Parasites in the human body

5 October 2020

The enemy, as they say, "you must know by sight". You have to understand who we are dealing with. Illiteracy in this matter will not give discounts. Let's arm ourselves with information that can be used in practice, for the benefit of our health, which will not leave the slightest chance for some parasites to ruin our precious life.

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 life in our bodies, feeding on our energy, our cells and our food, including the health products, Parasites in the human body we consume.

There are parasites that spend their entire life in the host's body or only a part of it; they receive food and shelter from it, without causing any visible harm to their host's body.

Some parasites irritate the host and affect its functions; others destroy the host's tissues and release specific toxins that cause ill health and the development of various diseases in the host.In the human bodyvarious species can parasitize: fungi, bacteria, viruses, protozoa and worms.

Parasitesduring their life go through a complex development cycle: there are those who need to change several hosts, within which the parasite undergoes an intermediate development (the so-called stage oflarval developmenthelminths). In the body of the last host, the helminth becomes sexually mature and becomes as dangerous as possible.

Parasites are classified as follows:

mushrooms
virus
parasitic protozoa
helminths (worms, worms)
crustacean parasites
parasites of arachnids
insects (mainly blood-sucking)

1. Mushrooms.

These aremicroorganismsthat infect the human body, can settle both on the surface of the skin and on the mucosa of internal organs. Diseases caused by pathogenic fungi are calledmycosis. 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 be intoxicated by the body, due to poisoning with toxins of fungi that affect the nutrition of plants (mycotoxicosis). There are different types of mycosis, some people get sick only or only animals, other types of people get infected by animals. Disease-causing fungi cause fungal diseases which are considered infectious diseases.
There are several hundredtypes 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). Typically, this cryptococcus spreads in bird feces 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, mycosis, onyx (damage to the nails), sores on the lips, paronychia, foot d 'athlete (mycosis of the toes), fungal diseases of the genitals.Mushrooms love sweets, they feed mainly on sugar and starch, but, like any living organism, they need amino acids, vitamins and minerals.
Fungiis a separate civilization, it is its parallel world. They can withstand temperatures from -150 to + 150 degrees, they can neither be frozen nor destroyed. In scientific circles, there is an opinion that mushrooms are the main earthly civilization, and they use everything around them for their own purposes (and so do we, the people). Fungi are white, odorless, cheesy secretions from the nose, mouth, wound, urethra, etc.Fungiis a white coating on the tongue, baldness and dandruff, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis. If white deposits on the tonsils, then this is a fungal sore throat. Mushrooms do not hurt, itch. Fungi are everything that peels off, exfoliates, falls off, breaks, rises above the skin, stains, covers the scalp. There is no acute stage of fungal diseases, there is only a chronic one.

2. Virus.

Virusesare non-cellular living beings, they are microparticles made up of nucleic acids - carriers of genetic information (RNA and / or DNA), covered on the outside by a protein membrane. Viruses are capable of infecting any living organism.Virus, translated from Latin (virus) is 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 only live and develop in the cells of other organisms. Viruses cannot live outside the cells of living organisms and many of them in the external environment behave like chemicals, presenting the form of crystals. By settling inside the cells of animals and plants, viruses cause many dangerous diseases. Human viral diseases include:herpes, measles, influenza, HIV, hepatitis, poliomyelitis, smallpox.

3. The simplest parasites.

Parasitic protozoa-amoeba, lamblia, toxoplasma, cryptosporidium, as well as malarial plasmodia, leishmania, trypanosomes. Among the parasitic protozoa are known causative agents of the most dangerous diseases of animals and humans, especially in the tropics (Malaria, Dysentery). Plasmodium malaria infects human red blood cells, leading to the stage of mass reproduction in severe fever attacks, fraught with death. Flagellated trypanosomes and Leishmania are mainly tropical species which, feeding on animal tissues, cause ulcers, malaise and in some cases death. Living in the intestine, the Entamoeba histolytica rhizome is the causative agent of chronic amoebic dysentery, which can penetrate other tissues and kill the host. The flagellated intestinal parasite Giardia lamblia causes severe diarrhea (giardiasis). This species is found in rivers and lakes polluted by human excrement in subtropical and tropical regions. Some parasites, such as the pneumonia-causing species Pneumocystis carinii, are perhaps closer to fungi than other protozoa.

4. Helminths (worms, worms)

More than 70 types of worms are registered, of which the following types of helminths are most common:

nematodes (nematodes)- nematodes, pinworms, whipworms, trichinella, toxocara;
tapeworms (cestodes)- swine and bovine tapeworms, dwarf tapeworms, echinococcus, alveococcus, broad tapeworms;
flatworms (flukes)- opisthorchiasis (feline flukes), liver flukes, Chinese flukes, lung flukes.

Some of these parasitic helminths are omnipresent, while others are more common in certain areas. For example:

pinworms and nematodesare found all over the world;
whipworm- is found everywhere, mainly in warm and humid regions of tropical, subtropical and temperate climates.
Trichinella- in Belarus, Ukraine.
pork tapeworm- registered everywhere, most often found in Belarus and Ukraine.
tapeworm bull- found everywhere. Especially in Transcaucasia and Central Asia.
dwarf tapeworm- is found everywhere, especially in areas with dry and hot climates.
tapeworm- usually chooses habitat in areas with a large number of freshwater bodies. Constantly present in the Baltic countries, Kazakhstan.
opisthorchiasis(cat flu) - the most intense outbreaks are recorded in Kazakhstan.
liver fluke- omnipresent. Outbreaks occurred in Transcaucasia, Central Asia and the Baltic countries.
echinococcosis, alveococcosis- in Moldova, in southern Ukraine, in the Caucasus.

There are more than a hundred varieties of these parasites, but the most common are "only" about 35 species. Depending on the location of the parasites 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, they move freely through the circulatory or lymphatic system, such a disease is called tissue disease (schistosomiasis, echinococcosis).

Translucent parasites.

If parasites are localized in the intestine or other internal cavities of the human body, such a disease is called luminal (tapeworms, nematodes).

Parasites are also distinguished by their specific location (habitat) on a person, as a host.

External parasites.

This parasitic species on the skin of the human body directly outside, does not live inside the host, but uses it only during feeding (mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, lice, gadflies, hornets, leeches). . .

Internal parasites (helminths, worms, bacteria, fungi).

This type of parasite has the following classification:

Flatworms (flukes), in their structure, free-living organisms or parasites with bilateral symmetry. The length of the flukes varies from 0. 1 mm to several meters, the body structure is mostly flattened, oval or more or less elongated; in the parasitic forms it has organs of attachment to the "host" in the form of suckers, proboscis, hooks, etc. Representatives of flatworms are turbellaria or ciliary worms; opisthorchiasis (cat fluke), planaria, hepatic fluke, clonorchus, fasciola, schistosoma, pulmonary fluke.
Nematodes (nematodes), parasites of this class that live freely in salt and fresh water bodies, soil. In most cases their size is small, even microscopic, but among parasitic individuals there are also quite large ones, reaching a length of more than seven meters (cetacean helminths). The most common representatives of the nematodes of human parasites are roundworms, pinworms, whipworms, filaria, strongyloids, hookworms, trichinella, toxocara, rishta.
Tapeworms (tapeworms, tapeworms),This class of helminths is distinguished by a characteristic long ribbon body (from a few fractions of a millimeter to tens of meters). Tapeworms - worms with an elongated, ribbon-like body, consisting of a head, neck and individual segments, are distinguished by enormous fertility (some species are capable of producing up to 600 million eggs per year)- pork and bovine tapeworms, dwarf tapeworms - the ciclophyllid detachment; echinococci, alveococci, broad tapeworms, sheep's brain.
Bacteria. Bacteriosis is an infectious disease caused by various types of bacteria and parasites.
Bacteriosis is a fairly common diagnosis throughout the world. Some bacterioses are caused by bacteria of one type, others are caused by bacteria of different types. Representatives of this class of parasites are: leptospira, staphylococcus, streptococcus, shigella.
Mycosis- diseases caused by parasitic fungi. More than 350 species of pathogenic fungi have been identified that parasitize humans, domestic and wild animals, birds, insects, amphibians, fish and plants. The most famous pathogens of mycoses are candida, cryptococci, penicilli.
Protozoa or parasitic protozoaare unicellular organisms that have a heterotrophic diet, that is, they are not able to produce organic substances necessary for their vital activity from inorganic ones. The consequence of this is their need for organic substances produced by other organisms (amoeba, lamblia, coccidia, Trichomonas).

Sad facts about worms and other parasites:

Chronic, incl. oncological diseasesin 80% of cases are caused by the influence of parasites (worms, fungi, protozoa).
The causative agent of opisthorchiasisbelongs to the first group of carcinogens (which cause 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 its consequences.
1989 - Trichomonas' property of transforming normal cells into malignant cells is discovered.
Parasitic diseases worldwideaffect more than 4. 5 billion people, 9 in 10 cases are worms, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).Every third inhabitant of 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 in which parasites enter the human body:

Food - lack of personal hygiene(due to contaminated food, water, dirty hands);
Domestic contact - creation of external conditions for the active development of parasites(through household items, from infected family members, pets);
Transmissible - no precautions(via blood-sucking insects);
Percutaneous, or active - non-compliance with safety measures(in which the parasite larva penetrates the skin or mucous membranes in the human body during contact with contaminated soil, when swimming infree).