Today, diseases caused by various types of protozoa and helminths are widespread.The danger of such diseases is explained not only by the complications and damage in the body caused by protozoa and worms in humans, but also by the difficulty in 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);
- allergic skin reactions;
- general intoxication of the body;
- muscle and joint pain;
- dehydration.
In order to avoid diagnostic errors and prescribe an inadequate course of treatment, which, at best, will only 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 by 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 low-quality food, you can get infected at home, through contact with a carrier.
The main mechanism of any infection is most often oral-fecal, that is, a person simply swallows worm eggs with food, water, and less often, some helminthic attacks occur from the bite of an infected insect.
Protozoan worms that live in humans belong to the class of single-celled organisms.The infection is called a protozoan.Depending on the type and level of invasion, the course of the disease can be severe and even cause the death of the patient.
What helminths are called protozoa?
Protozoan helminths can have a body of fixed shape (ciliates and flagellates) and a variable one - a clear representative of amoeba.They are very small in size and range from 4-5 micrometers to 1-3 millimeters.Often the cells of these microorganisms have several nuclei.The organs of locomotion are pseudopods, cilia and flagella.The reproductive process, depending on the species, occurs by semi-sexual or complex methods.
To protect themselves from unfavorable external conditions, as well as for further spread, protozoan helminths can turn into cysts, which are cells covered with a protective membrane.This allows them to change from a non-motile cyst to an active state if they enter a favorable environment.
Often there are situations when the host's body is not aware of the parasitic helminths protozoa in it.In other cases, the attack leads to the death of the host.For example, some antelope species in Africa are permanent "hosts" of trypanosomatids.And the bite of a person by the tsetse fly, which is a carrier of 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 flagellata:
- Giardia is a parasite that normally lives in the intestines, bile ducts, and liver 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, functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, i.e. the small intestine.Many patients infected with Giardia do not experience any 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 include damage to the skin, mucous membranes and some internal organs;fever and anemia are often signs of illness.
- Trypanosomatids are protozoa that are spread by insects.When the body is infected, the disease causes trypanosomiasis.This disease has a long journey.Depending on the type of trypanosomatid, various systems and organs are affected.
- Amoeba dysentery parasitizes the intestine.Invasion occurs in the form of a 4-nuclear cyst.Although amoeba dysentery is found almost everywhere, the most common cases of infection are recorded in tropical countries.Amoeba is the cause of infectious protozoan diseases in humans such as amoebiasis.The clinical picture of this disease is ulcerative colitis, which is characterized by relapses and exacerbations.There are also cases of extraintestinal amebiasis - this protozoan helminth moves from the intestine to other organs and even to the skin.The latest form of the disease is called skin amoebiasis - ulcerative-necrotic signs are clearly observed on the buttocks and perineum.
- Trichomonas causes trichomoniasis.Currently, several subspecies of Trichomonas have been studied.Intestine, the area of parasites that are in the large intestine and helminths do not cause any specific harm to the intestine.The area of Trichomonas genitourinary parasitism, 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 the oral cavity and does not pose a danger to humans.
Sporozoan species of protozoa are represented by plasmodium malariae and coccidia:
- Plasmodium falciparum, which is spread by mosquitoes and causes malaria, is a protozoan microorganism.It's a parasite in the blood.Malaria in a person infected with this parasite is shown by the following symptoms: hypochromic anemia, attacks of fever, enlargement of organs such as the liver and spleen.
- Coccidia are protozoa that live in the intestinal epithelial tissue of many animals.A number of species of coccidia are the causative agents of coccidiosis.In humans, this disease occurs with slight intoxication and symptoms of gastroenteritis or enteritis.
Ciliates: balantidia.This arrangement of protozoa living in the large intestine is the cause of diseases such as ciliate dysentery (balantidiasis).
Diagnosis and treatment of protozoan helminths
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 certain symptoms, and can only be detected through 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 medicine;
- when secondary bacterial infections occur, narrowly targeted antibiotics.
Doctors prescribe specific treatment based on the type of protozoan helminth and the level of infestation.