The enemy, as they say, “you have to know by sight. ” You have to understand who we are dealing with. Illiteracy in this matter will not give any discounts. Let's arm ourselves with information that can be used in practice, for the benefit of our health, which will not leave some parasites the slightest chance to spoil our lives.
Parasites - who are they?
Parasites(from the Greek parasitos - parasite, parasite) - lower plant and animal organisms that live outside or inside another organism (host) and feed on it. Parasites live their parallel lives in our body, feeding on our energy, our cells and our food, including the health products
we consume.
There are parasites that spend their entire lives in the body of the host or only part of it; receive food and shelter from it, without causing visible damage to the body of their host.
Certain parasites irritate the host and affect its functions; others destroy host tissues and release certain toxins that cause poor health and the development of various diseases in the host.Various species can parasitize the human body: fungi, bacteria, viruses, protozoa and worms.
Parasitesgo through a complex developmental cycle during their lifetime: there are those that need to change several hosts, within which the parasite goes through middle development (so-called developmental larvaworm helminths). In the body of the last host, the helminth becomes sexually mature and becomes as dangerous as possible.
Parasites are classified as follows:
- mushrooms
- viruses
- protozoan parasites
- helminths (worms, worms)
- parasites in crabs
- spider parasites
- insects (mainly for sucking blood)
1. Mushrooms.
These aremicroorganismsthat infect the human body, can be deposited on the surface of the skin and on the mucous membranes of internal organs. Diseases caused by pathogenic fungi are calledmycoses. There aremycoses of the skin and nails(dermatomycosis), as well as mycoses of internal organs. Animals are also susceptible to the results of fungal activity - they can become intoxicated due to poisoning by fungal toxins that affect plant foods (mycotoxicosis). There are different types of mycoses, some people get sick only or only animals, other people get infected from animals. Disease-causing fungi cause fungal diseases that are considered contagious diseases.
There are several hundredspecies of fungi, two of which are particularly dangerous to humans. The first type of fungus -cryptococcus(Cryptococcus neoformans) - causes meningitis (inflammation of the membranes of the brain and spinal cord). Usually this cryptococcus spreads in the feces of birds and is found on fruits, vegetables, animal milk and soil. The second type of fungus -candida(candida albicans) - causes diaper rash, candidiasis of the mucous membranes, balanitis, thrush, mycoses, onyx (nail damage), sores on the lips, paronychia, athletic foot (toe mycoses), fungal diseasesgenitalia.Mushrooms love sweets, they feed mainly on sugar and starch, but just like any living organism, they need amino acids, vitamins and minerals.
Mushroomsare a separate civilization, it is its own parallel world. They can withstand temperatures from -150 to + 150 degrees, they can neither be frozen nor destroyed. There is an opinion in scientific circles that mushrooms are the main earthly civilization, and they use everything around them for their own purposes (and so do we humans). Fungi are white, cheesy secretions from the nose, mouth, wounds, urethra, odorless.Fungusis a white coating on the tongue, baldness and dandruff, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis. If white deposits on the tonsils, it is a fungal sore throat. Mushrooms do not hurt, itch. Fungi are everything that peels, peels, falls off, cracks, rises above the skin, becomes stained, covers the scalp. There is no acute phase of fungal diseases, there is only a chronic one.
2. Viruses.
Virusesare non-cellular living things, they are microparticles consisting of nucleic acids - carriers of genetic information (RNA and / or DNA), externally covered with proteins. Viruses are capable of infecting any living organism.Virus, translated from Latin (virus) is a poison. Viruses cannot be attributed to animals or plants. They are very small, so they can only be studied with an electron microscope. Viruses can live and develop only in the cells of other organisms. Viruses cannot live outside the cells of living organisms, and many of them behave like chemicals in the external environment, representing the form of crystals. Settling inside the cells of animals and plants, viruses cause many dangerous diseases. Human viral diseases include:herpes, measles, influenza, HIV, hepatitis, polio, smallpox.
3. The simplest parasites.
Parasitic protozoa-amoeba, lamblia, toxoplasma, cryptosporidium, as well as plasmodia malaria, leishmaniasis, trypanosomes. Among parasitic protozoa, the causes of the most dangerous diseases of animals and humans are known, especially in the tropics (malaria, dysentery). Malaysia infects human red blood cells with Plasmodium, which in the phase of mass reproduction leads to an attack of strong fever, full of death. Whipped trypanosomes and leishmaniasis are mainly tropical species which, feeding on animal tissue, cause ulcers, malaise and in some cases death. Living in the gut, the rhizome of Entamoeba histolytica is the cause of chronic amoebic dysentery, which can penetrate other tissues and kill the host. The whipworm parasite Giardia lamblia causes severe diarrhea (giardiasis). This species is found in rivers and lakes contaminated with human feces in subtropical and tropical regions. Some parasites, such as the type of pneumocystis carinii that causes pneumonia, may be closer to fungi than to the rest of the protozoa.
4. Helminths (worms, worms)
More than 70 species of worms have been registered, of which the following helminth species are more common:
- roundworms (nematodes)- roundworms, earthworms, whips, Trichinella, toxocara;
- tapeworms (cestodes)- swine and bovine tapeworms, dwarf tapeworm, echinococcus, alveococci, broad tapeworm;
- flatworms (flukes)- opisthorchiasis (cat fluke), liver fluke, Chinese fluke, pulmonary fluke.
Some of these parasitic helminths are ubiquitous, while others are more common in certain areas. For example:
- pinworms and roundwormsare found all over the world;
- bičera- found everywhere, mainly in hot and humid regions of tropical, subtropical and temperate climates.
- Trichinella- in Belarus, Ukraine.
- swine tapeworm- recorded everywhere, more common in Belarus and Ukraine.
- bull tapeworm- found everywhere. Especially in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
- dwarf tapeworm- found everywhere, especially in areas with dry and hot climates.
- broad tapeworm- usually selects habitats in areas with a large number of freshwater bodies. Constantly present in the Baltic, in Kazakhstan.
- opisthorchiasis(feline fluke) - the most intense foci were recorded in Kazakhstan.
- liver fluke- ubiquitous. Outbreaks have been reported in the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Baltic.
- echinococcosis, alveococcosis- in Moldova, in the south of Ukraine, in the Caucasus.
There are more than a hundred and a half species of these parasites, but most often there are "only" about 35 species. Depending on the position of the parasite in the human body, these diseases are classified as tissue and luminal.
Tissue parasites.
If parasites and their larvae are found in the tissues of the human body, in the subcutaneous tissue, move freely through the circulatory or lymphatic system, such a disease is called tissue disease (schistosomiasis, echinococcosis).
Transparent parasites.
If the parasites are localized in the intestines or other internal cavities of the human body, then such a disease is called luminal (tapeworms, roundworms).
Parasites also differ in their specific position (habitat) on a person, as a host.
External parasites.
This species parasitizes on the skin of the human body directly from the outside, does not live inside the host, but uses it only during feeding (mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, lice, horseflies, hornets, leeches). . .
Internal parasites (helminths, worms, bacteria, fungi).
This type of parasite has the following classification:
- Flatworms (trematodes), in their structure, bilaterally symmetrical free-living or parasitic organisms. The length of the trematode ranges from 0. 1 mm to several meters, the body structure is mostly flattened, oval or more or less elongated; in parasitic forms it is equipped with organs of attachment to the "host" in the form of tits, hobos, hooks, etc. Representatives of flatworms are turbellaria or ciliary worms; opisthorchiasis, planaria, liver fluke, clonorchus, fasciola, schistosome, pulmonary fluke.
- Roundworms (nematodes), free-living parasites of this class live in saline and freshwater bodies, soil. In most cases, their sizes are small, even microscopic, but among the parasitic individuals there are also quite large ones, which reach a length of more than seven meters (whale helminths). The most common representatives of human earthworm parasites are earthworms, pinworms, whipworms, filaria, strongyloids, hookworms, trichinella, toxocara, rhizomes.
- Tapeworms (cestodes, tapeworms),This class of helminths is characterized by a characteristic long body resembling a ribbon (from a few fractions of a millimeter to tens of meters). Cestodes - elongated body worms, similar ribbons, consisting of head, neck and individual segments, are characterized by enormous fertility (some species are able to produce up to 600 million eggs per year) - pig and beef tapeworms, dwarf tapeworm - cyclophilid detachment; echinococci, alveococci, broad tapeworm, sheep brain.
- Bacteriosis. Bacteriosis is an infectious disease caused by various types of bacteria and parasites.
Bacteriosis is a fairly widespread diagnosis worldwide. Some bacterioses are caused by bacteria of one species, others by bacteria of several species. Representatives of this class of parasites are - leptospira, staphylococcus, streptococcus, shigella. - Mycoses- diseases caused by parasitic fungi. More than 350 species of pathogenic fungi that parasitize humans, domestic and wild animals, birds, insects, amphibians, fish and plants have been identified. The most well-known pathogens of mycosis are candida, cryptococcus, penicillin.
- Protozoa (protozoa) or protozoan parasitesare single-celled organisms that have a heterotrophic type of diet, ie they are not able to produce organic substances necessary for their vital action from inorganic ones. The consequence is their need for organic matter produced by other organisms (amoebae, lamblia, coccidia, trichomonas).
Sad facts about worms and other parasites:
- Chronic, incl. oncological diseasesin 80% of cases are caused by parasites (worms, fungi, protozoa).
- The causative agent of opisthorchiasisbelongs to the first group of carcinogens (causes cancer) - according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
- The number one biological enemy for humans is Trichomonas.By forming colonies on the walls of blood vessels, trichomonas leads to the development of atherosclerosis with all the consequences. 1989 - Discovery of Trichomonas to turn ordinary cells into malignant.
- Parasitic diseases in the worldaffect more than 4. 5 billion people, 9 out of 10 cases are worms, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).Every third inhabitant in Europe is affected by parasites (including worms)!
The incidence of parasitosis in frequency is comparable to the incidence of influenza.
So, there are several ways parasites enter the human body:
- Nutrition - lack of personal hygiene(contaminated food, water, dirty hands);
- Contact-household - creation of external conditions for active development of parasites(through household items, from infected family members, pets);
- Portable - no precautions(via blood-sucking insects);
- Percutaneous or active - non-compliance with safety measures(in which the larva of the parasite penetrates the skin or mucous membranes into the human body during contact with contaminated soil, when swimming in open water).