Does all of the above mean that, like Michael Jackson already mentioned at the beginning of the book, you must build barricades between yourself and parasites every day? No, there is no need to fall into paranoia (for example, fear of germs is not a reason to refuse a sandwich at a friend’s house, if you are sure of her cleanliness and pickiness in products). It is much more important to realize that the reaction of your body to infection with parasites is almost never instantaneous. Most often, an infected person does not suspect about the danger that threatens him for a long time and still considers himself healthy-despite the fact that he is tormented by chronic fatigue, constant colds and allergic reactions. Plus, there is also the rhythm of modern urban life, when there is simply no time to think about the causes of your ailment, especially for an “unscheduled” trip to the polyclinic. Moreover, the primary symptoms of infection with parasites often turn out to be identical to the symptoms of other common diseases – diseases that are traditionally accepted to “walk on their feet”. For example, colds. Meanwhile, their cause (a warm breeze blew – the next morning you wake up with a stuffy nose) is very often parasites. And if you are subject to constant runny noses, then you need to perform preventive cleansing of the body from parasites two or three times a year.
Let’s list and remember the main symptoms of infection of the body with parasites: constipation, diarrhea, increased gas formation and bloating, joint and muscle pain, anemia (anemia), allergic reactions, rash, eczema, sleep disorders, nervousness, gnashing of teeth, chronic fatigue, reduced immunity. Other, less common symptoms are: unmotivated excess weight or, conversely, a sharp loss of it, a constant feeling of hunger, a bad taste in the mouth and bad breath, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy,acne and acne.
So, if you feel bad for a long time and the symptoms of your condition are similar to those described above, you should go to a therapist and insist on a parasitologist’s examination, complete tests, etc. Even if the therapist will assure you that you are exaggerating, stand your ground. Let the parasitologist say later that you made a mistake, rather than you will be devoured from the inside by a larva growing by leaps and bounds.
To determine whether you are infected with parasites, the doctor will have to identify the presence of eggs and larvae of helminths. To do this, a biological substrate will be taken from you – feces, urine, sputum, duodenal contents and bile, mucus, rectal and perianal scrapings, muscle tissue, blood. Since parasites have dug in, most likely, in the gastrointestinal tract, feces, in other words, feces, will be examined.
Macroscopic methods are used to isolate helminths and their fragments (segments, fragments of strobils, heads), because eggs and larvae cannot be detected in any other way than microscopy.
If your body is experiencing an acute phase of helminthiasis or the disease is provoked by tissue parasites or larvae (toxocarosis, trichinosis, cysticercosis, echinococcosis), then the doctor will certainly resort to serological methods. These include the complement binding reaction, the indirect agglutination reaction, the immunofluorescence reaction, the lysis agglutination reaction, and the enzyme immunoassay.
In the case of some helminthic infestations – echinococcosis, cysticercosis – it is impossible to do without instrumental studies (ultrasound, computed tomography, radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, endoscopic methods, including endobiopsy).
We will immediately stipulate that the full-fledged treatment of parasitological diseases, despite the achievements of modern medicine, is very complicated by the “subtlety” of the diagnosis of these diseases. It’s not even that the laboratory of a small-town hospital is hardly equipped with the necessary equipment or has really highly qualified specialists in its staff. The reason is different: each of the parasites has its own individual development cycle.
For example, from the moment of infection of the human body with ascarids, that is, from the moment the egg enters the body, 73 days pass before the appearance of an adult inside us. Therefore, the probability of detecting parasites directly depends on the stage of their development. It is clear that if the eggs of parasites have just entered the body, the doctor risks not seeing anything. But! A single negative answer, indicating only that the examination conducted under the microscope did not allow the detection of eggs, does not mean that your body is free of parasites.
What to do? It is good if there is an opportunity to resort to an enzyme immunoassay. This is probably the most modern method that allows you to identify parasites in your body by the fact that there are antibodies in the blood produced by the body if special proteins that are parasite antigens have been released in the tissue. Of course, there may not be a one-hundred-percent result here – after all, if a person has a weak immune system, then antibodies will be produced in a very small amount. Therefore, it will be difficult to detect them. Even using laboratory diagnostic methods (microscopy), taking into account the cyclical development of the parasite, the doctor, unfortunately, manages to diagnose only half of the cases of infection. Therefore, there is only one way out – to use both laboratory (microscopic, serological, enzyme immunoassay) and clinical (X-ray, ultrasound) methods in a comprehensive manner.