Parasites(from the Greek parasitos - parasite, parasite) - lower plant and animal organisms that live outside or inside another organism (host) and feed at its expense.
Parasitesarose in the process of historical development of organisms from free-living forms.
Their adaptation to certain living conditions entailed a simplification of their organization, the development of special fixation organs, enhanced development of the genital organs, and anoxybiotic respiration, which makes it possible to exist in an oxygen-free environment.
Many parasites include:
- helminths;
- fungi;
- viruses;
- protozoa;
- worms;
- crustaceans;
- arachnids;
- insects.
The hosts of parasites can be:
- bacteria;
- protozoa;
- plants;
- animals;
- Human.
Parasites go through a complex development cycle: sometimes they require a change of 2-3 hosts, whose organism is intermediate (the helminth goes through larval stages) or final (the helminth becomes sexually mature, invasive).
Classification of parasites
According to their distribution, parasites are divided into:
- Ubiquitous- found everywhere.
- Tropical- common in tropical climate zones.
According to biological and epidemiological characteristics, parasitoses are divided into:
- Geohelminthiasis- a disease in which parasites (helminths) first develop in the human body, and then on a non-living substrate, often in the ground.
- Biohelminthosesis a disease in which the biological development cycle of a parasite (helminth) necessarily takes place in the body of living creatures other than humans.There are final hosts, in whose body the helminths develop to the sexually mature stage, as well as intermediate hosts, where the parasite is in the larval stage or reproduces non-sexually.Humans are often the final host, less often the intermediate host.
- Contact helminthiases- a disease in which parasites are released from the human body mature or almost mature, as a result of which it is possible to infect another person or re-infect him (autoinfestation, reinvasion).
Depending on the location of the parasite in the human body:
- Luminal parasites- living in the intestinal cavity and other cavities of the human body (for example, roundworms, tapeworms).
- Tissue parasites- living in the tissues of the human body (schistomatosis, echinococcosis).
According to the place of residence on the owner (person):
- External parasites(mosquitoes, horseflies, leeches, lice).
- Internal parasites(helminthiasis):
- roundworms (nematodes - roundworms, filaria, whipworms, pinworms, strongyloides, hookworms, trichinella);
- flatworms:
- trematodes (flukes - cat fluke (opisthorchid), clonorchid, fasciola, schistosome);
- cestodes (tapeworms - bovine and pork tapeworms, dwarf tapeworm, broad tapeworm, echinococcus).
- Bacteriosis(leptospira, staphylococcus, streptococcus, shigella).
- Protozoans or protozoans(amoeba, lamblia, trichomonas, often hosts of chlamydia and the AIDS virus).
- Mycoses(fungal diseases) - candida, cryptococcus, penicillium.
How parasites enter the human body
You can become infected with parasitosis not only through dirty hands.Animal fur is a carrier of worm eggs (ascaris and toxocara), Giardia.
Pinworm eggs that fall from wool remain viable for up to 6 months and enter the food tract through dust, toys, carpets, underwear, bedding, and hands.
Dogthrough moist breath, it disperses eggs over a distance of up to 5 meters (a cat - up to 3 meters).
Fleasdogs also carry worm eggs.Ascaris eggs enter the human body through poorly washed vegetables, fruits, berries, herbs, dirty hands, and are also spread by flies.
And improperly prepared kebab or homemade lard is a route of infection with trichinosis;poorly salted fish, caviar or “stroganina” - opisthorchiasis and tapeworm.
So, there are several ways parasites enter the human body:
- nutritional(through contaminated food, water, dirty hands);
- contact-household(through household items, from infected family members, pets);
- transmissible(via blood-sucking insects);
- percutaneous,or active (in which the larva penetrates the skin or mucous membranes into the human body during contact with contaminated soil, when swimming in open water).
Adaptive properties of parasites:
- long life expectancy (helminths live in the human body for years, and sometimes as long as the owner of the parasite lives);
- the ability to suppress or modify the immune response of the host organism (a state of immunodeficiency arises, conditions are created for the penetration of pathogenic agents from the outside, as well as for “disinhibition” of internal foci of infection);
- Many types of helminths, when entering the digestive tract, secrete anti-enzymes, which saves them from death;the digestive process is disrupted, toxic-allergic reactions of varying severity appear: urticaria, bronchial asthma, atopic dermatitis;
- stages of development (egg, larva, change of hosts);
- the ability of eggs to survive for years in the external environment;
- sexual reproduction, during which the exchange of genetic information occurs, and this is the highest stage of development, leading to an increase in the heterogeneous population, that is, the parasites become less vulnerable;
- lack of immunoprophylaxis methods, since the immune response is weak and unstable;
- wide distribution of helminths, many habitats (water, soil, air, plants and animals).
Epidemiology of parasitoses
Due to increasing migration processes, the diversity of helminths parasitizing the human body is significantly increasing.Currently, 70 species of parasites are common out of more than 260 existing ones.There is a tendency to increase infection with enterobiasis, giardiasis, toxocariasis, opisthorchiasis, diphyllobothriasis, tenidosis, and echinococcosis.In the countries of Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, schistosomiasis and filariasis are common.
"Healthy" people...Many people leading a healthy lifestyle experience health problems due to the presence of parasites in the body.Improving the health of the body (proper nutrition, physical exercise, hardening procedures) without ridding the body of parasites does not give a pronounced positive effect.
They are everywhere...According to the World Health Organization (WHO), helminths, and other types of parasites, are localized not only in the gastrointestinal tract, but also in vital organs: the brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys.
Cause of many diseases
In the course of their life, helminths secrete special substances - toxoids, which are strong poisons and allergens.It is parasitoses (protozoa, fungi and helminths) that are the trigger for many chronic diseases:
- cholecystitis;
- cholelithiasis;
- pancreatitis;
- colitis;
- diabetes mellitus;
- bronchial asthma;
- atopic dermatitis.
Chronic fatigue, irritability and anxiety, hyperactivity in children, anemia, brittle nails and hair, problem skin, headaches, appetite disorders, decreased immunity - these may be signals of current parasitosis.
If not treated...When parasites remain in the human body for a long time, the immune system suffers greatly.In the process of constant struggle with foreign antibodies, it comes to exhaustion, that is, to the development of secondary immunodeficiency.
Parasitosis leads to:
- to hypovitaminosis and depletion of trace elements: potassium, copper, manganese, selenium, zinc, magnesium, silicon;
- to hematopoietic disorders;
- hormonal imbalance;
- vascular permeability is impaired;
- The body's anti-cancer defenses suffer.
How were you saved before?For thousands of years, people, eating mainly plant foods, received along with them antimicrobial, antiparasitic and antiviral natural active substances.Reducing the consumption of wild plants, fruits, berries, replacing them with cultivated vegetables and fruits, thermal and industrial processing have led to a decrease in the consumption of natural phytoncides and antibiotics.As a result, humans have become easy prey for many microorganisms.The intensive development of the drug industry producing antibiotics has led to a decrease in antiparasitic immunity.
Traditional medicine to eliminate parasites in the human body
Medicinal synthetic anthelmintic drugs have their pros and cons.There are three main negative factors:
- often they affect only the gastrointestinal forms of parasites;
- very toxic to the human body;
- cause many adverse reactions.
Science does not stand still!Intensive scientific research into the antibiotic properties of plants is being conducted all over the world.In terms of effectiveness, they are not inferior to synthetic antibiotics, but do not cause the side effects that are characteristic of synthesized drugs.The healing components of plants are complex natural phytoncidal complexes that can rid the human body of many parasites at various stages of their development.
Nature!This is what will help us!Preparations of plant origin are much less toxic; if necessary, they can be prescribed in long courses; they activate antiparasitic immunity and effectively suppress the vital activity and reproduction of parasites in the human body.
Parasitoses are widespread diseases with toxic and damaging effects on the human body.Since treatment with chemical drugs has a negative effect on the body, the optimal solution to the problem of combating parasitosis is herbal products.