Cough and worms are phenomena that do not seem to go well together.However, the cause of a dry cough is often helminths that have settled and multiplied in the human body.
Not all helminths are capable of this, but only those that can be located in the respiratory system.
What worms cause coughing?These are the parasites that initially lived in the intestines, but as a result of rapid reproduction or in search of better conditions for life, they ended up in the liver and from there, through the general flow of blood, they reached the bronchopulmonary tissue.
Types of helminths
Roundworms, roundworms, live and reproduce in the intestines.Infection with them occurs through eggs that enter the body with food or from the hands and objects used by an infected person.Soil, fruits, vegetables, poorly cooked meat and fish - all this can introduce helminth eggs into the human body.
To avoid infection you should:
- avoid contact with infected animals;
- do not use the things of people with helminthic infections;
- keep your hands clean, especially after returning from the street and before eating;
- wash food eaten raw (fruits and vegetables) well;
- properly prepare fish and meat dishes.
Worth knowing!Roundworms provoke a dry cough.Migrating through the circulatory system, their larvae enter the respiratory organs - bronchi, trachea, lungs - irritating the receptors and causing this symptom.The larval migration period throughout the body is one to two weeks.
Giardia are very small single-celled microorganisms that live in stagnant water.The disease caused by them is called giardiasis.Infection with parasites occurs mainly in the following ways.
- From an infected person or animal to a healthy one.
- When they eat poorly washed food.
- When drinking raw milk or unboiled water.
After settling in a person's small intestine, Giardia within 10 days becomes capable of infecting other people.After some time, giardiasis becomes chronic.The cause of giardiasis cough is allergic reactions that occur when the body is intoxicated by the remains of parasites.For a person infected with Giardia, the issue often ends in bronchial asthma.
One of the main risks of giardiasis is the absence in the initial stage of pronounced symptoms that would allow an accurate diagnosis of the disease.The release of worms from the body is episodic, so it is not always possible to detect Giardia cysts in the stool.You need to take samples for analysis several times before you can diagnose the disease with certainty.
In addition to roundworms and lamblia, the symptom can also be provoked by toxokara, which is also called dog worm due to its spread in dogs.After reaching the bronchi, the larvae cause allergic reactions.
Types of helminths affecting children
If a child develops a cough and a cold is excluded, there are serious reasons to assume that he may be infected with helminths.Since it can be a reaction to different types of worms, only laboratory tests can determine which particular helminth is responsible for it.
Watch out!More often, helminthic cough is observed in young children.
It is not surprising that parents often confuse it with a cold symptom and begin to treat it with generally accepted medications, which, due to the specificity of their action, actually eliminate the problem.But at the same time, the reason that caused it, namely helminthic infection, remains unclear.Worms continue to multiply in the child's body and the disease progresses.
Giardiasis and ascariasis
Which parasites cause symptoms in a child?Only those that are able to migrate throughout the body and reach the respiratory tract.These parasites include roundworms and lamblia.Their sexually mature individuals live in the intestines, but the parasite larvae have the ability to penetrate together with the blood into the respiratory system, irritating the receptors and causing allergic reactions.
In this case, part of the larvae is thrown out, the other is swallowed and enters the intestine again, where the next life cycle of the parasites begins.Some of the larvae remain in the respiratory system, disrupting its functioning.
Toxocariasis and pulmonary stroke
The most dangerous for the respiratory system are flatworms, especially crickets and roundworms.Getting to the lungs, they cause paragonimiasis and toxocariasis - serious diseases accompanied by the destruction of lung tissue and a progressive inflammatory process.
The penetration of flatworms into the child's lungs causes a cough.If not treated, the inflammatory process progresses and enters a phase associated with the formation of mucus.Coughed up sputum may contain blood.This alarming manifestation should force parents to urgently consult an infectious disease doctor.
Important!When infected with a pulp, sputum with pus and blood is inevitable.
Types of worms that infect adults
Not all patients believe that helminths and cough can be part of the same process, but in fact it is so.A cough caused by worms is usually dry and can easily be mistaken for a cold.In this case, the absence of other ARVI symptoms that usually accompany a cold should be alarming.
What explains this condition?There are two reasons for this:
- Mechanical effects of helminth larvae on lung tissue.
- Allergies with which the infected body responds to the presence of waste products of worms and the decomposition of dead individuals.
There are not so many worms and other parasites that affect the respiratory tract.These are:
- roundworms;
- Giardia;
- accident;
- Echinococcus tape.
Ascariasis
Roundworms are very widespread, so coughing against the background of ascariasis is a typical phenomenon.Infection with roundworms occurs through the traditional routes for helminthiasis.These include contact with soil, eating unwashed fruits and vegetables, and dirty hands.
Ascaris larvae cause the problem by mechanically affecting the tissues of the respiratory system.This occurs during the migration phase of the parasite.The mechanism and sequence of the impact of roundworms on the human respiratory system is as follows.
After entering the gastrointestinal tract, roundworm eggs, under the influence of enzymes and their digestive juice, shed their shell, turning into larvae.The latter are equipped with the ability to penetrate through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream.After which they are carried by the blood throughout the body - reaching the liver, heart, lungs and respiratory tract.
In the mucous membrane of the trachea there are cilia, which transport the larva upwards with their reflex movements.In this case, the receptors are irritated and a cough appears, throwing helminths into the mouth, from where they are either spit out or swallowed, returning to the intestine.
For your information!Cough with ascariasis is usually a short-term phenomenon.But if the infection is of a recurring nature, it can become almost permanent.
Giardiasis
Despite the fact that Giardia is a microscopic creature, it causes very serious damage to the body.The natural habitat of Giardia is standing water.They enter the human body by consuming dirty or poorly processed food, or by drinking unboiled milk or water.Transmission from infected humans and animals is possible.
The main site of Giardia is the intestine.The parasites need only 10 days from the moment of infection for the larvae to start hatching.Penetrating through the walls of the intestines, they enter the blood and with it reach the organs of the respiratory system, disrupting their functioning and causing a cough.
Pulmonary beat
The fluke lives in the lungs in pairs, forming cysts in the bronchi.Infection occurs when crabs and lobsters infected with the parasite are eaten.As soon as it enters the gastrointestinal tract, the pulmonary flux penetrates the peritoneum and reaches the lungs through the diaphragm, causing a persistent cough in the patient.
The small lungworm of the helminth, belonging to the class of trematodes, "specializes" in parasitizing specifically in the lungs.It causes much more serious problems in the respiratory system than roundworms, for example.
In the place of its localization, infiltrates appear and hemorrhages develop, as a result of which cavities filled with rotten metabolites of worms, dead parasites and lung tissue appear.The damage of the lungworm is further aggravated by the fact that it is a long-lived liver and can live in the host's body for up to 20 years.
To cope with this dangerous parasite, treatment is necessary under the strict supervision of a doctor.Only he can choose an effective medicine, which must be different for each case.
However, the championship in "harmfulness" does not belong to the pulmonary strike, but to the larvae of alveococcus and echinococcus.These are small tapeworms (up to 7 mm long), which are carried by wolves, coyotes, dogs, jackals, foxes, feral and domestic cats without much harm to themselves.
Helminths of the trematode class (digenetic fluxes) and trichinella roundworms cause an allergic cough, which can be particularly severe in children.
Runny nose due to helminthiasis and other parasitosis
Runny nose is caused by the presence of helminths much less often.This manifestation is not at all typical for helminthiasis.However, in some cases, parasites can cause a runny nose and nasal congestion.
Sometimes worms, in rare cases, with the so-called perverted localization (random, non-characteristic), enter the nasal passages and cause lightning and nasal congestion.
If we talk about nonhelminthic parasitic diseases, then as an example of an infection that causes a runny nose and copious discharge of mucus from the nose, we can mention nasal myiasis, which is the larvae of flies and flies that have settled in the nasal cavity.
Watch out!A runny nose, sometimes caused by Giardia, is the result of the body's reaction in the form of an allergic reaction to Giardia residues.
As for roundworms, they cause neither a runny nose nor nasal congestion.
CONCLUSION
If a cough appears due to helminthiasis, treatment should include antiparasitic therapy aimed at destroying worms.Taking cold pills in such cases means directing the treatment not against the disease itself, but against its symptoms.