Protozoan helminths (worms) in humans.

Today, diseases caused by numerous types of protozoa and helminths are widespread.The danger of such diseases is explained not only by the 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 of the gastrointestinal tract (constipation, diarrhea, vomiting);
• skin allergic reactions;
• general intoxication of the body;
• muscle and joint pain;
• dehydration.

In order to avoid diagnostic errors and prescribe an inadequate course of treatment that will be ineffective at best and may cause complications at worst, you need to accurately determine the type of helminths and the degree of infection of the body with them.

Ways 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 get them at home, in contact with the 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 infections occur from the bite of infected insects.

Protozoan worms living 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 can even lead to the death of the patient.

Which helminths are called protozoa?

Protozoan helminths can have a stable form (ciliates and flagellates) and a variable body - a clear representative of amoeba.Their sizes are very small and range from 4-5 micrometers to 1-3 millimeters.Often, the cells of these microorganisms have several nuclei.The locomotor organs are pseudopods, cilia and flagella.Depending on the species, the process of reproduction takes place by dividing in half or by complex sexual method.

In order to protect themselves from unfavorable external conditions, as well as to spread further, protozoan helminths can turn into cysts, which are cells covered with a protective membrane.This allows them to switch from a dormant cyst to an active state if they enter a favorable environment.

There are often situations where the host does not even see protozoan helminths parasitizing the body.In other cases, the infection leads to the death of the host.For example, some antelope species in Africa are permanent "hosts" of trypanosomatids.And the bite of the tsetse fly, the carrier of these helminths, can infect a person and cause sleeping sickness, which is known to be life-threatening.

The most studied protozoan helminths

Parasites belonging to the class of flagellates in the human body:

1. Giardia is a parasite that usually 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, which is a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract, that is, the small intestine.Many patients infected with Giardia do not experience any obvious symptoms.
2. Leishmania is a protozoan helminth transmitted by mosquitoes.After an insect bites a person, there is a high probability of contracting leishmaniasis.Symptoms of the disease are damage to the skin, mucous membranes and some internal organs;fever and anemia are often symptoms of the disease.
3. Trypanosomatids are protozoa transmitted by insects.When the body is infected, the disease causes trypanosomiasis.This disease has a long course.Depending on the type of trypanosomatids, different systems and organs are affected.
4. Amoebic dysentery parasitizes the intestines.Invasion occurs in the form of a 4-nucleated cyst.Although dysentery amoeba can be found almost everywhere, most cases of infection are recorded in tropical countries.Amoeba is the cause of an infectious protozoal 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 intestines to other organs and even to the skin.The final form of the disease is called cutaneous amoebiasis - obvious ulcerative-necrotic signs are observed in the buttocks and perineum.
5. Trichomonas causes trichomoniasis.Currently, several subspecies of Trichomonas have been studied.Intestinal and helminths, whose parasitizing area is in the large intestine, do not cause special damage to the intestines.Genitourinary system, as the name implies, is the site of parasitism of genitourinary trichomonas.Infection occurs through sexual contact.This subtype of protozoa is the cause of a disease such as trichomoniasis.This infectious disease is manifested by inflammatory events in the genitourinary system.Oral trichomonas parasitizes the oral cavity and does not pose a threat to humans.

Sporozoan types of protozoa are represented by malaria plasmodium and coccidia:

1. Plasmodium falciparum is a protozoan microorganism that is transmitted by mosquitoes and is the cause of malaria.Parasitic 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.
2. Coccidia are protozoa that live in the epithelial tissue of the intestines of many animals.Several types of coccidia are the causative agents of coccidiosis.In humans, this disease occurs with mild intoxication and symptoms of gastroenteritis or enteritis.

Eyelashes: balantidia.This order of protozoa living in the large intestine is the cause of a disease such as ciliated dysentery (balantidosis).

Diagnosis and treatment of protozoan helminths

Very often, when the presence of helminths in the body occurs without symptoms, the disease remains undiagnosed for a long time.Invasion can be suspected by specific symptoms and can be 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 protozoal invasion:

• antiparasitic drugs;
• non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs;
• detoxification drugs;
• when a secondary bacterial infection occurs, narrow-target antibiotics.

The doctor prescribes a special treatment based on the type of protozoan helminth and the degree of infection.