Coughs and worms are phenomena that seem to be poorly compatible.However, the cause of dry cough is often helminths that have settled and multiplied in the human body.
Not all worms are capable of this, but only those that can localize in the respiratory system.
Which insects cause cough?These are parasites that originally 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 normal blood flow, they reached the bronchopulmonary tissue.
types of worms
Roundworms, roundworms, live and reproduce in the intestines.Infection with these occurs through eggs that enter the body with food or through 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 things belonging to people with worm infestation;
- Keep your hands clean, especially after returning from the road and before eating;
- Wash foods eaten raw (fruits and vegetables) thoroughly;
- Prepare fish and meat dishes properly.
worth knowing!Roundworms provoke dry cough.Migrating through the circulatory system, their larvae enter the respiratory organs – bronchi, trachea, lungs – irritating the receptors and causing this symptom.The period of migration of the larvae throughout the body is one to two weeks.
Giardia are very small single-celled microorganisms that live in stagnant water.The disease caused by these is called giardiasis.Infection with parasites mainly occurs in the following ways.
- From an infected person or animal to a healthy person.
- On eating poorly washed foods.
- While drinking raw milk or unboiled water.
After settling in a person's small intestine, Giardia becomes able to infect other people within 10 days.After some time, giardiasis becomes chronic.Giardiasis cough is caused by allergic reactions that occur when the body is intoxicated with the waste products of parasites.The case for a person infected with Giardia often ends in bronchial asthma.
One of the main dangers of giardiasis is the absence of obvious symptoms at the initial stage that would allow accurately diagnosing the disease.The release of worms from the body is episodic, so it is not always possible to detect Giardia cysts in the feces.Before you can confidently diagnose the disease, you will need to take samples for analysis several times.
In addition to roundworms and lamblia, symptoms can also be provoked by Toxocara, also known as canine roundworm due to its widespread occurrence in dogs.Reaching the bronchi, the larvae cause allergies.
Types of worms that affect children
If a child develops a cough, and a cold is ruled out, there are serious reasons to believe that he may be infected with worms.Since this can be a reaction to a variety of worms, only laboratory tests can determine which particular worm is responsible.
Attention!Most often, helminthic cough is observed in young children.
It is not surprising that parents often mistake it for a symptom of a cold, and begin to treat it with generally accepted drugs, 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 unresolved.Worms multiply in the child's body and the disease increases.
Giardiasis and ascariasis
Which parasites cause symptoms in a child?Only those that are able to move throughout the body and reach the respiratory tract.These parasites include roundworms and lamblia.Their sexually mature individuals live in the intestines, but the larvae of the parasites have the ability to enter the respiratory system with the blood, irritating receptors and causing an allergic reaction.
In this case, some of the larvae are thrown out, others are swallowed and again enter the intestine, where the next life cycle of the parasites begins.Some larvae remain in the respiratory system, disrupting its functioning.
Toxocara and pulmonary fluke
The most dangerous for the respiratory system are flatworms, especially flukes and Toxocara.Attaching to the lungs, they cause paragonimiasis and toxocariasis – serious diseases accompanied by destruction of lung tissue and a progressive inflammatory process.
The entry of flatworms into the child's lungs causes coughing.If not treated, the inflammatory process progresses and enters a stage with the formation of mucus.There may be blood in the coughed sputum.This worrying manifestation should compel parents to immediately consult an infectious disease doctor.
Important!When infected with fluke, sputum with pus and blood is inevitable.
Types of Worms That Infect Adults
Not all patients believe that stomach worms and cough can be part of the same process, but this is actually the case.Cough caused by insects is usually dry and can easily be confused with a cold.In this case, the absence of other ARVI symptoms that usually accompany a cold should be worrying.
What is the explanation for this situation?There are two reasons for this:
- Mechanical effect of helminth larvae on lung tissue.
- Allergy with which the infected body reacts to the presence of waste products of insects and decomposition of dead individuals.
There are not so many worms and other parasites that affect the respiratory tract.These are:
- Roundworm;
- Giardia;
- Temporary;
- Echinococcus tapeworm.
ascariasis
Roundworms are very widespread, so coughing on the background of ascariasis is a typical phenomenon.Infection with roundworms occurs through the traditional routes of helminthiasis.These include contact with soil, eating fruits and vegetables without washing, and dirty hands.
Ascaris larvae cause problems by mechanically affecting the tissues of the respiratory system.This occurs during the migration phase of the parasite.The mechanism and sequence of effects of roundworms on the human respiratory system is as follows.
Once in the gastrointestinal tract, roundworm eggs, under the influence of their own enzymes and digestive juices, leave their shell, and turn into larvae.The latter are endowed with the ability to penetrate into the bloodstream through the intestinal wall.After which they are carried by the blood throughout the body – reaching the liver, heart, lungs and respiratory tract.
There are cilia on the mucous membrane of the trachea, which move the larva upward with their reflex movement.In this case, the receptors are irritated and a cough occurs, causing the worms to move 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 infection is of recurring nature, it can become almost permanent.
giardiasis
Despite the fact that Giardia is a microbe, 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 drinking unboiled milk or water.Transmission is possible from infected people and animals.
The main location of Giardia is the intestine.The parasites require only 10 days from the moment of infection for the larvae to begin to emerge from the eggs.Penetrating the intestinal walls, they enter the blood and with it reach the organs of the respiratory system, disrupting their functioning and causing cough.
pulmonary fluke
Flukes live in pairs in the lungs, forming cysts in the bronchi.Infection occurs when eating crabs and crayfish infected with the parasite.Once in the gastrointestinal tract, pulmonary flukes penetrate the peritoneum and reach the lungs through the diaphragm, causing a persistent cough in the patient.
The small helminth pulmonary fluke, which belongs to the trematode class, "specializes" in parasitizing exclusively the lungs.For example, it causes far more serious problems in the respiratory system than roundworms.
At the site of its localization, infiltration appears and hemorrhage develops, as a result of which cavities appear filled with worms, dead parasites and decaying metabolites of lung tissue.The damage caused by the pulmonary fluke is further compounded by the fact that it is a long-liver and can survive in the host's body for up to 20 years.
To deal with this dangerous parasite, treatment under the strict supervision of a doctor is necessary.Only he can choose an effective drug, which should be individual for each case.
However, the championship in "harmfulness" belongs not to the pulmonary fluke, but to the larvae of Alvococcus and Echinococcus.These are small (up to 7 mm long) tapeworms, which are carried by wolves, coyotes, dogs, jackals, foxes, feral and domestic cats without causing much harm to themselves.
Helminths of the trematode class (digenetic flukes) and Trichinella roundworms cause allergic cough, which can be especially severe in children.
Runny nose caused by helminthiasis and other parasites
Runny nose occurs due to very little presence of worms in the nose.This manifestation is not at all specific for helminthiasis.Still, in some cases, the parasites can cause runny nose and nasal congestion.
Sometimes pinworms, in rare cases, with the so-called distorted (random, non-characteristic) localization, penetrate the nasal passages and cause runny nose and nasal congestion.
If we talk about non-helminthic parasitic diseases, as an example of an infection that causes runny nose and abundant secretion 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!Runny nose, which is sometimes caused by Giardia, is the result of the body having an allergic reaction to Giardia waste.
As far as roundworms are concerned, they do not cause runny nose or nasal congestion.
conclusion
If whooping cough is caused by helminthiasis, treatment should include antiparasitic therapy aimed at destroying the worms.Taking cold pills in such cases means directing the treatment not against the disease, but against its symptoms.