Today, widespread diseases are caused by numerous species of protozoa and helminths.The danger of such diseases is explained not only by complications and malfunctions in the body caused by protozoa and worms in humans, but also by the difficulty of diagnosing the disease due to the similarity of symptoms with various non-parasitic diseases.
Helminths and protozoa cause:
- disorders in the gastrointestinal tract (constipation, diarrhea, vomiting);
- skin allergic reactions;
- general intoxication of the body;
- pain in muscles and joints;
- dehydration.
To avoid diagnostic errors and prescribing an inadequate course of treatment, which at best will simply be ineffective, and at worst can cause complications, you should accurately determine the type of helminths and the degree of infection of the body with them.
Routes of infection with protozoan helminths
All worms enter the body from the outside.The same applies to protozoan helminths.In the environment, they live in soil and water bodies.In addition to unwashed hands and eating poor-quality food, you can also get infected with it at home, through contact with a carrier.
The main mechanism of any infection is usually oral-fecal, i.e. a person simply swallows worm eggs together with food and water, and less often some helminthic infestations occur through the bite of infected insects.
Protozoan worms that live in humans belong to the class of single-celled organisms.The infection is called protozoa.Depending on the type and degree of invasion, the course of the disease can be severe and even cause the death of the patient.
Which helminths are called protozoa?
Protozoan helminths can have a body of constant shape (ciliates and flagellates) and variable - a clear representative of amoeba.Their sizes are very small and range from 4-5 micrometers to 1-3 millimeters.Often the cell of these microorganisms has several nuclei.The organs of movement are pseudopods, cilia and flagella.The reproduction process, depending on the species, takes place by halving or by a complex sexual method.
In order to protect themselves from adverse external conditions, as well as for further spread, protozoan helminths can turn into cysts, cells that are covered with a protective membrane.This allows them to transform from a dormant cyst into an active state if they enter a favorable environment.
Situations often occur when the host's body does not even notice protozoan helminths parasitizing it.In other cases, the infestation leads to the death of the host.For example, some species of antelope in Africa are permanent "hosts" of trypanosomatids.And the bite of the tsetse fly, which transmits these helminths, can infect him and cause sleeping sickness, which is known to be life-threatening.
The most studied protozoan helminths
Parasites in the human body that belong to the class of flagellates:
- Giardia is a parasite that usually lives in the intestines, bile ducts and livers of vertebrates (humans and animals).They can be transmitted through food, water and other factors.This group of protozoa is the cause of diseases such as giardiasis, a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract, i.e. the small intestine.Many patients infected with Giardia do not experience obvious symptoms.
- Leishmania is a protozoan helminth transmitted by mosquitoes.After an insect bites a person, there is a high probability of contracting leishmaniasis.Signs of the disease are damage to the skin, mucous membranes and some internal organs;fever and anemia are often signs of illness.
- Trypanosomatids are protozoa transmitted by insects.When the body becomes infected, the disease causes trypanosomiasis.This disease has a long course.Depending on the type of trypanosomatids, different systems and organs are affected.
- Amoeba dysentery parasitizes in the intestines.Invasion occurs in the form of a 4-nucleate cyst.Although dysentery amoeba is found almost everywhere, the most common cases of infection are recorded in tropical countries.Amoeba is the causative agent of such an infectious protozoan disease in humans as amebiasis.The clinical picture of the disease is ulcerative colitis, which is characterized by relapses and exacerbations.There are also cases of extraintestinal amoebiasis - these protozoan helminths pass from the intestine to other organs and even to the skin.The latest form of the disease is called cutaneous amoebiasis - obvious ulcerous-necrotic signs are observed on the buttocks and perineum.
- Trichomonas causes trichomoniasis.Currently, several subspecies of Trichomonas have been studied.Intestinal, the parasitic area located in the large intestine and the helminth does not cause any particular damage to the intestines.The area of parasitism of genitourinary trichomonas, as the name suggests, is the genitourinary system.Infection occurs through sexual contact.This subspecies of protozoa is the cause of diseases such as trichomoniasis.This infectious disease is manifested by inflammatory phenomena in the genitourinary system.Oral trichomonas parasitizes in the oral cavity and does not pose a danger to humans.
Sporozoic species of protozoa are malaria plasmodium and coccidia:
- Plasmodium falciparum, transmitted by mosquitoes and the causative agent of malaria, is a protozoan microorganism.Parasites in the blood.Malaria in a person infected with this parasite is manifested by the following symptoms: hypochromic anemia, fever attacks, enlargement of organs such as the liver and spleen.
- Coccidia are protozoa that live in the epithelial tissue of the intestines of many animals.Numerous species of coccidia are the causative agents of the disease coccidiosis.In humans, this disease occurs with mild intoxication and symptoms of gastroenteritis or enteritis.
Ciliates: balantidia.This order of protozoa living in the large intestine is the cause of diseases such as ciliated dysentery (balantidiasis).
Diagnosis and treatment of protozoan helminths
Very often, when the presence of helminths in the body occurs without symptoms, the disease is not diagnosed for a long time.Invasion can be suspected by specific symptoms, and detected only by laboratory tests of feces, urine, blood and fluids obtained by puncture from various organs and systems.
In medical practice, there are general principles for the treatment of protozoan invasion:
- antiparasitic drugs;
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs;
- detoxification drugs;
- when a secondary bacterial infection occurs, narrowly targeted antibiotics.
The doctor prescribes a specific treatment based on the type of protozoan helminth and the degree of infestation.