Cough and worms are seemingly incompatible phenomena.However, the cause of tuberculosis 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 localized in the respiratory system.
What worms cause cough?These are parasites that originally live in the intestines, but due to rapid reproduction or finding better conditions for life, they end up in the liver, and from there, through the general bloodstream, they reach 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, well-cooked meat and fish - all these can introduce helminth eggs into the human body.
To prevent infection you need:
- avoid contact with infected animals;
- Do not use the things of people with helminth infections;
- Make sure your hands are clean, especially after returning from the road and before eating;
- Wash food eaten raw (fruits and vegetables) well;
- Prepare fish and meat dishes properly.
Worth knowing!Roundworms trigger tuberculosis.Moving through the circulatory system, their larvae enter the respiratory organs - bronchi, trachea, lungs - irritating receptors and causing these symptoms.The larval migration period throughout the body is one to two weeks.
Giardia is a very small single-celled microorganism that lives in stagnant water.The disease caused by them is called giardiasis.Infection with parasites occurs mainly in the following ways.
- From infected people or animals to healthy ones.
- When eating poorly washed food.
- While drinking raw milk or unlimited 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 an allergic reaction that occurs when the body is intoxicated by the waste products of the parasite.For a person infected with Giardia, this often ends with bronchial asthma.
One of the main dangers of giardiasis is the absence in the early stages of the mentioned symptoms that allow an accurate diagnosis of this 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 a sample for analysis several times before you can confidently diagnose the disease.
In addition to worms and lamblia, symptoms can also be provoked by Toxocara, which is also called Canine Roundworm due to its widespread occurrence in dogs.After reaching the bronchi, the larvae cause an allergic reaction.
Types of helminths that affect children
If a child has a cough, and a cold is ruled out, there are serious reasons to assume that he may be infected with helminths.Since it can be a reaction to many types of worms, only laboratory tests can determine the specific helminth responsible for it.
Attention!Most often, helminthic cough is observed in young children.
It is not surprising that parents often blame him for cold symptoms, and start treating him with commonly accepted drugs, which, due to the specificity of their action, actually eliminate the problem.But at the same time, the cause of it, which is Helminthic attack, has not yet been resolved.Worms continue to multiply in the child's body, and the disease progresses.
Giardiasis and ascariasis
What parasites cause symptoms in children?Only those can migrate throughout the body and reach the respiratory tract.These parasites include roundworms and lamblia.Sexually mature individuals live in the intestine, but parasite larvae have the ability to penetrate with the blood into the respiratory system, irritating receptors and causing allergic reactions.
In this case, some larvae are expelled, others are swallowed and enter the intestine again, where the next life cycle of the parasite begins.Some larvae remain in the respiratory system, interfering with its function.
Toxocara and Pulmonary Fluke
The most dangerous for the respiratory system are flatworms, especially flukes and toxocaras.After attaching to the lungs, they cause paragonimiasis and toxocariasis - serious diseases accompanied by the destruction of lung tissue and a progressive inflammatory process.
Flatworm penetration into the child's lungs causes him to cough.If left untreated, the inflammatory process progresses and enters a stage accompanied by mucus formation.Coughing sputum may contain blood.This alarming manifestation should force parents to immediately consult an infectious disease doctor.
Important!When infected by chance, 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 this is indeed the case.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 situation?There are two reasons for this:
- Mechanical effects of helvinth larvae on lung tissue.
- An allergy in which the infected body reacts to the presence of worm waste products and the decomposition of dead individuals.
There are not many worms and other parasites that affect the respiratory tract.These are:
- roundworm;
- Giardia;
- Flukes;
- Echinococcus tapeworm.
Ascariasis
Roundpox is very widespread, so coughing against the background of ascariasis is a common phenomenon.Infection with roundworms occurs through the traditional route for Helminthiases.These include contact with soil, eating unwashed fruits and vegetables, and dirty hands.
Ascaris larvae cause problems by mechanically affecting the tissues of the respiratory system.This occurs during the parasite's migration phase.The mechanism and sequence of effects of roundworms on the human respiratory system are as follows.
Once in the gastrointestinal tract, worm eggs, under the influence of their own enzymes and digestive juices, shed their shells, turning into larvae.The latter is endowed with the ability to penetrate the intestinal wall into the bloodstream.After that they are carried by the blood throughout the body - reaching the liver, heart, lungs, and respiratory tract.
On the mucous membrane of the trachea there are cilia, which transport the larvae upwards with their reflex movements.In this case, the receptors feel irritated and coughing occurs, throwing the helminths into the mouth, from where they are either spit out or swallowed, returning to the intestines.
For your information!Cough with ascariasis is usually a short-term phenomenon.But if the attack is repetitive, it can be almost permanent.
Giardiasis
Although Giardia is a microscopic creature, it causes very serious harm to the body.The natural habitat of Giardia is standing water.They enter the human body by eating dirty or poorly processed food, or by accidentally drinking milk or water.Transmission from infected people and animals is possible.
The main location of Giardia is the intestine.The parasite only needs 10 days from the moment of infection for the larvae to start emerging from the egg.Penetrating the intestinal wall, they enter the blood and reach the organs of the respiratory system with it, disrupting their function and causing coughing.
Pulmonary fluke
They happen to live in the lungs in pairs, forming cysts in the bronchi.Infestation occurs when eating crabs and crayfish infected with the parasite.Once in the gastrointestinal tract, pulmonary embolism penetrates the peritoneum and reaches the lungs through the diaphragm, causing persistent coughing in the patient.
It happens that small pulmonary helminths, which belong to the class of trematodes, "specialize" in specific parasites in the lungs.It causes more serious problems in the respiratory system than roundworms, for example.
At the site of its localization, an infiltrate appears and bleeding develops, as a result of which the cavity appears full of worm metabolites, dead parasites and lung tissue.The harm from pulmonary embolism is exacerbated by the fact that it is a long-lived liver and can live in the host's body for up to 20 years.
To overcome this dangerous parasite, treatment is required under the strict supervision of a doctor.Only he can choose an effective drug, which should be different for each case.
However, the championship in "harm" is not for the pulmonary fluke, but for Alveococcus and Echinococcus larvae.These are small tapeworms (up to 7 mm), which are carried by wolves, coyotes, dogs, jackals, foxes, wild and domestic cats without much harm to themselves.
Helminths of the trematode class (digenetic flukes) and trichinella roundworms cause allergic cough, which can be very severe in children.
Runny nose due to helminthiasis and other parasites
Runny nose caused by the presence of helminths more often.These manifestations are not typical for Helminthiasis at all.However, in some cases, parasites can cause nasal and nasal congestion.
Sometimes pinworms, in rare cases, with the so-called localization (random, not random), enter the nasal passages and cause nasal and nasal congestion.
If we talk about non-Helminthic parasitic diseases, then as an example of an attack that causes a runny nose and discharge of mucus from the nose, we can name nasal myiasis, which is the larvae of gadflies and flies that have settled in the nasal cavity.
Attention!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 do not cause either a runny nose or nasal congestion.
Conclusion
If the cough occurs as a result of helminthiasis, treatment should include antiparasitic therapy aimed at destroying the worms.Taking cold pills in such cases means directing treatment not to the disease itself, but to its symptoms.