Parasites in the human body

5 October 2020

The enemy, as they say, "you must know by eye". You need to understand who we are dealing with. Illiteracy in this matter will not give any discount. Let us be armed with information that can be used in practice, for the sake of our health, which will not leave the slightest possibility for some parasites to ruin our precious life.

Parasites - who are they?

Parasites(from the Greek parasitos - parasite, parasite) - organisms of lower plants and animals that live outside or inside another organism (host) and feed on it. Parasites live inside our bodies their parallel lives, 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 lives in the host body or only a part of it; they receive food and shelter from it, without causing any noticeable damage to their host's body.

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

Parasitesgo through a complex developmental cycle during their lifetime: there are those who have to change several hosts, within which the parasite undergoes an intermediate development (the so-called larval stage of developmenthelminth worm). In the body of the last host, the helminth becomes sexually mature and becomes as dangerous as possible.

Parasites are classified as follows:

mushroom
viruset
the simplest parasites
helminte (worm, worm)
crustacean parasites
arachnid parasites
insects (mainly blood-sucking)

1. Mushrooms.

These aremicroorganismsthat infect the human body, they can be placed on the surface of the skin as well as in the mucosa of internal organs. Diseases caused by pathogenic fungi are calledmycoses. There aremycoses of the skin and nails(dermatomycosis), as well as mycoses of internal organs. Animals are also sensitive to the effects of fungal activity - they can get intoxicated by the body, due to poisoning by fungal toxins that affect plant nutrition (mycotoxicosis). There are different types of mycoses, some people get sick only or only animals, other types of people get infected by animals. Disease-causing fungi cause fungal diseases that are considered infectious diseases.
There are several hundredspecies 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 is spread in bird feces and is found in fruits, vegetables, animal milk and soil. The second type of fungus -candida(candida albicans) - causes diaper rash, mucosal candidiasis, balanitis, thrush, mycosis, onyx (nail damage), lip sores, paronychia, athlete's foot (fungal infections of the fingers), fungal diseases of the genital organs.Mushrooms love sweets, they feed mainly on sugar and starch, but like any living organism they need amino acids, vitamins and minerals.
Mushroomsis a separate civilization, it is its own parallel world. They can withstand temperatures from -150 to +150 degrees, they can not rise or fall. In scientific circles, there is an opinion that mushrooms are what are the main terrestrial civilization and they use everything around them for their own purposes (and we, humans, too). Fungi are white, odorless discharges, with cheese from the nose, mouth, sores, urethra, etc.Fungusis a white coating on the tongue, baldness and dandruff, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis. If white deposits on the tonsils, then it is a fungal sore throat. Mushrooms do not hurt, itch. Mushrooms are everything that peels, exfoliates, falls off, cracks, rises above the skin, becomes stained, covers the scalp. There is no acute stage of fungal diseases, there is only one chronic one.

2. Viruses.

Virusesare non-cellular organisms, they are micro-particles composed of nucleic acids - carriers of genetic information (RNA and / or DNA), externally covered 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 shape 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, polio, smallpox.

3. The simplest parasites.

Parasitic protozoa-amoeba, lamblia, toxoplasma, cryptosporidium, as well as malaria plasmodia, leishmania, trypanosomes. Among parasitic protozoa, the causative agents of the most dangerous diseases of animals and humans are known, especially in tropical countries (Malaria, Dysentery). Plasmodium malaria infects human red blood cells, leading to the stage of mass reproduction in attacks of strong, death-filled fevers. Trypanosomes with flagella and Leishmanias are mainly tropical species that, when fed on animal tissues, cause ulcers, malignancy and in some cases death. Living in the gut, the rhizome Entamoeba histolytica is the causative agent of chronic amoebic dysentery, which can penetrate other tissues and kill the host. Inflammatory bowel 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 species that cause Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, are probably closer to fungi than other protozoa.

4. Helminths (worms, worms)

More than 70 species of worms have been recorded, of which the following types of helminths are the most common:

roundworms (nematodes)- roundworms, pinworms, worms, trichinella, toxocara;

strips (cestodes)- strips of pork and beef, dwarf strip, echinococcus, alveococcus, wide strip;

flatworms (trematodes)- opisthorchiasis (cat lightning), liver dirt, Chinese, lungs.

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

worm worms and roundwormsare found all over the globe;

worm - found everywhere, mainly in hot and humid regions of tropical, subtropical and temperate climates.

Trichinella- in Belarus, Ukraine.

pork ribbon- recorded everywhere, most commonly found in Belarus and Ukraine.

bull tape- found everywhere. Especially in Transcaucasia and Central Asia.

dwarf tape- found everywhere, especially in areas with dry and hot climates.

broadband- usually selects habitats in areas with large numbers of freshwater bodies. Constantly present in the Baltic, Kazakhstan.

opisthorchiasis(cat) - the most intense outbreaks are recorded in Kazakhstan.

liver fat- ubiquitous. Distributions have been recorded in Transcaucasia, Central Asia and the Baltic.

echinococcosis, alveococcosis- in Moldova, in southern Ukraine, in the Caucasus.

There are more than one and a half hundred species 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 the parasites and their larvae are in the tissues of the human body, in the subcutaneous tissue, moving freely through the circulatory or lymphatic system, such a disease is called tissue disease (schistosomiasis, echinococcosis).

Translucent parasites.

If the parasites are located in the intestines or other internal cavities of the human body, then such a disease is called luminal (tapeworms, roundworms).

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

External parasites.

This species parasitizes on the skin of the human body directly from the outside, they do not live inside the host, but use it only during their food (mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, lice, horses, ribs, caterpillars). . .

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

This type of parasite has the following classification:

Flatworms (trematodes), in their structure, bilateral free living organisms or bilateral parasites. The length of the trematodes varies from 0. 1 mm to several meters, the body structure is mostly flat, oval or more or less elongated; in parasitic forms it is equipped with organs of connection with the "host" in the form of suckers, proboscis, hooks, & c. Representatives of flatworms are turbellaria, or ciliary worms; opisthorchiasis (beating of cats), planaria, hepatic current, clonorchus, fasciola, schistosoma, pulmonary current.

Roundworms (nematodes), free-living parasites of this class live in salt and freshwater, soil. In most cases, their sizes are small, even microscopic, but among parasitic individuals there are also quite large, reaching a length of more than seven meters (helminth cetacean). The most common representatives of roundworms of human parasites are roundworms, tapeworms, worms, filaria, strongyloids, shipworms, trichinella, toxocara, rhizomes.

Strips (cestodes, tapeworms),This class of helminths is distinguished by a characteristic body similar to long stripes (from several fractions of a millimeter to tens of meters). Cestodes - tapeworms with an elongated body, similar to a ribbon, consisting of a head, a neck and individual segments, distinguished by high fertility (some species are capable of producing up to 600 million eggs per year) - ribbonspork and beef, dwarf tape - detachment of cyclopilide; echinococcus, alveococcus, broadband, sheep brain.

Bacteriosis. Bacteriosis is an infectious disease caused by different types of bacteria and parasites. Bacteriosis is a very common diagnosis all over the world. Some bacterioses are caused by bacteria of one type, others are caused by bacteria of several species. Representatives of this class of parasites are - leptospira, staphylococcus, streptococcus, shigella.

Mycoses- diseases caused by parasitic fungi. More than 350 species of pathogenic fungi have been identified; They parasitize humans, pets and wildlife, birds, insects, amphibians, fish and plants. The most famous pathogens of mycoses are candida, cryptococci, penicilli.

Protozoan or protozoan parasitesare unicellular organisms that have a heterotrophic type of food, that is, they are unable 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 (amoebae, lamblias, coccidia, trichomonas).

Sad facts about worms and other parasites:

Chronic, incl. oncological diseasesin 80% of cases caused by the influence of parasites (worms, fungi, protozoa).

The causative agent of opisthorchiasisbelongs to the first group of carcinogens (cancer-causing) - according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

The number one biological enemy for humans is Trichomonas.Forming colonies in the walls of blood vessels, Trichomonas leads to the development of atherosclerosis with all its consequences.
1989 - Trichomonas property is discovered to turn ordinary cells into malignant ones.
Parasitic diseases in the worldaffect more than 4. 5 billion people, 9 out of 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 frequency parasitosis is comparable to the incidence of influenza.

So there are several ways for parasites to enter the human body:

Food - lack of personal hygiene(through contaminated food, water, dirty hands);

Contact with the family - creating external conditions for the active development of parasites(through household items, from infected family members, pets);

Transmissible - no precautions(through blood-sucking insects);

Percutaneous, or active - non-observance of safety precautions(in which the parasite larva penetrates the skin or mucosa in the human body during contact with contaminated soil when swimming in open water).