Today, diseases caused by numerous species of protozoa and helminths are widespread. The danger of such diseases is explained not only by complications and malfunctions in the body, which protozoa and worms lead to in humans, but also by the complexity of diagnosing the disease due to the similarity of symptoms with various nonparasitic diseases.
Helminths and protozoa cause:
- Malfunctions of the gastrointestinal tract (constipation, diarrhea, vomiting);
- allergic skin reactions;
- general intoxication of the body;
- muscle and joint pain;
- dehydration.
In order to avoid a diagnostic error and the appointment of an inadequate course of treatment, which at best will simply be ineffective, and at worst can cause complications, it is necessary to 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 the simplest helminths. In the environment they live in the soil, in water bodies. In addition to unwashed hands, eating poor-quality products, one can become infected at home through contact with a carrier.
The main mechanism of any infection is most often oral-faecal, that is, a person simply swallows the worm's eggs along with food, water, less often helminth infestations occur when bitten by infected insects.
The simplest worms that live in humans belong to the class of unicellular organisms. The infection is called a protozoosis. Depending on the type and degree of invasion, the course of the disease can be severe and even lead to the death of the patient.
What helminths are called protozoa?
The simplest helminths can have a body of constant shape (ciliates and flagellates), and a variable body - a bright representative of the amoeba. Their dimensions are very small, ranging from 4-5 microns to 1-3 millimeters. Often the cell of these microorganisms has several nuclei. The pseudopodia, cilia and flagella function as organs of locomotion. The reproductive process occurs by division in half or by a complex sexual method, depending on the species.
To protect themselves from adverse external conditions and continue to spread, the simplest helminths can turn into cysts, which are cells covered with a protective membrane. This allows them to transform from an immobile cyst to an active state when placed in a favorable environment.
There are often situations when the wearer's body does not notice even the simplest helminths parasitizing in it. In other cases, the invasion results in the death of the host. For example, some antelope species in Africa are permanent "masters" of trypanosomatids. And a human bite from the tsetse fly that carries these helminths can infect them and cause sleeping sickness, which is known to be life-threatening.
The best-studied protozoan helminths
Parasites in the human body belonging to the flagellate class:
- 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 a disease such as giardiasis - a dysfunction of the gastrointestinal tract, namely the small intestine. Many patients infected with Giardia do not have any overt symptoms.
- Leishmania are the simplest helminths transmitted by mosquitoes. After an insect bite, a person is more likely to contract leishmaniasis. Signs of the disease are damage to the skin, mucous membranes and some internal organs, and fever and anemia are often signs of the disease.
- Trypanosomatids are protozoa transmitted by insects. When infected, they cause the disease trypanosomiasis. This disease has a long course. Depending on the type of trypanosomatid, different systems and organs are affected.
- Amoebic dysentery parasitizes the intestines. The invasion occurs in the form of a 4-nuclear cyst. Although the dysentery amoeba is found almost everywhere, the most common cases of infection are recorded in tropical countries. Amoebas are the cause of such contagious protozoal disease in humans as amoebiasis. The clinical picture of the disease is ulcerative colitis, which is characterized by relapses and exacerbations. There are also cases of an extraintestinal form of amebiasis - these protozoan helminths get from the intestine to other organs and even to the skin. The last form of the disease is called amoebiasis of the skin - on the buttocks and in the perineum there are obvious ulcerative-necrotic signs.
- Trichomonads cause trichomoniasis. Several subspecies of Trichomonas have currently been studied. Intestine whose area of parasitism is in the large intestine and the worm does not do much damage to the intestine. The area of parasitism of the urogenital system Trichomonas, as follows from the name - the urogenital system. Infection occurs sexually. This subspecies of protozoa is the cause of a disease like trichomoniasis. This infectious disease is manifested by inflammation in the urogenital system. Oral Trichomonas parasitizes in the oral cavity, does not pose a threat to humans.
The sporophyte species of protozoa is represented by malarial Plasmodium and coccidia:
- The malarial Plasmodium, which is transmitted by mosquitoes and causes malaria, is the simplest microorganism. It parasitizes in the blood. Malaria in a person infected with this parasite is manifested by the following symptoms: hypochromic anemia, flare-ups 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 such a disease as coccidiosis. In humans, this disease occurs with mild intoxication and the manifestations of gastroenteritis or enteritis.
Ciliates: balantidia. This detachment of protozoa living in the large intestine is the cause of such a disease as infusor dysentery (balantidiasis).
Diagnosis and treatment of protozoan helminths
Very often, when the presence of helminths in the body occurs without symptoms, the disease goes undiagnosed for a long time. Invasion can be suspected by specific symptoms and can only be detected with the help of 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 protozoal invasion:
- antiparasitics;
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs;
- medicines for detoxification;
- with the manifestation of secondary bacterial infection narrowly targeted antibiotics.
Specific treatment is prescribed by a doctor based on the type of protozoan helminth and the degree of invasion.