According to WHO data, more than 10 million people around the world are infected with helminths every year.Helminthic infection is extremely dangerous for the body due to the large-scale damage caused - mechanical and toxic.Helminths destroy the tissues of the intestines and other organs of the body (even the heart and brain), poison people with phenolic, formaldehyde poisons and other dangerous waste products, absorb important macro- and microelements;Prevention of helminthiasis is important for adults and children.
One of the main difficulties when fighting worms is to remove them from the body.Most drugs only affect adults and cause a serious chemical "blow" to health (so they should not be taken repeatedly).The cystic forms, larvae remaining in the body, continue to multiply and destroy the body, reducing the ability to resist infections, chronic diseases and provoking the occurrence of dangerous pathologies.
Therefore, the primary task is comprehensive prevention of helminths, aimed at preventing their penetration into the body and creating your own protective barrier - normal, healthy microflora in the intestines, a properly functioning immune system, etc.To do this you need:
- Takes care of hygiene, especially if you are in the risk group – this includes children attending kindergartens and schools, employees of sewage treatment stations, plumbers, summer residents and gardeners, agricultural and other workers;
- Pay attention to the quality of food and water;
- Take additional protective measures, because compliance with the first two rules is not enough - take preventive courses of anthelmintic drugs, use natural remedies, special treatment and rehabilitation complexes.
The difficulty in preventing helminthiasis is due to the fact that they enter the body not only through raw contaminated water and dirty hands, but also through the air through which eggs and cysts are carried, seemingly safe food and other sources.Only two to four weeks after infection, patients develop acute helminthiasis, then it becomes chronic with varying, but always dangerous symptoms.Nevertheless, prevention should start with hygiene and lifestyle control.
Hygienic prevention of helminthiasis
Worm infection often occurs through contact with skin and contaminated objects – structures in public places, toilets, even banknotes.Therefore, in everyday life it is necessary:
- Wash your hands thoroughly after using the toilet, when coming from outside, before eating and personal hygiene, cut your nails in a timely manner (long manicure is an additional danger factor);
- Do regular wet antiseptic cleaning at home;
- Monitor the cleanliness of underwear and used utensils;
- If you have pets, get regular checkups, scheduled deworming and treatment, prevent pets from coming into contact with stray dogs and cats, and walk only in designated areas;
- Fight mechanical carriers of worms – flies, cockroaches, etc.
You need to be especially careful when visiting public places.You can become infected by swimming in open water, pools, coming into contact with birds and animals, playing on the beach, in a sandbox or on the grass in a park.Particularly susceptible to worms are young children who explore the world around them "by touch" and try to put everything they see into their mouths.It is impossible for parents to monitor the quality of sand in sandboxes and protect playgrounds and parks from street animals and rodents.Therefore, the issue of anthelmintic prophylaxis for children is very serious.The most unpleasant thing is that you can get parasites only through the air, by walking and without touching the ground.
control over food
Just like cleanliness, you also have to take care of the quality of the products and their processing.Vegetables, fruits, and herbs are often washed in cold water, but this is not enough to kill parasites.At the very least, it is necessary to pour boiling water over them.Meat, fish and seafood require long-term heat treatment at high temperatures and initial exposure in the freezer for several days.
Some more recommendations:
- Exclude from your diet rare steaks and raw fish, even sea fish - worm larvae can live there for a very long time;
- Do not eat dry-cooked sausages – due to their production technology, the worms in them are not completely destroyed;
- Do not picnic near livestock and poultry farms, open water bodies and other danger areas.
However, even boiling meat for a long time and using only vegetables from your garden does not give a 100% guarantee that you are protected from helminthic infection.It is necessary to take additional measures to remove the worms from the body and prevent re-infection.
Preparations and natural remedies for anthelmintic prophylaxis
There are many medications that doctors prescribe to combat helminthiasis.Due to their high toxicity they are usually taken once or twice a day, but they can destroy the worms' metabolism and expel them from the body.Therefore, people concerned about their health take such drugs as a preventive measure even without diagnosis.
Often, broad-spectrum drugs are used for prevention.Medicines differ in the type of active substance, they help with different forms of helminthiasis, and they should not be taken without prior diagnosis and a doctor's prescription.This can cause even more harm due to “medicine shock”.
Another preventive therapy option is natural remedies.Among the most famous:
- Pumpkin seeds (necessarily with green shell);
- Garlic, onion and ginger;
- tincture of walnut kernels;
- Herbal extract with tansy, wormwood, celandine and other natural bitter substances.
The effectiveness of natural remedies is not very high, it is difficult to calculate the dosage necessary for prevention, and few people regularly eat raw garlic and pumpkin seeds.For complete prevention, "folk remedies" are clearly not enough.
To provide ubiquitous protection against helminthic infections, creating a persistent "active" barrier and helping the body to independently fight parasites, special complexes are needed.Such products include a number of drugs that eliminate existing insects, restore the balance of nutrients disturbed by them, and gently restore the normal state of the internal environment.
Naturally based preparations contain natural bitters, important microelements that the worms absorb (zinc, iodine, selenium, magnesium, copper, etc.) and do not cause side effects.Complex:
- Eliminates and protects against up to 150 types of insects – cysts, eggs, larvae, adults;
- Improves intestinal enzymatic activity, eliminates dysbiosis, restores the functions of the gastrointestinal tract and liver;
- Compensates the deficiency of micro and macro elements, promotes the removal of heavy metals from the body;
- Improves external and internal condition, helps fight many types of chronic diseases.
To prevent helminthic infection, it is recommended to take a special complex and medications over the course of three months (a week break is taken between each).Anti-parasite and health programs are held once or twice a year, and if you are in a risk group, three to four times a year.