Today, diseases caused by numerous types of protozoa and helminths are widespread.The danger of such disorders is explained not only by the complications and malfunctions in the body that protozoa and worms bring to humans, but also by the difficulty of diagnosing the disease due to the similarity of symptoms with various non-parasitic disorders.
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.
To avoid diagnostic errors and prescribe an inadequate course of treatment, which, at best, will be simply 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 by protozoan helminths
All worms enter the body from the outside.The same goes for protozoan helminths.In the environment they live in soil and water bodies.In addition to not washing your hands and eating low-quality foods, it is possible to contract the infection at home through contact with a carrier.
The main mechanism of any infection is often oral-fecal, that is, a person simply swallows worm eggs along with food, water, and less often, some helminth infestations occur due to bites of infected insects.
Protozoan worms that live in humans belong to the class of unicellular organisms.The infection is called protozoosis.Depending on the type and degree of invasion, the course of the disease can be serious and even cause the patient's death.
Which helminths are called protozoa?
Protozoan helminths can have a body of constant shape (ciliates and flagellates) and variable - a clear representative of the amoeba.Their dimensions 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 locomotion are pseudopodia, cilia and flagella.The reproduction process, depending on the species, occurs by halving or by a complex sexual method.
To protect themselves from unfavorable external conditions, as well as for further spread, protozoan helminths can transform into cysts, which are cells covered with a protective membrane.This allows them to transform from an immobile cyst into an active state if they enter a favorable environment.
There are often situations when the host's body does not even notice the protozoan helminths parasitizing it.In other cases the infestation leads to the death of the host.For example, some species of African antelope are permanent "hosts" of trypanosomatids.And the bite of a person by a 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 flagellate class:
- Giardia is a parasite that usually lives in the intestine, 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 such a disease as giardiasis, a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract, that is, the small intestine.Many patients infected with Giardia have no 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 the disease.
- 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, various systems and organs are affected.
- Amoeba dysentery parasitizes the intestine.The invasion occurs in the form of a 4-core cyst.Although dysentery amoeba is present almost everywhere, the most common cases of infection are recorded in tropical countries.Amoeba is the cause of an infectious protozoan disease in humans such as amoebiasis.The clinical picture of the disease is ulcerative colitis, characterized by relapses and exacerbations.There are also cases of extraintestinal amoebiasis: these protozoan helminths pass from the intestine to other organs and even the skin.The most recent form of the disease is called cutaneous amebiasis: evident ulcerative-necrotic signs are observed on the buttocks and perineum.
- Trichomonas cause trichomoniasis.Currently, several subspecies of Trichomonas have been studied.Intestinal, the parasitic area of which is located in the large intestine and helminth, does not cause particular damage to the intestine.The area of genitourinary Trichomonas parasitism, as the name suggests, is the genitourinary system.Infection occurs through sexual contact.This subspecies of protozoa is the cause of a disease such as trichomoniasis.This infectious disease manifests itself with inflammatory phenomena in the genitourinary system.Oral Trichomonas parasitizes the oral cavity and does not pose a danger to humans.
The sporozoan species of protozoa is represented by the malarial plasmodium and coccidia:
- Plasmodium falciparum, transmitted by mosquitoes and the cause of malaria, is a protozoan microorganism.Parasite in the blood.Malaria in a person infected with this parasite manifests itself with 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 intestine of many animals.Numerous species of coccidia are the causative agents of the disease coccidiosis.In humans, this disease manifests itself with mild intoxication and symptoms of gastroenteritis or enteritis.
Ciliates: balantids.This order of protozoa living in the large intestine is the cause of such a disease as ciliate 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 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;
- detox drugs;
- when a secondary bacterial infection occurs, targeted antibiotics.
The doctor prescribes a specific treatment based on the type of protozoan helminths and the degree of infestation.