cause significant harm.

If the ad speaks about parasites in general, you can be sure: they want to cheat you.

Talking about the treatment or diagnosis of parasites in general, without mentioning the type of infection, is just as wrong as talking, for example, about injuries, without specifying which one they are talking about. In terms of the complexity of treatment and the possible consequences, some parasitic infections differ from others, like a slight bruise from a fracture.

What symptoms can parasites cause?

Different parasitic infections are common in different countries. For many regions, WHO Estimates of the Global and Regional Disease Burden of 11 Foodborne Parasitic Diseases do not yet have accurate incidence statistics. However, we cannot talk about an epidemic: not all people are infected, as advertisements claim, but only a few.

On the territory of Russia and in European countries, about 15 parasitic infections are most common.

The most important thing to remember is that different parasitic infections can cause different non-specific symptoms Information about parasitic infections from the US Centers for Disease Control (in English). This means that many other causes can cause the same symptoms.

Possible symptoms of major parasitic infections can be briefly described as follows:

Symptom	Infection
Dry cough	Ascariasis, toxocariasis, hookworm disease, strongyloidosis, echinococcosis
Allergy-like skin rash	This symptom can be observed when infected with all types of worms. If the rash is localized in a specific place (for example, on the leg), it may be caused by ankylostomiasis, strongyloidiasis, toxocariasis, or schistosomiasis
Itching in the anus or genitals	Enterobiasis (pinworms)
Fever, weakness, chills, severe abdominal pain	Giardiasis, opisthorchiasis, clonorchiasis, trichinosis, schistosomiasis
Prolonged diarrhea (diarrhea)	Giardiasis
Prolonged abdominal pain	Ascariasis, hookworm infection, infection with bovine and pork tapeworms, diphyllobothriasis, trichocephalosis, strongyloidosis
Severe muscle pain	Trichinosis, echinococcosis
Visual impairment	Possible for many infections, including toxocariasis, ascariasis, toxoplasmosis, fascioliasis
Lump under the skin	Fascioliasis, ascariasis, pork tapeworm infection, hookworm infection
Epileptic seizures, impaired speech, gait, or motor coordination	Echinococcosis, toxoplasmosis, toxocariasis, cysticercosis (pork tapeworm)
The appearance of blood in the urine	Schistosomiasis
Isolation of worms with feces	Ascariasis

Advertising often associates many other symptoms with parasites, from poor appetite to hair loss. As a rule, this is just the fiction of charlatans who exploit the fear of patients and their ignorance in this highly complex field of medicine.

How can you get infected

To reduce the risk of infection, you do not need to cram the transmission mechanisms of each infection. It is enough to remember the common routes of transmission Information about the routes of transmission of parasitic infections from the US Centers for Disease Control (in English) and how you can resist the infection.

1. Eat unwashed food, drink dirty water

Many infections are transmitted through soil-contaminated products and water, including giardiasis, ascariasis, echinococcosis, hookworm infection.

How to protect yourself

1. Wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly before eating.
2. Wash hands, especially after contact with soil.
3. Never drink water from unknown sources.
4. When traveling (especially to developing countries), drink only bottled water.

2. Eat raw or semi-raw meat or fish

This route of transmission is typical for teniasis (pork tapeworm), trichinosis, diphyllobothriasis, opisthorchiasis and other infections.

How to protect yourself

1. Do not eat raw meat or fish, or eat only what has passed veterinary control.
2. Cook meat and fish thoroughly.
3. It is necessary to freeze fish in an ordinary freezer at a temperature of –18 ° С for at least two weeks. But this will not kill especially persistent parasites, they can only be destroyed by industrial freezing. Therefore, the fish that you caught yourself should be boiled and fried well: 20 minutes after boiling or heating.

3. Contact with an infected person

This mechanism is typical for enterobiasis (pinworms). Most often, children become infected with this infection while playing with peers in kindergarten or school.

Another infection that is transmitted from infected people is cysticercosis.

How to protect yourself

1. Wash your hands before eating.
2. When Traveling Detailed Travel Advice (in English) not to eat raw food prepared by other people. For example, peeled fruit.

4. Contact with the feces or fleas of infected animals

This is how dipylidiosis, toxoplasmosis and other infections are transmitted.

How to protect yourself

1. Wash hands after contact with animals or soil that may have been contaminated with their feces.
2. Give the animal an antiparasitic agent periodically and use a flea repellent on a regular basis.

5. Contact with contaminated water and soil

Some parasites (such as hookworm disease or schistosomiasis) can enter the body through the skin when you swim or walk barefoot on contaminated soil.

How to protect yourself

1. Always wear shoes when traveling to tropical countries.
2. Never swim in unfamiliar fresh waters that may be contaminated with sewage.

How to know if you have parasites

There is no blood or stool test to detect “all parasites at once”. Algorithms for diagnosing parasitic infections are very different Answers to basic questions about the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of parasitic infections in children and adults and always depends on:

1. What symptoms bother a person.
2. What kind of infection he can be infected, based on the conditions of his life.

If a person develops a symptom, a doctor must rule out all possible causes before diagnosing a parasitic infection.

Do I need to drink antiparasitic drugs for prevention

No, this is the wrong tactic. First, different parasitic infections respond to different treatments.

There is no magic pill that works well against all types of parasites.

Secondly, in order to protect against the effects of parasitic infections, it is much more important to prevent infection, and not to be treated often.

If the person continues to come into contact with the source of the infection, the effect of the treatment lasts only a few days or weeks. But if contact stops, many parasites die without treatment.

Is it possible to be treated with folk remedies

Using folk remedies to treat parasites is a bad idea.

Really effective folk remedies for parasites are not yet known.

In addition, many folk remedies are irritating and cause parasite migration. And the latter is fraught with dangerous complications: intestinal obstruction, blockage of the biliary tract, and so on.

Things to Remember About Parasitic Infections

1. Advertising of miraculous cures for parasites is a lie.
2. If a person is worried about a symptom, you need to pay attention to all possible causes.
3. Treatment should be directed against the specific infection.
4. For many parasitic infections, prevention is much more important than treatment. And prevention is elementary hygienic measures.

Detailed information on parasitic infections widespread in Russia and other countries →