Parasitic infections in humans can be detected through blood tests and excrement.Various infections have their diagnostic standards.
Indications for examination for parasites parasitic infections are not asymptomatic;They always have some symptoms.Therefore, you should take blood or stool tests for parasites if you have health complaints.Preventive testing is not required in the absence of symptoms.Suspicious symptoms for a parasitic infection:
- prolonged temperature rise to 37-37.5 degrees;
- Fatigue without cause;
- a rash on the skin that suddenly appears and disappears;
- indigestion - falling into the stomach, gas, diarrhea;
- detection of anemia;
- Loss of weight with normal appetite.
Only in some cases should a person be tested for parasites, even if there are no complaints.This is an examination when applying for a job or enrolling in studies, receiving certificates for swimming, or pre -surgery examination.In such cases, a reference for the required tests is given by a general physician or pediatrician.
Which parasitic infections can be tested?
Using different tests, any parasitic infection can be detected.Has:
- intestinal parasites - live in the intestinal lumen and eggs excreted in the feces;
- Extinstinal - live in different organs, do not produce eggs.
Intestinal parasites can be identified by stool analysis, extreme parasites - only with blood.
Opisthorchiasis
Infection caused by flat opistrchis worm.A person is infected by eating river fish - dried or dried, that is, not thermally processed.Opisthorchiasis does not spread among people, ie, the patient is not contagious.However, a sick person excites parasite eggs into his feces, they get into the water and then into the fish.
Tricinosis
Trichinella are small worms that live in the muscles of pigs and wildlife.A person is infected if you eat bare or roasted meat.Trichinella from the intestines enter the muscles and form a capsule there.It is an extreme parasite that can dwell on the muscles for decades without causing any symptoms.One person cannot infect others.
Ascariasis
Round worms are long round worms living in the gut.Human infection occurs through dirty hands.In the body, round worms pass through two stages of development.In the intestine, the larvae are formed by the eggs, which enter the lungs through the bloodstream.Here they live for two months, then they are swallowed with saliva and return to the intestines.Here the round worms develop in adult worms and lay eggs in the feces.A sick person can infect others if hygiene rules are not followed.
Toxocariasis
Toxocara are the parasites of other dogs and dogs.Toxocara eggs are found in animal wool, and humans become infected through contact with them.After swallowing the eggs in the gut, the larvae come out of them, but further development of the worm does not occur.
The larvae are carried with blood in different organs and form capsules in them.Like Trichinella, they can live in tissues for many years without giving symptoms.The patient is not adhesive and does not lay the toxocara eggs into the environment.
echo
Echinococci are parasites that live in the dog's body.A person is infected through contact with an animal.Echinococcus eggs enter the intestine, where the larvae appear.They are carried through the blood in organs, most often living in the liver.Here they form cysts - the liquid bubbles, within which there is echo.One person is not infectious to others and does not lay parasite eggs into the environment.
Giardiasis
Giardia is the simplest microorganism;The infection occurs by drinking indelible water through dirty hands.Giardia's parasites live in the small intestine, and children mainly suffer from giardiasis.The patient excites giardia into the feces and infects others unless personal hygiene is observed.
Types of tests for parasites
To identify parasites in the body, you must do an excrement or blood test.Intestinal poisons and giardia can be determined by the analysis of excrement;Blood is an auxiliary method.Extraintestinal parasites are identified only by blood, as they do not secrete eggs.
Blood tests for parasites are not 100% accurate.They can be either false positive or false negative.The reasons for false results are the characteristics of the body, the presence of allergies, the concomitant diseases and the ability of the poisons themselves to camouflage themselves.
Some parasitic infections require an ultrasound or X -ray. So if you suspect echinococcosis, you must first make a liver ultrasound.If the cysts are found there, donate blood for antibodies to Echinococci.
Parasites live in the kidneys extremely rarely.These are tropical protozoa skistosomes;They become infected by swimming in the polluted waters of the tropical countries.Parasites in the human bladder can be identified using radiographs to detect antibodies.
Stool analysis for parasites
This analysis is called a stool test for helminth eggs and protozoa.An excrement test can identify the following parasites:
- Opisthorchis;
- Round worms;
- wide tape;
- Bovine and pig pig;
- Strongyloid;
- whip worm;
- Giardia.
Fecal analysis for helminths is not very informative, as worms do not secrete eggs all the time, and they are not found in all samples.To get an accurate result, you need to donate excrement at least three times with a 3 -day interval.It is better to examine warm feces.
Parasep technique is more reliable - this is a study of diluted feces in a particular liquid.The method is also called the excrement enrichment analysis.Sometimes helminth eggs and protozoa are detected in a coprogram - a detailed analysis of excrement to diagnose digestive disorders.
Modern research for giardia is the detection of their antigens in the feces using the PCR method.The technique has a reliability of 90-95%.
Scrap
Using the scrap method, only pinworms worms are identified.These are small worms that live in the big intestine.At night, female worms crawl and lay eggs on the skin around the anus.The disease caused by pinworms is enterobiasis.
Enterobiasis mainly affects young children.A child can self-infect himself by scratching the skin near the anus and then placing his hands in his mouth.
The test for pinworms worms is performed in the morning without washing the baby.A piece of adhesive tape is applied to the skin around the anus.Then it is glued to a glass slide.A lab technician examines the glass under a microscope and detects the worm eggs.
Blood test
A general blood test in the presence of parasites in the body gives indirect signs:
- Increasing the number of eosinophils;
- Increase in ESR.
In the acute phase of the disease, the number of eosinophils increases significantly, exceeding 20%.In the chronic phase, the general blood test is virtually unchanged.
Using an enzyme immunoassay in the blood for parasites, antibodies are detected for them.The study is suitable for the diagnosis of intestinal helminths and giardia in the acute phase of the disease, as well as for the identification of extreme helminths.
Types of blood tests for parasites
Blood tests for parasites are the same in adults and children.In children, the study is more informative, as they are most often sick in an acute form.In adults, chronic helminthias predominate, so blood tests often give false results.
Elisa
For diagnosis, an enzyme immunoassay is used for parasites.This is the detection of antibodies for helminths and protozoa in the blood.ELISA is more informative in the acute phase of the disease, when antibodies are actively produced.In the chronic phase, the poisons become masked and the body stops the production of antibodies against them.Therefore, Elisa gives a false negative result.If a person has an allergy or an autoimmune disease, he will form false antibodies and the ELISA result will be false positive.
A blood test to detect parasites must be confirmed by other exam methods.
In children
Both tests for parasites - blood and feces - will be informative about the child.Children suffer mainly from acute forms of parasitosis.Excess examination for worms and protozoa is informative in 90% of cases, ELISA - in 70% of cases.
As and where to get a blood test for parasites
You may undergo an examination at a clinic in your place of residence or in a paid lab.To get a reference for testing at a clinic, you should contact a general doctor, pediatrician or specialist of infectious disease.You can get it yourself in any paid lab.But if there are no health complaints, it is not necessary to check.Parasitic infections that are asymptomatic (toxocariasis, trichinosis) do not require treatment.Is described only when symptoms appear.