Worms In The Feces Of A Child, What Do Worms Look Like In Feces In Children

2023 Author: Riley Dean | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 09:15

According to official data, more than 2 million helminth infections have been recorded in Russia. These numbers are constantly increasing, judging by the number of pharmaceuticals sold annually, worms in the feces of a child or an adult are more common.

Today there are about 350 types of parasites, in our country there are 70. It is not always possible to determine that the baby is infected immediately, the worms can live for some time, practically not making themselves felt in the meantime, destroying the body, feeding on nutrients from food …

Content

1. Types of helminths
2. The clinical picture in the presence of worms in a child
3. In what cases are worms found in feces?
4. What can be confused with worms in feces?
5. What do different worms look like?
6. Drugs for treatment

Types of helminths

Worms are divided into 3 groups:

• round or nematodes (pinworms, roundworms, whipworms, trichinella);
• flat tapeworms or cestodes (broad tapeworm, echinococcus, pork, rat, dwarf or bovine tapeworm);
• trematodes or flukes (hepatic, feline or Siberian fluke, schistosoma, etc.).

Among other things, parasites are divided into intestinal and non-intestinal, respectively, they can live in the intestines, liver, lungs, muscles, etc., and with the blood stream is carried throughout the body. However, more often they settle in the digestive organ, pinworms cause enterobiasis, roundworms provoke ascariasis.

The clinical picture in the presence of worms in a child

The presence of worms is not always easy to identify, and the symptoms that appear can be disguised as other diseases. In a 1 year old child, worms can cause the following symptoms:

• increased or absent appetite, and when eating a double portion, the child loses weight;
• nausea, constipation or diarrhea, abdominal pain;
• regularly recurring allergic reactions (skin rashes of all types);
• the child becomes irritable, moody, gets tired quickly;
• anemia;
• during vaccination, a toxic-allergic reaction may occur;
• regular colds due to low immunity;
• itching and scratching of the anal area;
• in girls, vulvaginitis and enuresis may appear;
• mental disorders;
• enlarged lymph nodes and others.

If you suspect the presence of parasites, you can not self-medicate, the doctor should cleanse the body after confirming the diagnosis.

In what cases are worms found in feces?

Having found worms in a child's poop, parents do not always understand what to do in such cases. When worms appear, it is recommended to collect the mass and take it for analysis. As a rule, only strong invasions allow them to be seen with the naked eye, since usually the feces contain a small amount of worms. After determining the type of parasite, the doctor will prescribe the appropriate drugs. Usually pinworms appear in feces, female worms lay eggs on the outside of the rectum and in the anal folds. This type of individuals can be identified by their appearance:

• body length does not exceed 15 mm;
• have pointed ends and are white, yellowish or pink in color;
• the shape of the worm is round.

What can be confused with worms in feces?

It is not always easy to understand how worms look in a child under one year old; in a child's chair, you can often find strings that look like worms of black or red color. Such manifestations have their own explanations, dark blotches appear in the baby's stool after bananas are introduced into his diet, and red ones may indicate a blood content, which requires an immediate visit to the hospital.

What do different worms look like?

As mentioned above, 70 types of parasites are found in Russia, however, most often infection occurs with one of 10 types of helminths, and they look like this.

Type of parasite and photo	Caused disease	Description of appearance
Pinworm	Enterobiasis	Small, round worms up to 10 mm.
Ascaris	Ascariasis	Long, about 6 cm, round, red-white, crocheted.
Toksokara	Toxocariasis	Large up to 10 cm, round parasite, yellowish tint.
Trichinella	Trichinosis	Small, up to 5 ml, round, burgundy worm.
Vlasoglav	Trichocephalosis	The parasite is thinner on one side than on the other, 5 cm long.
Bovine tapeworm	Teniarinhoz	Long individual, with a small head and ribbon-like body. The size can be up to 30 meters.
Pork tapeworm	Teniosis, Cysticercosis	The appearance is similar to the bovine tapeworm, but its length is less, about 5 meters.
Echinococcus	Echinococcosis	Small up to 11 mm, tape parasite with suction cups on the head. The body of the worm consists of several links.
Wide tapeworm	Diphyllobothriasis	The length of the flat, tapeworm is up to 10 meters.
Giardia	Giardiasis	Only detectable under a microscope. Some individuals move with the help of flagella, others are immobile.
Feline or Siberian fluke	Opisthorchiasis	A small individual, not more than 10 mm, the head of the parasite has a suction cup.

Drugs for treatment

The first signs of infection should become a mandatory reason for taking feces tests for eggs, worms and scraping. Usually, after detecting a disease in children, adults are also recommended to be examined. Depending on the types of worms, the specialist selects the right drugs.

The treatment of the child is complex, initially the body needs to be prepared, for which sorbents (Polysorb, Enterosgel) and vegetable oils from flax and pumpkin are used for several days. Anthelmintic drugs include:

• Nemazole;
• Pirantel;
• Albendazole;
• Mebendazole;
• Dekaris.

The drugs are aimed at immobilizing parasites, depriving them of the opportunity to receive nutrients, then they leave the body with feces. After the medication, they use multivitamins and remedies to restore the work of the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys and liver.

Prevention measures include adherence to hygiene rules, exclusion of contact with sick animals or people, periodic tests. It is useful to consume freshly squeezed carrot juice, garlic and raw pumpkin seeds, these products do not like parasites. If, nevertheless, an infection has occurred, do not be upset, since modern medicine has effective means to combat worms.