Helminthiasis is a group of parasitic diseases characterized by a high degree of infection. Worm eggs have strong resistance. They can stay on various surfaces in the environment for a long time while maintaining vitality. Unfortunately, worm eggs are everywhere: on soil, water, dirt, dust, food, and pet hair. However, it is easy to prevent infection, for this you only need to follow some precautions: personal hygiene rules and general hygiene standards. After all, preventing worms is the best way to protect yourself from worms.
Ways of Infection with Helminthiasis
You can get worms in the following ways:
- When eating contaminated meat and fish;
- When eating unwashed vegetables and herbs, fruits and berries;
- Through dirty hands
- Some parasites living in water can penetrate the skin;
- Through infected insects, they are intermediate hosts for larvae;
- Through infected feces;
- By infecting pets with parasites.
Prevention of adult worms
Preventing human worms is not limited to complying with personal hygiene rules, pharmacological preparations can also be used for preventive purposes. Synthetic anthelmintics can only be prescribed by specialists based on the patient’s age, weight and general health. You should not self-administer or take such drugs yourself, because there are many types of parasites, and they live not only in the intestines, but also in other organs. In addition, don’t forget that if the drug is dosed incorrectly or taken uncontrollably, it can cause great harm to the body.
First, if the wrong dose is used, the parasite will not die, but will migrate from the gastrointestinal tract to other organs.
Secondly, anthelmintic drugs are very toxic and can cause severe poisoning in the body and liver damage.
Third, most anthelmintics only act on adults, and their larvae and eggs will not be harmed.
Prevention of worms is a set of measures, not limited to a pill or personal hygiene rules. It's just that in some cases, it is enough to pay attention to personal hygiene, while in other cases, these measures are few and supplemented with medicine. Only a doctor can determine under which conditions the usual preventive measures are sufficient and under which conditions the pill should be supplemented.
Follow personal hygiene rules
However, everyone is familiar with the well-known adage that disease prevention is easier than cure. Before you feel sick, it is best to follow basic personal hygiene rules. In addition, preventive measures are very simple and very effective. Protective measures against parasitic infection:
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after going to the toilet and before eating;
- Change underwear and bedding frequently;
- High-quality heat treatment of meat and fish;
- Refuse to eat raw meat and fish products, and low or medium rare steaks;
- Wash vegetables, herbs, fruits and berries thoroughly under running water;
- Use smoked fish, salted fish or dried fish with extreme caution,
- After contact with pets, you should wash your hands thoroughly and wear protective gloves to clean the cat litter; you also need to disinfect the cat’s tray and cat bowl;
- Ironing underwear and bed linen after washing;
- Do not use water from unknown sources as food, and do not swim in unfamiliar bodies of water;
- Cut your nails short, because even after washing your hands thoroughly, the worm eggs can still stay in the nail holes;
- Deworming pets regularly;
- Wear protective gloves when cleaning the place and working in the garden.
How to protect children from parasites
Young children are potential victims of worms because they cannot perform personal hygiene on their own. In addition, at this age, they begin to understand the world around them and taste everything. Therefore, children are highly likely to be infected with parasites. In this case, the child's parents take preventive measures. However, it is impossible to track babies, they are very active at this age, and they may be infected with helminthiasis at some point.
In order to prevent worms in children, it is necessary to:
- Wash your children's hands frequently so that they can get used to basic personal hygiene since childhood;
- Ironing baby's underwear and bedding;
- Disinfect his toys and wash the plush toys with hot water;
- Do not let pets and children sleep on the same bed;
- Teach your children to wash their hands after every contact with pets;
- High-quality heat treatment of children's food;
- Wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly under running water;
- Keep your child's room clean and tidy;
- Treat the crawling area with disinfectant (if he is under 1 year old).
If an infection occurs suddenly, only a doctor can prescribe a cure for helminthiasis. You should not self-administer medicine because your child's health and life are at risk.
Anthelmintics are strong poisons. It is necessary to treat the child very carefully under the strict supervision of the attending doctor. Only the doctor prescribes the type and dosage of the drug, because each drug has a different age indication.
Only when he is accurately diagnosed as a parasite invasion, is it possible to give the child anti-worm drugs. Otherwise, you should not expose your child to the toxic effects of deworming drugs. Parents should only coordinate all their actions with the attending doctor.
How to take anthelmintics
All worm drugs are divided into:
- Drugs with a narrow range of action;
- Broad-spectrum drugs.
The first drug affects certain types of worms and only destroys them. The second drug affects most types of parasites (round, flat, and tapeworm). In addition, some drugs can affect the worm’s respiratory system, some can cause worm’s muscle paralysis, some can block the absorption of glucose, and some can block the worm’s metabolism. All these actions will cause the parasites to die and remove them from the body.
Experts believe that the prevention of helminthiasis should be carried out twice a year. One time in early spring, the second time in late autumn, before the beginning of the cold period. When a patient has symptoms caused by a parasite infestation, the drug must be used at the same time. Generally, these are:
- stomach ache;
- Nausea and vomiting;
- Anal itching;
- General weakness and discomfort;
- Insomnia;
- lose weight.
Deworming treatment should not exceed 3-5 days. With one dose of worm medicine, not all parasites will die. The remaining parasites can migrate from the intestine to other organs and even have time to lay eggs. After two weeks, the anthelmintic must be repeated to destroy the newly emerged worms.
Insect repellent treatment consists of three stages and lasts about two weeks:
- Prepare to expel parasites from the body in the first week. For these purposes, they maintain a light diet and take drugs that improve bile outflow and gastrointestinal work.
- The second stage involves direct application of anthelmintics. The course of treatment is 5 days.
- The third stage is to remove dead parasites from the body. For this, laxatives and enemas are used. The last stage is very important, because the worm's carcass will begin to decompose, causing serious human poisoning.
Anthelmintics
In the pharmacological market, worm pills are very popular, and the prices are different. To prevent worms, use the following agents:
Levamisole
These drugs help improve the body's defenses by producing the necessary antibodies in the blood. In addition, the drug inhibits the process of glucose oxidation (glycolysis), resulting in the death of the parasite. These drugs are effective against the invasion of various parasites. The side effects observed were nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
Mebendazole-based
It is most effective against ascariasis, ascariasis and trichomoniasis. These drugs disrupt the metabolic processes in the parasites, leading to their death. These funds are highly toxic because they can accumulate in the body. For this reason, you should not use them by yourself without a doctor's prescription, as this can cause serious harm to your body. It is contraindicated during pregnancy and lactation and in the presence of chronic diseases.
Albendazoles
These drugs are effective in destroying worms and protozoa, so they are suitable for mixed parasitic infections. Patients with liver disease should use it with caution. The dosage and frequency of use are selected individually in each specific case, as it depends on the type of parasite and the degree of infection. The use of these drugs for prevention is a fairly reliable protection against various parasites.