The enemy, as he says: “You have to see it by sight. ” You have to understand who we are dealing with. Illiteracy in this matter does not give discounts. Let us arm ourselves with information that can be used in practice for the benefit of our health and that does not leave some parasites the slightest chance of spoiling our precious lives.
Parasites - who are they?
Parasites(from the Greek parasites - parasite, parasite) - lower plant and animal organisms that live outside or inside another organism (host) and feed on it. Parasites live in parallel in our body and feed on our energy, our cells and our food, including the health products we consume
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There are parasites that spend their entire life in the host's body or only in part of it. They receive nourishment and protection without visibly harming their host's body.
Certain parasites irritate the host and impair its functions. others destroy the host's tissues and release specific toxins that cause poor health and the development of various diseases in the host.Various species can parasitize in the human body: fungi, bacteria, viruses, protozoa and worms.
Parasitesgo through a complex development cycle during their life: there are those who have to change several hosts, in which the parasite goes through an intermediate development (the so-called larval stages of developmenthelminth worms). In the body of the last host, the helminth becomes sexually mature and as dangerous as possible.
Parasites are classified as follows:
- mushrooms
- Viruses
- simplest parasites
- Helminths (worms, worms)
- crustacean parasites
- Arachnid parasites
- Insects (mainly blood sucking)
1. Mushrooms.
These aremicroorganismsthat infect the human body and can settle on the surface of the skin as well as on the mucous membrane of internal organs. Diseases caused by pathogenic fungi are calledmycoses. There aremycoses of the skin and nails(dermatomycosis) and mycoses of the internal organs. Animals are also prone to the results of the activity of mushrooms - they can get poisoning of the body due to poisoning with fungal poisons that affect plant fodder (mycotoxicosis). There are different types of mycoses, some people only get sick or only animals, other types of people become infected with animals. Pathogenic fungi cause fungal diseases that are considered to be infectious.
There are several hundredtypes of mushrooms, two of which are particularly dangerous for humans. The first type of fungus -Cryptococcus(Cryptococcus neoformans) - causes meningitis (inflammation of the membranes of the brain and spinal cord). This cryptococcus is typically found in bird droppings and is found on fruit, vegetables, animal milk and soil. The second type of fungus -Candida(Candida albicans) - causes diaper rash, candidiasis of the mucous membranes, balanitis, thrush, mycoses, onyxis (nail damage), sores on the lips, paronychia, athlete's foot (mycosis of the toes), Fungal infections 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.
mushroomsare a separate civilization, it's a parallel world of its own. They can withstand temperatures from -150 to + 150 degrees, they can neither be frozen nor destroyed. There is an opinion in scientific circles that it is the mushrooms that represent the most important earthly civilization, and they use everything around them for their own purposes (and for us humans too). Fungi are white, odorless, cheesy discharge from the nose, mouth, wound, urethra, etc.Fungiis a white coating on the tongue, baldness and dandruff, neurodermatitis, psoriasis. If there are white deposits on the tonsils, it is fungal infection. Mushrooms don't hurt, they itch. Fungi are anything that peels, flakes, falls off, cracks, rises above the skin, changes color, and covers the scalp. There is no acute stage of fungal disease, there is only a chronic one.
2. Viruses.
Virusesare non-cellular organisms. They are microparticles made up of nucleic acids - carriers of genetic information (RNA and / or DNA) that are covered on the outside with a protein membrane. Viruses can infect any living organism.Virus, translated from Latin (virus), is poison. Viruses cannot be assigned to animals or plants. They are very small and can only be examined 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 and are in the form of crystals. By colonizing 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-Amoebas, lamblia, Toxoplasma, Cryptosporidiumas well as malaria plasmodia, leishmania, trypanosomes. The parasitic protozoa are known to cause the most dangerous diseases of animals and humans, especially in the tropics (malaria, dysentery). Plasmodium malaria infects human red blood cells and, at the stage of mass reproduction, leads to fatal fever attacks that are associated with death. Flagellate trypanosomes and leishmanias are primarily tropical species that cause ulcers, malaise, and in some cases death by feeding on animal tissue. The rhizome Entamoeba histolytica, which lives in the intestine, is the causative agent of chronic dysentery in the amoeba, which can invade other tissues and kill the host. The flagella intestinal parasite Giardia lamblia causes severe diarrhea (giardiasis). This species occurs in rivers and lakes polluted by human excrement in subtropical and tropical regions. Some parasites, such as the pneumonia-causing species Pneumocystis carinii, may be closer to fungi than other protozoa.
4. Helminths (worms, worms)
More than 70 types of worms have been registered, of which the following types of worms are more common:
- Roundworms (nematodes)- roundworms, pinworms, whipworms, trichinae, toxocara;
- Tapeworms (cestodes)- tapeworms and beef tapeworms, dwarf tapeworms, echinococcus, alveococcus, broad tapeworm;
- Flatworms (leeches)- Opisthorchiasis (cat leeches), liver fluke, Chinese chance, lung flow.
Some of these parasitic helminths are ubiquitous, while others are more common in certain areas. For example:
- Pinworms and roundwormscan be found all over the world.
- whipworm- to be found everywhere, mainly in hot and humid regions of tropical, subtropical and temperate climates.
- Trichinella- in Belarus, Ukraine.
- Pork tapeworm- recorded everywhere, more often in Belarus and Ukraine.
- Bull tapeworm- can be found everywhere. Especially in Transcaucasia and Central Asia.
- dwarf tapeworm- occurs everywhere, especially in areas with a dry and hot climate.
- broad tapeworm- usually chooses habitats in areas with a large number of freshwater bodies. Always present in the Baltic States, Kazakhstan.
- Opisthorchiasis(cat accident) - the most intense herds are registered in Kazakhstan.
- Liver fluke- omnipresent. The outbreaks are registered in Transcaucasia, Central Asia and the Baltic States.
- 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" around 35 species. Depending on the location of the parasites in the human body, these diseases are classified as tissues and lumens.
tissue parasites.
If parasites and their larvae are in the tissue of the human body and move freely through the circulatory or lymphatic system in the subcutaneous tissue, one speaks of a tissue disease (schistosomiasis, echinococcosis).
Translucent parasites.
If parasites are localized in the intestines or in other internal cavities of the human body, then such a disease is called luminal (tapeworms, roundworms).
Parasites also differ in their specific location (habitat) on a person as a host.
External parasites.
This species parasitizes directly on the skin of the human body from the outside. It does not live in the host, but only uses it during feeding (mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, lice, horseflies, hornets, leeches). . . .
Internal parasites (helminths, worms, bacteria, fungi).
This type of parasite has the following classification:
- Flatworms (trematodes)are bilaterally symmetrical free-living or parasitic organisms in their structure. The length of the trematodes ranges from 0. 1 mm to several meters, the body structure is usually flattened, oval or more or less elongated; in parasitic forms it is equipped with organs of attachment to the "host" in the form of suction cups, proboscis, hooks, etc. Representatives of flatworms are turbellarians or ciliary worms; Opisthorchiasis (feline fluke), planaria, liver fluke, clonorchus, fasciola, schistosome, lung fluke.
- Roundworms (nematodes), free living parasites of this class, live in bodies of salt and fresh water, in the soil. In most cases, their sizes are small, even microscopic, but among the parasitic individuals there are also quite large ones, reaching a length of more than seven meters (cetacean helminth). The most common representatives of roundworms of human parasites are roundworms, pinworms, whipworms, filariae, strongyloids, hookworms, trichinae, toxocara and rishta.
- tapeworms (cestodes, tapeworms), This category of helminths is characterized by a characteristic long ribbon-like body (from several fractions of a millimeter to several tens of meters). Cestodes - worms with an elongated body, similar to a band, consisting of a head, neck and individual segments, are characterized by enormous fertility (some species can produce up to 600 million eggs per year) - pork and beef tapeworms, dwarf tapeworms - the cyclophyllidDetachment; Echinococci, alveococci, broad tapeworm, sheep brain.
- bacteriosis. Bacteriosis is an infectious disease caused by different types of bacteria and parasites.
Bacteriosis is a widespread diagnosis worldwide. Some bacteria are caused by bacteria of one type and some are caused by bacteria of different types. Representatives of this class of parasites are - Leptospira, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Shigella. - Mycoses- diseases caused by parasitic fungi. More than 350 species of pathogenic fungi that parasitize humans, domestic and wild animals, birds, insects, amphibians, fish and plants have been identified. The best-known pathogens of mycoses are candida, cryptococci and penicillia.
- Protozoan or protozoal parasitesare unicellular organisms with a heterotrophic type of diet, ie they cannot produce organic substances from organic substances that are necessary for their vital activity. The consequence of this is their need for organic substances that are produced by other organisms (amoebas, lamblia, coccidia, Trichomonas).
Sad facts about worms and other parasites:
- Chronic, including oncological diseasesis caused in 80% of cases by the influence of parasites (worms, fungi, protozoa).
- The pathogen causing opisthorchiasisbelongs to the first group of cancer-causing carcinogens according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
- The number one biological enemy for humans is Trichomonas.Trichomonas form colonies on the walls of blood vessels and lead to the development of atherosclerosis with all its consequences.
- 1989 - It was discovered that the property of Trichomonas turns ordinary cells into malignant ones.
- Parasitic diseases in the worldaffect more than 4. 5 billion people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 9 out of 10 cases are worms.Every third inhabitant in Europe is affected by parasites (including worms)!
The frequency of parasitoses in frequency is comparable to the frequency of influenza.
So there are different ways in which parasites can get into the human body:
- Food - poor personal hygiene(from contaminated food, water, dirty hands);
- Contact household - creating external conditions for the active development of parasites(through household items, from infected family members, pets);
- Transferable - no precautions(about blood-sucking insects);
- Percutaneous or active - non-compliance with safety measures(in which the larva of the parasite penetrates the skin or the mucous membranes of the human body when in contact with contaminated soil while swimming in open water).