How do parasites invade the human body. What are the most common types of skin parasites. How can microscopic images reveal the intricate details of these organisms. What are the symptoms and treatments for various parasitic infections.

The Fascinating World of Parasites: A Microscopic Journey

Parasites are both intriguing and unsettling organisms that have evolved to thrive within human hosts. While their presence often elicits discomfort, these microscopic invaders offer a unique glimpse into the complex world of evolutionary adaptations. By examining parasites under powerful microscopes, scientists can uncover intricate details about their structure, behavior, and life cycles.

The Diverse Realm of Human Parasites

Human parasites come in various forms, including bacteria, protozoa, and worms. They can infect different parts of the body, such as the blood, digestive tract, and even the bile duct. Entry points for these organisms include the mouth, skin, and nose. The consequences of parasitic infections range from mild discomfort to severe health complications, including disease, blindness, and in extreme cases, death.

Lyme Disease: The Tick-Borne Menace

Lyme disease, caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, is a prime example of a tick-transmitted parasitic infection. Under the microscope, these bacteria appear as confetti-like structures, belying their potentially severe impact on human health.

The Life Cycle of Borrelia burgdorferi

• Originates in small mammals
• Transmitted to humans via Ixodes ticks
• Infects larger vertebrates, including humans

Do you know the early symptoms of Lyme disease. The initial signs often include fatigue, fever, and a distinctive circular rash resembling a bull’s-eye. Without prompt antibiotic treatment, Lyme disease can progress to more severe conditions, such as arthritis, meningitis, and neurological symptoms like pain and numbness.

Tapeworms: The Intestinal Giants

Tapeworms, such as Taenia saginata, are among the largest parasites that can inhabit the human body. These impressive organisms can reach lengths of up to 33 feet (10 meters), making them visible to the naked eye.

The Tapeworm’s Journey

1. Hatches in cattle’s digestive tract
2. Larvae spread to muscle tissue
3. Transmitted to humans through undercooked beef
4. Attaches to the human intestinal wall
5. Reproduces and releases eggs through feces

Are tapeworms always harmful to humans. While many tapeworm infections are asymptomatic, they can cause nutrient deficiencies and gastrointestinal discomfort in some cases. Proper cooking of meat and good hygiene practices are essential for preventing tapeworm infections.

Giardia: The Microscopic Troublemaker

Giardia is a parasitic protozoan that causes giardiasis, a common diarrheal illness. When viewed under a microscope, this organism reveals fascinating adaptations for life in the digestive system.

Giardia’s Unique Features

• Suction-cup disk for adhering to surfaces
• Four pairs of flagella for movement
• Transmitted through untreated drinking water

How does Giardia infection manifest in humans. Giardiasis typically presents with symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, and fatigue. Proper water treatment and hygiene practices are crucial for preventing the spread of this parasitic infection.

Babesia: The Blood Invader

Babesia is a hemoprotozoan parasite that invades red blood cells, causing a malaria-like illness. Under the microscope, these parasites appear as dark pink specks within blood samples.

Characteristics of Babesia Infection

• Transmitted by Ixodes scapularis ticks
• Reproduces inside red blood cells
• Forms a distinctive four-pronged cross shape

Can you identify the symptoms of Babesia infection. The primary signs include fever, anemia, fatigue, and chills, which are similar to malaria symptoms. Prompt diagnosis and treatment are essential for managing this tick-borne illness.

Fasciola hepatica: The Liver Fluke Menace

The sheep liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, is a parasitic flatworm that can infect humans despite its name. Its microscopic eggs are unassuming ovals that belie the potential harm they can cause.

The Life Cycle of Fasciola hepatica

1. Eggs are released into water sources
2. Larvae develop in aquatic plants
3. Humans ingest infected plants (e.g., watercress)
4. Parasites migrate to the liver and bile ducts

What are the long-term effects of liver fluke infection. Chronic infection with Fasciola hepatica can lead to inflammation of the liver, bile ducts, gallbladder, and pancreas. Avoiding consumption of raw aquatic plants from potentially contaminated water sources is crucial for prevention.

Schistosoma mansoni: The Snail-Borne Threat

Schistosoma mansoni is a parasitic worm with a complex life cycle involving both freshwater snails and vertebrate hosts, including humans. This parasite causes schistosomiasis, also known as swimmer’s rash.

The Two-Host Life Cycle

• Eggs hatch in freshwater snails
• Free-swimming larvae emerge
• Larvae penetrate human skin in infested water
• Adult worms develop and reproduce in human blood vessels

How does schistosomiasis affect the human body. Initial symptoms include an itchy red rash where the larvae enter the skin. Chronic infection can lead to damage in the intestine and bladder as the worms release their eggs. Avoiding contact with potentially contaminated water sources is key to preventing infection.

Hookworms: The Barefoot Invaders

Hookworms are nematodes that pose a significant risk to those walking barefoot in contaminated soil. These parasites have a unique method of entering the human body and can cause various health issues.

The Hookworm’s Journey

1. Eggs are deposited in soil through infected feces
2. Larvae develop in the soil
3. Larvae penetrate bare skin (usually feet)
4. Worms migrate to the intestines

Are hookworm infections always symptomatic. While many people carry hookworms without noticeable symptoms, these parasites can cause gastrointestinal distress and anemia in some cases. Improved hygiene practices and wearing shoes in potentially contaminated areas are essential for prevention.

Guinea Worms: The Emerging Menace

Guinea worms are particularly disturbing parasites due to their ability to emerge from the human body. These nematodes have a unique life cycle that involves both ingestion and external emergence.

The Guinea Worm’s Life Cycle

• Humans ingest larvae in untreated water
• Worms mature and reproduce inside the body
• Female worms migrate to muscle and skin
• Worms emerge through painful blisters on the skin

How can Guinea worm infections be prevented. The key to prevention lies in ensuring access to clean, treated water sources. Filtering water and educating communities about the parasite’s life cycle are crucial steps in eradication efforts.

Understanding the microscopic world of parasites is essential for developing effective prevention and treatment strategies. By studying these organisms in detail, scientists can uncover vulnerabilities and devise new approaches to combat parasitic infections. While the images of these parasites may be unsettling, they serve as a reminder of the importance of hygiene, proper food preparation, and access to clean water in maintaining public health.

As research in this field continues, new discoveries about parasite biology and behavior emerge, offering hope for improved diagnostic tools and treatments. The intricate adaptations of these organisms, visible through microscopic imaging, highlight the ongoing evolutionary arms race between parasites and their hosts. By staying informed about these microscopic invaders, we can better protect ourselves and our communities from the potential harm they may cause.

Images: Human Parasites Under the Microscope

Under the Microscope

(Image credit: CDC)

Parasites. They can invade the blood, the digestive tract, even the bile duct. They enter through the mouth, through the skin, through the nose. They can cause disease, blindness and sometimes death.

Full body shudders, right? But as disgusting as parasites are, they’re also elegant examples of evolution. The following images reveal these dangerous organisms in microscopic detail.

A tick-borne bacteria

(Image credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID))

This confetti-like image is Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease. This parasite evolved to live in the blood of small mammals, which usually don’t show any ill effects of infection, according to a 2009 paper published in the journal Infectious Disease Clinics of North America. But when ticks of the Ixodes genus feed on small mammals, they can go on to transmit the parasite to larger vertebrates — including humans. Once infected, people experience fatigue, fever and often a red, circular rash that may look like a bull’s-eye. Without treatment (with antibiotics), Lyme disease can progress and cause arthritis, meningitis and neurological symptoms like pain and numbness.

The dreaded tapeworm

(Image credit: CDC)

No microscope is needed for a close look at the tapeworm Taenia saginata, which regularly reaches 33 feet (10 meters) in length. This tapeworm hatches inside the digestive tract of cattle, and larvae spread into the muscle. The worm spreads to humans who eat raw or undercooked beef from an infected cow. Once in the human host, the worm attaches to the intestinal wall, siphoning nutrients and self-fertilizing to make eggs excreted through the feces — hopefully, from the worm’s point of view, into a field where a cow might be grazing.

Diarrheal disease

(Image credit: CDC/ Dr. Stan Erlandsen)

Giardia, a parasitic protozoan transmitted by untreated drinking water, causes giardiasis, a diarrheal illness accompanied by nausea and fatigue. Under a microscope, the protozoan’s adaptations for life in the digestive system are visible: A suction-cup disk for adhering to surfaces and four pairs of flagella for moving around.

Invading the blood

(Image credit: CDC/ Dr. Mae Melvin)

The dark pink specks in this microscopic image of blood are hemoprotozoan parasites called Babesia. This is a tick-borne illness seen in the Midwest and the Northeast. The symptoms are a bit like those of malaria: Fever, anemia, fatigue and chills. Ixodes scapularis ticks – the same kind that spread Lyme disease — are also responsible for passing around Babesia parasites. The protozoa reproduce inside red blood cells, often budding to form a trademark four-pronged cross shape.

Sheep liver fluke

(Image credit: CDC)

This unassuming oval is the egg of Fasciola hepatica, the sheep liver fluke. Despite its name, this fluke can infect humans, where it sets up shop in the liver and bile ducts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people usually pick up an infection by eating watercress or other aquatic plants. The parasite can cause chronic inflammation of the liver, bile ducts, gallbladder and pancreas, according to the CDC.

Spread through snails

(Image credit: CDC/ Marianna Wilson)

Schistosoma mansoni, is a parasitic worm spread when human skin comes into contact with infested water. This worm lives its life cycle in two hosts: Freshwater snails (where the eggs hatch into free-swimming larvae) and vertebrates, including humans. The ensuring disease is called schistosomiasis or, sometimes, swimmer’s rash after the itchy red rash people often experience after the larvae penetrates their skin. Chronic infection can lead to damage in the intestine and bladder as the worms release their eggs, according to the CDC.

Hello, hookworms

(Image credit: CDC)

Hookworms: A good reason not to go barefoot in the summer, at least not when walking through a freshly fertilized field. These nematodes spread when an infected person defecates outside; the worm eggs hatch in the soil and then develop into larvae capable of burrowing into bare skin. According to the CDC, hookworm used to be widespread in the United States, but improved hygiene has greatly reduced infections.

Many people carry hookworms in their intestines without symptoms, but the parasites can cause gastrointestinal distress and sometimes anemia.

Guinea worms

(Image credit: CDC/ Dr. Mae Melvin)

Among the most spine-tingling parasites is the Guinea worm, a nematode that doesn’t have the decency to even stay inside its host. Guinea worms spread when humans ingest untreated water. They hatch in the digestive system and migrate and reproduce inside the body. The female then journeys to the muscle and skin and makes her escape, trying to emerge through a blister over excruciating weeks.

To extract the worm more swiftly, doctors often try to wrap it around a stick, slowly winding it out of the wound over several days. Because female guinea worms can grow up to 31 inches in length (80 centimeters), this is a slow, disgusting and painful process.

Botfly larva

(Image credit: CDC/ Dr. George Healy)

Here’s something you don’t want to see squirming under your skin. This is the larva of the Cuterebra botfly, a parasitic fly. This particular larva infects rodents and rabbits, but a closely related parasite, Dermatobia hominis, targets humans.

Adult female flies spread their eggs to humans in a surprising way: They snag a mosquito or tick and lay their eggs on the unsuspecting vector’s body. When the insect goes on to bite a person, the eggs or hatched larvae drop off and enter the skin, where they develop for a couple of months before emerging to complete their life cycle as free-living organisms. During the larval stage, the maggots are often visible as small bumps and must be surgically removed from the skin.

River blindness

(Image credit: CDC/Dr. R.C. Collins)

The pink, wormy swoosh visible in the center of this image is Onchocerca volvulus, a nematode seen developing in a black fly. Black flies are blood-feeders that spread O. volvulus with their bites. In the human body, the worms roost in subcutaneous tissues, mating and reproducing. When the worms migrate to the eye tissue, they can cause the cornea to go opaque, a condition called onchocerciasis, or river blindness. 

10 Most Terrifying Parasites Ever

10 Most Terrifying Parasites Ever – CBS News

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Discovery/Animal Planet

Bedbugs have officially invaded. The CBS News Early Show reports that across the country, infestations are becoming so common exterminators are having a hard time keeping up. In New York City, the crawly blood-suckers are being spotted in upscale lingerie shops and trendy boutiques – one thing about these blood suckers, they have taste.

Bedbug

Discovery/Animal Planet

Brown and about the size of an apple seed, Cimex lentacularius hides during the day and comes out at night, (shown piercing the skin of its host and drinking its fill. The bites don’t spread disease but leave red, itchy welts. Bedbugs are so hard to exterminate that some people simply throw out their furniture, clothing, and bedding.

Botfly

Discovery/Animal Planet

Botflies aren’t easily confused with common houseflies – they’re hairy and about twice as big. They lay their eggs on a mosquito, which then lands on a person. Once hatched, the larvae invade the skin of the unlucky host (as seen in this photo).

Botfly

Discovery/Animal Planet

The babies proceed to eat their way to the muscle, leaving a sore around the breathing hole they make in the skin. Here’s the truly disturbing part: Infected people report being able to feel and even hear the maggots moving about. Surgery is often necessary to remove the organisms.

River Blindness

Discovery/Animal Planet

If you’re planning a safari, be on the lookout for black flies, which can cause an illness known as river blindness. This swollen hand got that way after being bitten by a black fly infected by the nasty Onchocerca volvulos. Swollen flesh is one symptom of river blindness – others include eye sores and, eventually, blindness. Worldwide, it is the #2 cause of blindness, with about 90 percent of cases occurring in Africa.

River Blindness

Discovery/Animal Planet

This microscopic amoeba has a long name – Acanthamoeba keratitis – and a long rap sheet to match. If you wear contacts and like to camp, be extra careful about how you clean and insert your lenses. Make sure your hands are clean when you touch your eye, because acanthamoeba can invade the cornea, causing an infection that can lead to blindness. Acanthamoeba is common in nature and can be found in water, soil, and air.

Sandfly

Discovery/Animal Planet

If you’re planning a vacation to South America, the Middle East, southern Europe or any of the 88 countries where sand flies like to hang, don’t forget the insect repellent. Small and silent, the female sand fly can transmit a parasite that causes leishmaniasis. The bite is so small you might not even know you’ve been bitten – at first.

Sandfly

Discovery/Animal Planet

There are two ways to get sick. Cutaneous leishmaniasis causes severe skin sores, while visceral leishmaniasis attacks the internal organs. You’ll know you have the skin kind within a few weeks or months of being bitten. If you get the kind that attacks your insides, it can be months or even years.

Leech

Discovery/Animal Planet

This bloody mess is the doing of a common leech. And if a leech can do that kind of damage, imagine what Tyrannobdella rex – the name means “tyrant leech king” – can do with its enormous teeth. So far he’s been spotted in the Upper Amazon in Peru – as if people who live in the rain forest don’t have enough don’t scary critters to worry about.

Threadworm

AP

This little nasty has a foot fetish. The threadworm, a.k.a. Strongyloides, is oddly attracted to the soles of the feet. Maybe that’s why mom always made us put on shoes in the backyard. The larvae enter the bloodstream and travel to the lungs, where they break through the tissue and move up to the throat.

Threadworm

Discovery/Animal Planet

They might give you a clue that they’ve made your body “home” by the pneumonia-like symptoms you get as larvae move through the lungs. Or you might just get itching and swelling, and sometimes a red line under the skin that marks when they’ve been on the move. Untreated infection can lead to organ failure and death.

Lungworm

Discovery/Animal Planet

It’s summer and you’re watching your diet – good for you. But watch out for lettuce. If you eat raw produce that’s hiding a tiny snail or slug, you might get infected with a sneaky little beast known as the rat lungworm. Seems snails and slugs can get the worm from eating rat feces – and then pass it along to humans.

Lungworm

Centers for Disease Control

Is escargot your thing? Make sure it’s fully cooked. Is your kid a fearless eater? Warn him to stay away from garden slugs – children have been infected by eating them on a dare.

Tapeworm

Discovery/Animal Planet

Planning a stay-cation? Don’t be lulled into a sense of false security. Make sure you cook your BBQ thoroughly so you don’t end up feeding your loved ones a side of tapeworm. Tapeworms attach to the intestinal wall, where they feed on nutrients from digested food.

Tapeworm

Discovery/Animal Planet

Tapeworms are looong.Typically, they grow to about nine to 15 feet, though some reach 50 feet. Often the host doesn’t even know it’s there until the worm gets really big. Expect the symptoms, if you have any, to be flu-like: headache, nausea, stomach cramps.

Babesiosis

AP

Maybe the chilly waters off Cape Cod are more your style. Still, don’t be cavalier about the ticks. In addition to the well-known Lyme disease, tick-borne illnesses include babesiosis, an illness sometimes called the Malaria of the North. Fire Island, New York, as well as Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts are favorite haunts. If you get bitten by this bug, symptoms can include fevers and shaking chills.

Malaria

AP

Lucky you, you have tickets to the tropics! But watch for mosquitoes. Some females can inject you with the malaria parasite, which takes up residence in the liver. Left untreated, the parasites multiply in red blood cells. At best you’ll feel like you have a bad cold. Worst-case scenario? Coma and even death.

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See What’s Eating Your Skin

Bedbugs

Furniture, wallpaper, mattresses, and clutter provide nesting spots for these small, flat insects. They like to live near people or pets, and they come out while you’re asleep to feed on your blood. Bedbugs don’t cause disease, but you might have an allergic reaction to their bite. If you scratch too much, the bitten area could get infected. Use antiseptic creams or lotions, or take an antihistamine, to ease the itch.

Lice

These insects live on your blood. There are three types: head, body, and pubic. Only body lice spread diseases. Since they crawl, you can get lice through close contact with someone. They lay eggs on you, and the itching starts when they hatch. You can treat them with over-the-counter and prescription medications and shampoos.

Scabies

A mite that digs into your body and lays eggs causes this condition. You get it from skin-to-skin contact with an infected person. Symptoms include itching at night, a pimply rash, sores, and crusty patches. You can treat it with a prescription medicine that kills the mites called scabicide.

Pork Tapeworms

You can’t get these bugs from eating pork, unless it’s raw or undercooked. Both people and pigs carry them, but they’re spread when you swallow the eggs from tainted food and water. You can also get them if you come in contact with the feces of someone who has them. They infect the intestines and brain, which can lead to a disease that causes headaches and seizures, called cysticercosis. Some people get better without treatment. Others need medication or surgery.

Brain-Eating Amoeba

People in the U.S. don’t have to worry as much about this parasite as people in Southeast Asia do. The bug, also known as N. fowleri, lives in warm freshwater, and it enters the body through the nose. It causes a condition that destroys brain tissue called primary amebic meningoencephalitis. Symptoms include headache, fever, vomiting, confusion, stiff neck, seizures, and loss of balance. Only experimental treatments are available now, so the survival rate is low.

Roundworms

Most of these bugs infect your intestines. But the one that causes trichinosis also affects your muscles.

Common roundworm diseases and their symptoms include:

• Ascariasis — belly pain
• Hookworm — blood loss
• Pinworm — anal itching
• Trichinosis — pain, fever, face swelling, pink eye, rash
• Whipworm — mucus, water and blood in stool, rectal prolapse (when part or all of the rectum slides out of place)

Your doctor may prescribe drugs to treat these infections.

Giardia

If you’ve ever been camping and you came down with diarrhea, gas, stomach cramps, bloating, and nausea, you’ve likely caught this bug. You get it through food or drinking water, or from contact with the feces of an infected person or animal. The illness can be treated with prescription drugs.

T. cruzi

This parasite causes Chagas disease, which can be life-threatening. People get infected from contact with the bug’s feces. Symptoms show up quickly as fever, fatigue, aches, headache, rash, loss of appetite, diarrhea, vomiting, and swollen eyelids. Later, it can lead to heart and intestine problems. Doctors treat the disease and kill the parasite with medication.

Cryptosporidium

This bug’s also called “crypto,” and it affects your intestines. It’s spread by contact with the stool of an infected person or animal. People tend to catch it from pool water, especially kids. The diarrhea it causes can last a long time, but it usually goes away on its own without treatment.

P. Falciparum

Some mosquitoes carry this parasite, which causes malaria. The disease kills more people than any other of its kind. It feels like the flu, and it causes body chills, fever, and sometimes nausea or vomiting. A doctor has to look at someone’s blood under a microscope to tell if they have it. Early treatment is best. Certain prescription drugs can cure most types.

T. Vaginalis

This parasite causes a sexually transmitted disease called trichomoniasis, the most common curable STD. Most infected people don’t have any symptoms, but some may notice itching, burning, or irritation of their penis or vagina. It’s treated with antibiotics.

D. Fragilis

Doctors aren’t sure how you get this parasite, which infects your large intestine. Some people have stomach pain and diarrhea, but others have no symptoms. It’s common in all parts of the world. Your doctor can prescribe medicine to help you get rid of it.

Toxoplasma

This bug makes its home in meat, water, and infected cat feces. It causes an illness called toxoplasmosis, which can feel like the flu. Pregnant women and people with weak immune systems can have serious symptoms, like cysts in the muscles, brain, and eyes. Usually it isn’t treated, but a doctor can prescribe medication for a severe infection.

Guinea Worm

This roundworm’s days of spreading disease are nearly done, thanks to health groups that teach people how to avoid getting infected. People catch the bug by drinking water from ponds infected with larvae. The worms mate and grow in the stomach, then burst out through a blister on the skin. Symptoms can include fever, swelling, and pain near the blister, but it usually takes a year after infection for warning signs to show up. There’s no treatment.

Good-Guy Parasites?

Parasites do a whole lot of bad, but some researchers are trying to find out if they might be used for good, too. Studies of “worm therapy,” in which you swallow parasite eggs to treat disease, show it helps relieve symptoms of colitis, Crohn’s disease, type 1 diabetes, and asthma. It’s still experimental in the U.S.

CDC – Loiasis – Disease

The deerflies (genus Chrysops) that pass Loa loa on to humans bite during the day. If a deerfly eats infected blood from an infected human, the larvae (non-adult parasites) will infect cells in its abdomen. After 7–12 days the larvae develop the ability to infect humans. Then the larvae move to the mouth parts of the fly. When the deerfly breaks a human’s skin to eat blood, the larvae enter the wound and begin moving through the person’s body.

It takes about five months for larvae to become adult worms inside the human body. Larvae can become adults only inside the human body. The adult worms live between layers of connective tissue (e.g., ligaments, tendons) under the skin and between the thin layers of tissue that cover muscles (fascia). Fertilized females can make thousands of microfilariae a day. The microfilaria then move into the lymph vessels of the body (the lymph vessels contain the blood cells that fight infection). Eventually they move into the lungs where they spend most of their time. These microfilariae enter the blood from time to time, usually around midday. It takes five or more months for microfilariae to be found in the blood after someone is infected with Loa loa. The microfilariae can live up to one year in the human body. If they are not consumed in a blood meal by a deerfly they will die. Adult worms may live up to 17 years in the human body and can continue to make new microfilariae for much of this time.

Most people with loiasis do not have any symptoms. People who get infected while visiting areas with loiasis but do not come from areas where loiasis is found (travelers) are more likely to have symptoms. The most common manifestations of the disease are Calabar swellings and eye worm. Calabar swellings are localized, non-tender swellings usually found on the arms and legs and near joints. Itching can occur around the area of swelling or can occur all over the body. Eye worm is the visible movement of the adult worm across the surface of the eye. Eye worm can cause eye congestion, itching, pain, and light sensitivity. Although eye worm can be scary, it lasts less than one week (often just hours) and usually causes very little damage to the eye. People with loiasis can have itching all over the body (even when they do not have Calabar swellings), hives, muscle pains, joint pains, and tiredness. Sometimes adult worms can be seen moving under the skin. High numbers of blood cells called eosinophils are sometimes found on blood counts. Some people who are infected for many years may develop kidney damage though development of permanent kidney damage is not common. Other rare manifestations include painful swellings of lymph glands, scrotal swellings, inflammation of parts of the lungs, fluid collections around the lung, and scarring of heart muscle.

Skin manifestations in parasite infection

Background:

Intestinal parasites stimulate IgE synthesis by their proteinases. Because of their ability to induce IgE production and mast cell degranulation (either directly, e.g. Ascaris, or via specific IgE) it is possible that some parasites induce allergic manifestations. Some parasites may be more allergenic than others due to their allergenicity. Genetic predisposition, nutritional status, and psychosocial variables of the host and the time and degree of allergen exposure may also play an important role.

The aim:

Of our study was to investigate which parasites are more frequently related to the skin manifestations and if atopic background of the host has a role in these skin allergic hives in intestinal parasites.

Material and method:

55 patients (13 men, mean age 36 years old) infested with digestive parasites were skin prick tested to inhalant allergens (house dust mites, pollens, animal dander) in order to evaluate the atopic status. All patients had allergic skin manifestations (rash and hives) and angioedema due to their intestinal parasites, which remitted after antiparasitic treatment.

Results:

Forty (73.3%) patients presented angioedema and 15 patients (26.6%) had chronic rash. Patients who were infected with Ascaris had more severe symptoms: more than 2/3 had angioedema, and only one third had chronic rash. More than 2/3 of the patients were infested with Ascaris lumbricoides: 38 patients (69.09%), and only one third were infested with Giardia lamblia: 18 patients (32. 72%). Only one third of the patients (17-30.9%) had positive skin prick tests for at least one inhalant allergen.

Conclusions:

The parasite most frequently implicated in skin allergic manifestations in our region is Ascaris lumbricoides. Acute angioedema or chronic rash are the major skin manifestations in parasitic infestation. The atopic trait has no importance in the appearance of allergic manifestations in parasitic infestation.

Is a skin-penetrating nematode searching for you?

Worms that burrow into your skin are the stuff that nightmares are made of, yet approximately one billion people across the globe are infected with parasitic round worms that enter the body this way. They belong to a group of parasites known as soil-transmitted helminths and their tiny infective larvae have developed sophisticated foraging strategies that are appropriate for their specific hosts; either cruising in search of hosts or waiting to ambush them and using olfactory cues produced by their hosts.

Strongyloides stercoralis is a skin-penetration nematode that infects humans and causes strongyloidiasis.

Larval Strogyloides stercoralis from a faecal sample. Image taken by blogger Yuri

It has a global distribution but is most common in rural areas of the tropics and semi tropics in communities where sanitation is poor and faecal material can contaminate the ground or the water supply. In the US, outbreaks of strongiloidiasis have been associated with institutionalised populations and veterans returning from tropical regions. Behaviours that put people in endemic areas at risk include walking bare foot, coming into contact with human faecal material and occupations such as farming and mining. The larvae can also be transmitted by textiles such a bed clothing or even in shower cubicles.

After penetrating the skin, the infective larvae are carried in the blood stream to the lungs. They are then coughed up into the throat and swallowed. They burrow into the lining of the small intestine and moult twice to become adult females.  Female worms in the intestine produce eggs without the need to mate, a phenomenon known as parthenogenesis. These eggs hatch in the small intestine and the larvae are expelled with the faeces. They can then pass through 2 moults to produce infective juveniles, the skin-penetrating stage, or develop into free living adults, mate and produce eggs that eventually give rise to infective juveniles.

Developmental cycles of Str. stercoralis. Adapted from Castelleto et al. 2014

S. stercoralis has a particularly complex life cycle as it can also give rise to autoinfections lasting many years. This happens if larvae that have hatched from eggs in the small intestine penetrate the intestinal mucosa, enter the blood stream and undergo the same journey through the lungs as their mothers did.

Michelle Castelletto, Elissa Hallem and colleagues have recently published the results of a comprehensive study comparing the diverse strategies that some of these soil transmitted helminths use to find their hosts. Their experimental work was focused on Str. stercoralis, and two rat parasites, Strongyloides ratti and Nippostrongylus brasiliensis and compared their host-seeking behaviour with two nematodes that actively invade insects (entomopathogenic), one that is passively ingested by sheep or goats (Haemonchus contortus) and the free living Caenorhabditis elegans.

By watching infective larvae placed on agar plates they were able to identify the well characterised host seeking strategy known as cruising; the human parasite being the most active and having a higher basal speed that the others. The crawling speed of this skin-penetrating nematode increased significantly at 37°C and movement tracks changed from being straight to being highly curved. In contrast, the passively ingested nematode deployed an ambush strategy, was far less active than the skin-penetrating nematodes and did not respond to thermal stimulation.

These researchers suggest crawling behaviour is adapted to the behaviour of the specific hosts; infection of rodents would occur near the host’s nests, thus requiring less mobility, whilst rapid mobility may be required to infect highly mobile humans and, being passively ingested, host seeking activity was not required of H. contortus.

Some nematode larvae are known to stand on their tails and wave their heads in the air to facilitate attempts to attach to passing hosts, a behaviour known as nictation (seen in the video of C. elegans in this link). The actively invading, Steinemema carpocapsae, an entomopathic nematode with ambushing behaviour, had a higher nictation frequency than the Strongyloides species and H. contortus did not display this behaviour at all.

A chemotaxis assay testing 36 different odourants showed that Str. stercoralis was attracted to an array of human skin and sweat odours which also attracted human-biting mosquitoes, whereas CO₂ was not found to be an attractant. Responses by 6 other species appeared to suggest they responded to specific host cues.

Adult Haemonchus cortortus the Barber’s pole nematode

Interestingly, H. contortus was attracted to the smell of grass and CO₂ that would be present in host breath and repelled by many skins and sweat odourants. The first and second stage larvae of this nematode feed on bacteria in dung and, as the life cycle proceeds they migrate away from the faeces to positions where they may be accidentally ingested by sheep or goats that are grazing on pastures. Thus response to a different set of odourants to Str. stercoralis is likely to favour successful ingestion rather than skin penetration.

Finally, larvae and adult worms in the free living alternate phase of the life cycle of Str. stercoralis were strongly attracted to the odour of host faeces, where they reside, but the infective, skin-penetrating juveniles were not.

The authors acknowledge that the behaviours they recorded may be substrate dependent and could vary if the infective larvae were monitored on different substrates. However, they conclude that similarity of foraging behaviour and response to odourants seems to reflect host specificity rather than how closely related the different species of nematodes were.

If you want to avoid cruising worms encountering your bare feet when travelling in endemic areas the best thing to do is to foil their host seeking behaviour by wearing robust sandals or shoes.

Six human parasites you definitely don’t want to host

Parasites are fascinating. They are uniquely adapted to survive, in some cases through very complex life cycles. There’s also research to suggest that some may even change the behaviour of hosts to assist them in their quest to reproduce. But you wouldn’t want to get one. Here are six of the most gruesome.

Giardia

Giardia duodenalis (or Giardia intestinalis, Giardia lamblia) is one of the most common protozoan parasites of humans and mammals.

Giardia intestinalis.
AJC1

You’re usually infected by ingesting the cyst stage of the parasite from water or food contaminated with infected faeces. Direct person-to-person spread can also occur from poor hygiene.

Once inside the body, the microscopic cysts develop into feeding stages (trophozoites) which multiply and colonise the small intestine. After passing through the intestines, they form new cysts that are shed in faeces, ready to infect new hosts.

Some infected people go on to develop giardiasis, an intestinal illness characterised by profuse pale diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, flatulence, fatigue and weight loss.

Giardiasis is found worldwide. Most cases are among travellers to areas where it’s common, children in day-care, or in people who drink untreated water. Giardiasis commonly resolves in a few weeks without treatment but in some people it persists and can cause malnutrition.

Guinea worm

Guinea worm (GW), Dracunculiasis medinensis, is a parasitic roundworm that causes Guinea Worm Disease (GWD) among people in poor rural areas with little access to clean water or health care.

Guinea worm has a complicated life cycle involving minute Cyclops water fleas. You pick up GW by drinking untreated water containing Cyclops infected with GW larvae. Cyclops die in the stomach, releasing the larvae which penetrate the stomach and intestinal wall, before moving into body tissues to mature into adults. After mating, the males die and females (up to 1m long x 1-2mm thick – think Angel hair pasta) migrate through the tissues to the surface of the skin, often in the feet/lower legs.

Guinea worm. Now on the retreat.
CDC

Infected people don’t usually have symptoms initially. But, about a year later, a painful blister forms which ruptures, often after immersion in cool water. The female worm emerges from the ulcer releasing millions of larvae which are then eaten by other Cyclops.

People may have more than one worm. There is no available treatment or vaccine. Instead, the worm is removed slowly by winding it around a small stick after it emerges: this may take weeks.

GWD isn’t fatal but the ulcer is intensely painful and debilitating and secondary bacterial infections can lead to blood poisoning. Livelihoods are affected if people are unable to stand or walk.

Thankfully, eradication programmes have left GWD relatively uncommon. Just 25 years ago, more than 3.5m people in 20 countries in Africa and Asia had GW. In 2012 there were fewer than 600 reported cases.

Dermatobia hominis (human botfly)

Dermatobia hominis, or human botfly, is found in tropical areas of Central/South America and the Caribbean and is one of several flies which can cause myiasis – ie tissue infection by a fly larva (maggot).

Adult botflies capture blood feeding insects (like mosquitoes or ticks) and lay eggs on their bodies in which larvae develop. When the mosquito bites for a blood meal, the larvae hatch and penetrate the tissue. Larvae feed on tissue just beneath the skin for up to 10 weeks, breathing through an airhole in the host’s skin.

If not removed, the larvae mature and erupt, dropping to the ground where they pupate for about a month.

Signs of infection include boil-like swellings where someone’s been bitten. Larvae might also move inside the lesion which can be felt.

Treatment involves surgical removal of the maggot or using petroleum jelly to block the airhole, which causes the maggot to pop out.

Filarial worm

Filarial worms are tiny roundworms that live in lymphatic and subcutaneous tissue, just below the skin.

Filarial worm.
Marc Perkins OCC Biology Department

Several species (for example Wuchereria bancrofti and Brugia malayi) cause lymphatic filariasis (LF), a disease seen in the tropics/sub-tropics of Africa, Asia, Western Pacific regions, South America and parts of the Caribbean, and commonly known as elephantiasis in its severest form.

In LF, microscopic larvae called microfilariae (MF) circulate in the blood. These are sucked up by feeding mosquitoes and, after further maturation, can transmit to another person when the mosquito feeds again. MF travel from the skin to the lymphatic system to develop into adults that can live for over five years. After mating, millions of MF are released back into the blood.

The lymphatic system maintains bodily fluid levels and helps to fight infections. In LF, adult worms living in lymphatic vessels and nodes cause damage resulting in fluid retention and swelling.

Most infected people don’t show symptoms but some develop significant swelling, usually in the legs, after repeated exposure. Secondary skin infections that cause skin thickening and hardening are common.

Elephantiasis.
CDC

Men can also suffer a huge swelling of the scrotum. Severe LF is disfiguring and disabling, and carries social stigma.

Drugs are available but some irreversible damage needs surgery.

Other species of filarial worm include Onchocerca volvulus, which causes “river blindness” and occurs mostly in Africa.

Vandellia Cirrhosa

Vandellia cirrhosa or “candiru” is a member of the cat-fish family found in the Amazon. It’s small (up to 5cm) and attaches to larger fish to feed on their blood using spines on its gill operculum.

Candiru is infamous for reportedly swimming into urethral openings of unprotected bathers. The majority of reports are based on unverifiable historical accounts and one recent but unsubstantiated case from Brazil where a man claimed that a candiru jumped out of the water following the stream of his urine and into his penis.

Better near your hands – where you can see them.
Hollyking

Candiru attack is now largely considered an urban legend, however it may still be wise to wear a bathing costume!

Chigoe flea/Jiggers

Chigoe or sand fleas (Tunga penetrans) – or “jiggers” – are small ectoparasites (they live on the surface of the host). The fertilised females burrow into exposed skin, commonly on the toes/feet, to feed on blood and tissue fluid and lay their eggs.

Jiggers live in warm dry sand (ie beaches) and soil (paths, parks etc) in tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, Africa and the Far East.

Jigger lesions.
Boyznberry

The embedded flea swells dramatically (up to the size of a pea!). This infestation resembles a blister with a black dot which is actually the legs, breathing apparatus and reproductive organs of the flea. After several weeks, eggs (there may be several hundred) begin to be laid and fall to the ground, hatching about three days later and emerging as adults 2-3 weeks later.

Pain and swelling are common even in single infestation and complications include secondary infections that can cause tetanus and gangrene and loss of nails and toes.

90,000 Influence of parasites on skin diseases

Having calmed down by the achievements of civilization and medicine, the population and doctors began to disdain the threat of parasitosis. A person can become infected with dozens of types of helminths that live not only in the intestines, they multiply successfully and can live for many years in the liver, lungs, genitourinary system, in the brain. The length of some helminths is measured in meters, and the number is considered not in pieces, but in kilograms.

Let’s analyze the concept of the food chain (pyramid). For its growth, the grass receives the energy of the Sun, as well as water, nutrients from the earth. The cow eats this grass, and the person who cannot directly use the listed factors consumes milk and cow meat. There are thousands of such food chains, but still at the top of them is the miracle of mother nature, man.

And suddenly it turns out that a living person continuously, day and night, serves as food for parasites, using it as a convenient environment for their habitat.This causes a shock. Often the life cycle of parasites is very complex, they are perfectly protected from the attempts of the owner to get rid of “uninvited guests”. To survive, they have the most developed reproductive system, producing hundreds of thousands or even millions of eggs per day. To ensure this process, there is a perfectly functioning digestive system, which takes away from the owner large volumes of the most valuable food components. That is, the parasite has 2 tasks – to eat a lot and reproduce quickly.

The parasite does not feed on leftovers, it is a person who eats up after his “guest”.This “guest” loves not only trace elements, vitamins, but also glucose for its rapid growth, hence the irresistible craving of the infected for sweets, gluttony. The consequences depend on the characteristics of the organism and the type of parasite – either a person loses weight, or is constantly gaining weight. Based on this, it is not surprising that the efficiency of the intestine of a modern person, according to nutritionists, is about 30%. Undigested food components, rotting products, in everyday terms, slags, are deposited in the body’s depot – these are various cysts, fibroids, adenomas, excess fatty tissue, etc.d.

Parasites shit where they eat. Toxins, their waste products accumulate in the human intestine, in the blood, and poison the internal organs. Over time, the lack of nutrients consumed by parasites turns into a deficit, and a person develops a whole bunch of diseases or pathological conditions, including lingering SKIN, allergic ones.

Parasites of cats, dogs, guinea pigs, rats, which do not reach full maturity in the human body and cannot be excreted like in these animals, are very dangerous.That is, once they enter the human body, they remain in it forever (sometimes in a living or “dormant” state for decades, as well as in cysts, granulomas). In this case, the brain, heart, liver, kidneys, broncho-pulmonary and lymphatic systems, intestines are affected, various persistent ALLERGIC, SKIN DISEASES or REACTIONS occur, immunodeficiency and tumor processes develop.

Immunity is the worst enemy of parasites, so they release special toxins that suppress the body’s defenses.The most vulnerable are the delicate cellular lymphoid (immune) formations of the intestine. The liver, the main laboratory of the body and an important link in the immune system, suffers from the accumulated toxins, as well as from the direct penetration of parasites. In such conditions, the weakened immune defense is limited not by the complete destruction of parasites, but only by a decrease in their number, activity, harmful effects and the possibility of further penetration into the internal organs and tissues of a person. Against the background of immunodeficiency, yeast fungi (candida), herpesvirus diseases, chronic foci (tonsillitis, sinusitis) are activated, bacterial infections acquire a protracted course, and tumor tendencies arise.

According to a number of American authors, 85-95% of the US population is infected with parasitosis. A number of domestic researchers believe that 100% of the adult population of the Russian Federation suffers from them, without knowing it. The difference can only be in the duration of the process, its intensity and the degree of harm caused by parasites to a particular person.

Parasites enter the human body mainly with water, food, inhalation of dust with eggs or cysts of parasites. For example, in one gram of cat feces, when it dries, it turns into dust, contains 20 million Toxoplasma cysts, which are very stable in the external environment.Infection can occur from a pet in the apartment, and from the contact of an adult or child with the ground, sand on the street, when cleaning the cat litter in the house. Scraps of hair of a dog, a cat, a hamster, a guinea pig, a rat with hordes of animal and human parasites stuck to them are flying all over the apartment.

I don’t think that after stroking a rat or a dog, you will immediately run to wash your hands with soap and hot water, or clean the apartment with a vacuum cleaner with a water filter several times a day, or take out the litter box 2-3 times a day (as parasitologists recommend) using rubber gloves …

According to statistics, until the 90s in different laboratories (from rural to large regional), approximately 1/3 of the feces analyzes determined helminth eggs. Now the percentage of positive results is close to zero.

Very important! There are more than 150 species of parasites, the ability to examine there is a maximum of 20, and then many conditions must be met! Therefore, we did not find parasites and they are not present, it is not at all the same thing!

For detection, a number of conditions must be met simultaneously. In particular, the body must contain mature females laying eggs. Meanwhile, the larval period, when helminths do not lay eggs yet, can last from 1 to 6 months. In addition, the interval between clutches (“empty period”) for each female can be from 3 days to 2 weeks. The piece of material where the helminth eggs are located right now must get to the study. With a CAREFUL examination of the material in the laboratory, a specialist can recognize ascaris eggs and another 2-3 types of helminths, and there are at least twenty of them only in the middle lane.We will not discuss the thoroughness of this inspection in modern conditions.

Modern immunological methods are complex, the answer is given only for one of dozens of human parasites. In addition, it can be far from unambiguous even with a positive result – it can be a reaction to a former infection, a false positive reaction to close parasites, etc.

In such conditions, numerous clinical signs of parasites, presented in section “B” of testing, are important, where each question has an important semantic meaning. And here dermatovenerologists have an important advantage: in addition to clinical signs, we also evaluate indirect skin signs of parasitosis.

The last item in section “B” is the skin symptoms of parasitosis. Here a dermatovenerologist assesses the significance of certain diseases (seborrhea, acne, urticaria, eczema, dyshidrosis) or skin conditions (dryness, pigmentation, wrinkles, cracks, peeling), hair, nails. That is, the dermatological symptoms described in the special literature as EXTREMELY PROBABLE SKIN MANIFESTATIONS OF PARASITOSIS are taken into account.

The dynamics of some of them makes it possible to assess the effectiveness of antiparasitic therapy.

Why are we discussing all this with you? Modern medicine, insurance companies, Western standards implemented in our country require the treatment of what hurts – that is, one disease, without paying attention to other significant processes in the body.

This contradicts the famous principles of the old Russian and Soviet medicine. Consider this situation.The patient is constantly treated by a neurologist for migraines, a pulmonologist for frequent bronchitis, a cardiologist for coronary artery disease, a dermatologist for eczema, a gastroenterologist (cholecystitis, pancreatitis, colitis), etc.

One of my teachers (Eric Viktorovich Zn) often combined these diseases with the following diagnosis – “ASCARIDOSIS” and achieved excellent results. Roundworms parasitize in the human small intestine, where they reach sizes up to 35 by 0.6 cm. The female lays about 250 thousand eggs every day, which from the intestines enter the external environment for further maturation.With the subsequent (new) entry into the human intestine, the matured egg of the parasite turns into a living, mobile larva, which “bores” the wall and vessels of the intestine, entering the general bloodstream (including the brain, heart, liver, kidneys …) with subsequent accumulation in the lungs (“breathe in oxygen”). During the journey, the larva doubles in size, feeds on the host’s blood serum and erythrocytes, leaving toxins and waste in its bloodstream. When it enters the capillaries (size from 7 to 30 microns), the larva, which has grown to 2-3 mm, leaves behind a “bloody trail” of ruptured vessels.From the alveoli of the lungs, the larva rises into the pharynx (hence – cough, chest pains, sore throat, salivation), is swallowed with saliva and, finally, again enters the intestines, where it turns into an adult parasite. The accumulation of parasites and their waste products (toxins) is accompanied by abdominal pain, nausea, stool disorders, pain in muscles, joints, neurological disorders, headache, itching, hives, acne, etc. With a small number of parasites, these symptoms are smooth.Abdominal pain, colic can occur when roundworms of the same sex predominate, and then, in search of a sexual partner, they can behave “violently”, migrate to unusual habitats. Cases of transplacental infection of the fetus from the mother during pregnancy have been described, which is confirmed by the departure of adult ascaris in newborns.

Here is one example of counseling. The young man is in a state of moderate severity, extremely emaciated, although his appetite is preserved. Persistent anemia, episodes of abdominal pain, skin rashes with itching, loose stools.In the analyzes (crops) pathogens of dysentery, other intestinal infections were not identified, the eggs of worms were not identified. Infusion therapy, various antibiotics are ineffective. All consultants, including surgeons, therapists, bacteriologist, immunologist, virologist, pulmonologist, gastroenterologist, do not find their “pathology”. The neurologist recommended the consultation of a psychiatrist, as the patient complained of “wiggling in the abdomen.” An additional survey revealed that he lived for a long time with his grandmother, who kept cows and abundantly fertilized the garden with manure.Preventive deworming was performed. Many medical workers of the institution gathered to look at the helminth emerging from the intestines in large “segments” of many meters. The patient recovered quickly. The parasite was identified as a BULL CHAIN ​​(tapeworm, unarmed tapeworm, as opposed to a pork tapeworm “armed” with special hooks on its head). The length of this parasite reaches 12 meters. A feature is that the last segments of it can come off and leave the human intestine, while moving independently.

The modern immunological methods used for laboratory diagnosis of parasitosis are complex (immunochromatographic determination of antigen or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for antibodies in the blood) and at the same time are not very informative for a number of reasons (including it should be borne in mind that each analysis is tested for one of 150 possible human parasites). In our clinic, we use a simple and extremely effective method for diagnosing parasitosis and fungal invasions: the study of a native (living) drop of blood under dark-field microscopy.Our diagnosis is based on the fact that if the parasite is microscopic, then it is carried by the blood stream (for example, hookworm) and we have the opportunity to see it under a microscope, and if it is large, then its eggs or larvae can also be found in the blood. The study is carried out within 15-20 minutes, we take a drop of blood from you with a sterile disposable non-traumatic lancet and place it under the microscope cover glass, the picture is immediately displayed on the monitor screen, the doctor shows and tells everything.

A comprehensive antiparasitic program is being carried out by us in order to increase the effectiveness of therapy for an existing SKIN DISEASE or other pathology that may be associated with the presence of parasitosis, for example, in the complex therapy of autoimmune diseases.

A single intake of antiparasitic chemotherapy drugs gives a short-term effect, it is recommended to supplement it with a supporting complex. In our clinic, we are against chemotherapy drugs, since they are extremely toxic and do not give a 100 percent result with a single application regimen.We prefer the appointment of a complex of herbal anthelmintic drugs, which give excellent results in the absence of toxic manifestations. But you need to understand that the treatment of parasitosis is a long thing, we prescribe at least 3 courses with a frequency of 1 every six months, with this approach we get excellent results in the treatment of pathological conditions and diseases of the skin and internal organs. Experts consider it expedient to conduct such a course to “practically healthy” people annually, and to those who have the symptoms described above – again during the year.Remember! Until the end of the 1980s, prophylactic antihelminthic courses in schools and kindergartens (spring and late summer) were mandatory.

Source: http://nk-doctor.ru/article/parazitoz/

90,000 Demodectic mange (subcutaneous tick) in dogs – symptoms and treatment

Parasitology

Demodex canis mites are part of the normal fauna of the skin and are present in the skin and ear canals of many healthy dogs without causing disease.However, with a decrease in immunity, these microscopic mites begin to multiply in the hair follicles and their appendages, which leads to skin damage and hair loss. These parasites can live only in the skin, however, when examining the tissues of dogs that died as a result of the disease, they were also found in internal organs, as well as in urine, blood and feces. Nevertheless, this should be considered an accidental finding, since demodex breathes oxygen and cannot live without air in the internal organs. The detection of mites outside the skin is associated with the drift of dead mites from the inflammatory focus with blood or lymph.

The entire life cycle of Demodex takes place only in the skin of an animal, including eggs, larvae, nymphs and adult parasites. Once in the environment, ticks quickly die, surviving no more than an hour at room temperature. In laboratory conditions, these ticks survived for up to a month, but it was not possible to infect dogs with them.

What a subcutaneous tick looks like in dogs can only be seen in a photo from a microscope, since the size of ticks does not allow them to be seen with the naked eye and is less than 0.3 millimeters.

Photo. Demodex canis mite with a microscope magnification of 400 times

How can a pet get infected?

The causative agent of the disease Demodex canis is a part of the skin fauna of healthy dogs; it enters the skin of a newborn puppy by contact with the mother’s skin in the first days after birth. It is not possible to infect a healthy dog ​​from a sick dog.

Why does demodicosis occur?

Where does the subcutaneous mite come from? Once in the skin of newborn puppies, the demodex mite is present in the skin in small amounts throughout the dog’s life, without causing illness, since a healthy body is able to keep the mite population under control.The cause of the disease – demodicosis – is genetic factors and impaired immunity. Predisposing factors include age, short hair, inadequate feeding, estrus and pregnancy in bitches, stress, internal parasites, chronic diseases, malignant tumors, and immunosuppressive medications such as steroid hormones.

Clinical signs of demodicosis

According to the clinical course, localized (with a small number of foci) and generalized (spreading over large areas of the skin surface) demodicosis, as well as juvenile demodicosis (in puppies and young dogs) and demodicosis of adult dogs, are distinguished.

The characteristic signs of a subcutaneous tick in dogs are alopecia (hair loss), skin redness, peeling. These lesions are not accompanied by itching. Typically, such lesions occur in the muzzle, especially around the eyelids and lips, as well as in the limbs and trunk. With localized demodecosis, several limited lesions are noted. With this form in puppies, if they do not receive drugs that suppress immunity, spontaneous recovery is possible without treatment. In this case, after one to two months, wool begins to grow on the affected areas.

Demodectic mange can also be manifested by excessive production of sulfur in the external auditory canal, which leads to cerumenous otitis media, accompanied by increased production of sulfur, in which case the dog may begin to scratch his ears. These animals should be treated rather than spontaneously cured.

Photo. Cerumenous otitis media in a West Highland White Terrier with generalized demodicosis. Redness of the auricle, abundant excretion of sulfur

Photo. Multiple alopecia (areas of hair loss) and skin redness caused by demodicosis

In case of impaired immunity, localized demodicosis is the initial stage of generalized disease, in this case the symptoms of demodicosis in dogs progress, and the disease becomes severe.Therefore, treatment is recommended for dogs with many localized lesions. Generalized demodicosis is a serious skin disease that usually begins with multiple, indistinctly limited lesions that rapidly enlarge. In the lesions, hair loss is observed, while some of the hairs stick together in bunches, the skin turns red, then blackens, looks oily, becomes covered with scales and crusts. When a secondary bacterial infection is attached, edema develops, crusts, pustules and boils are formed.Some dogs develop bumps and nodules that, when pressed, release pus or bloody contents, and the lesions may become oozing.

Photo: Demodectic mange in a dog: loss of hair in the muzzle with redness of the skin and crusts before and one and a half months after the start of treatment.

Photo. This is how generalized demodicosis in dogs manifests itself: multiple lesions with loss of hair, crusts, pustules with bloody discharge

Demodectic mange, if it first appeared in a dog only in adulthood, is associated with impaired immunity.The reasons for this may be hormonal disorders (insufficient thyroid function, Cushing’s syndrome, etc.), leishmaniasis, and malignant tumors. Drugs such as hormones, corticosteroids and chemotherapy drugs for tumors can also lead to demodicosis. Unfortunately, in 50% of adult dogs with demodicosis, the cause of the decrease in immunity cannot be determined during the initial examination. Nevertheless, these animals need not only to undergo a course of treatment for demodicosis, but also to be left under the supervision of a doctor, since the reasons that have a negative effect on immunity, such as malignant neoplasms or hormonal disorders, can only be revealed after a few months.If it is impossible to eliminate these diseases, lifelong treatment may be required.

Pododemodecosis is a type of disease when the skin of the fingers and interdigital spaces is affected, often complicated by bacterial infections. A dog with pododemodecosis should be treated in the same way as in the generalized form, regardless of the number of affected limbs.

Photo. Pododemodectic mange in West Highland White Terrier with generalized demodicosis: hair loss, discoloration, crusts

In case of detection of symptoms of demodicosis in dogs, it is necessary to conduct microscopy of scrapings from the skin or trichoscopy (examination of the hair under a microscope), and if a subcutaneous mite is found, start treatment as soon as possible.

Subcutaneous tick in a dog: what to do?

If you suspect this disease, you should contact a veterinarian dermatologist who knows how to save a dog from demodicosis. To confirm the diagnosis, the doctor will conduct an examination and microscopy, and if a subcutaneous mite in a dog is found in scrapings from the skin, he will prescribe appropriate medications and, if necessary, additional studies to find out the reasons for the decrease in immunity.

What is the danger of a subcutaneous tick for dogs?

Generalized demodicosis is a dangerous skin disease that can even be fatal due to exhaustion, intoxication and secondary bacterial infections.

However, once confronted with this problem, dog owners and breeders often think they know how to remove the subcutaneous tick from the dog. Indeed, you can use an Internet search for “demodicosis in dogs treatment drugs” or “demodicosis in dogs treatment regimen” and find a way to cure demodicosis in a dog. However, demodicosis occurs as a result of exposure to a number of factors that lead to a decrease in immunity and allow the mite, normally present in the skin in small quantities, to actively multiply, which contributes to skin inflammation and the development of secondary bacterial infections.The waste products of many mites enter the dog’s bloodstream, which can lead to dysfunction of internal organs and exhaustion. In addition, serious illnesses such as Cushing’s disease, diabetes mellitus or cancer can cause demodicosis in adult and elderly dogs, and the loss of time without treatment in these cases can be fatal.

Demodectic mange in dogs: Treatment

How to cure a dog from a subcutaneous tick? For many years, the diagnosis of subcutaneous tick sounded like a death sentence, as no effective treatment for demodicosis in dogs had been developed.They tried to treat sick animals using folk remedies, they were smeared with ointments with an unpleasant odor, treated with kerosene, sprinkled with various powders, but, unfortunately, often dogs with demodicosis had to be euthanized. In the mid-90s of the last century, treatment regimens for demodicosis appeared, however, some drugs were very expensive, others were time-consuming for the owner, consisted of regular labor-intensive procedures, and still others led to neurological disorders, seizures and death in some dogs.Fortunately, all of these treatments are in the past, now most veterinarians know how to treat demodicosis in dogs. A convenient and safe method at the moment are tablets for demodicosis for dogs, based on drugs of a new group – isoxazolines. They are increasingly being used by pet owners to protect pets from fleas and ticks. One of these drugs for demodicosis and other external parasites is Simparica, which has a therapeutic and prophylactic effect for 5 weeks.

How long does it take to treat demodicosis in dogs? The dog should receive drugs for at least a month after clinical recovery and the absence of mites in the skin scrapings. In most cases, the course of treatment is 2 to 4 months, provided that the causes of the decrease in immunity are controlled. In some situations, when the dog is forced to receive drugs that negatively affect the immune system, for example, with chemotherapy for malignant neoplasms or with constant treatment with hormonal drugs of some autoimmune diseases, the use of drugs to control demodicosis will be much longer, and will be carried out in parallel with these drugs for a period of the entire course of treatment with them, possibly for life.

In case of localized juvenile demodicosis in dogs up to a year, no treatment can be carried out for at least 4-6 weeks, and in case of spread of the lesions, therapy can be started.

Prevention

A caring owner understands that it is better to take preventive measures than to treat a subcutaneous mite in a dog. Unfortunately, collars, shampoos, sprays and most spot-on drops applied to the skin cannot protect or cure a dog from demodicosis. Since this disease is not contagious, the underlying causes of the development of demodicosis are a decrease in immunity and a genetic predisposition.Therefore, it is not recommended to use in breeding dogs with generalized demodicosis. For puppies whose parents had demodicosis and, unfortunately, they were used in breeding, for prevention purposes, you can regularly use drugs for subcutaneous ticks in dogs. It is quite safe and convenient as these drugs also help prevent infestation by fleas, ixodid mites and scabies. For example, taking Simparic tablets on a monthly basis can prevent your pet from developing demodicosis, despite the genetic predisposition.Simparic tablets are given in accordance with the weight of the dog from two months of age, regardless of feeding, often dogs eat this tablet voluntarily.

Another important step in prevention is quality feeding and good living conditions, which are important for maintaining the dog’s immune system. Unfortunately, long-term use of drugs that suppress the immune system is a common cause of demodicosis in adult dogs. Especially dangerous are hormonal drugs, often used to relieve itching in dogs with allergies.It must be remembered that a dog who has had generalized demodicosis will be prone to relapse in case of prolonged use of drugs that suppress immunity. What to do in the event of an allergic reaction accompanied by itching, if the dog, for example, has been bitten by midges, or there is an exacerbation of atopic dermatitis on flowering birch, or the dog accidentally ate foods to which it has food allergy ? In this case, in agreement with the attending physician, you can take a short course of the drug Apoquel, since it helps quickly and can be used to relieve acute itching in dogs with exacerbation of allergic diseases.But it is important to know that in this case Apoquel is prescribed in parallel with drugs that inhibit the development of demodicosis, for example, with Simparica. Apoquel can be given at any time of the day, regardless of feeding, at 0.4-0.6 mg per kilogram of dog’s weight 2 times a day, while there is itching, as the itching decreases – once a day is enough. It is important to limit the “every 12 hours” regimen to two weeks, then reduce the intake of Apokvel to 1 time per day. It is worth avoiding the use of the drug Apoquel for puppies under one year old, adult dogs during mating, pregnancy and lactation, as well as dogs with progressive oncological diseases without the consent of a veterinarian.

In the case of generalized juvenile demodicosis, which has a genetic predisposition, it is recommended to exclude such animals, as well as their parents and littermates, from breeding.

Fortunately, modern means can cure dogs even with generalized demodicosis and they are not doomed to death, as it was before!

Author: Anna Nikolayevna Gerke, veterinarian, veterinary clinic “SovVet”, St. Petersburg, candidate of veterinary sciences, member of ESVD, scientific editor of the heading “Dermatology” VetPharma

90,000 Itching in dogs due to parasites

Introduction

Parasitism is life at the expense of the host organism, which can be any animal or person.This is the most common way of existence of living things in nature. Therefore, it is not surprising that parasites in dogs are a common cause of itching and skin diseases.

Some of them live only on animals and are transmitted by direct contact with sick dogs or cats, others live in the environment, and healthy dogs can become infected simply by walking in the forest or on the lawn near the house. In addition, a dog can become infected with parasites without even leaving the apartment through contact with street shoes or through a mosquito bite.

Types of parasites of domestic animals

Parasitic insects, mites and even helminths can live on the skin of dogs. Most often, parasitic insects – fleas are found on the skin of dogs. These are small, mobile parasites up to 4 mm in size, which can be seen with the naked eye. Although fleas live on dogs and cats, their eggs, larvae and pupae are found in the environment, such as dust or carpet. Often fleas cause allergic dermatitis, for the treatment of which one treatment of the animal may not be enough and additional treatment is required, prescribed by a veterinarian.

Another insect parasite in dogs is the louse, the causative agent of trichodectosis. The size of this parasite is about 2 mm, they live on dogs and are transmitted by contact from sick dogs. In the environment, Trichodectes do not live long, the entire development cycle lasts about a month.

Other common parasites in dogs are subcutaneous mites, which can only be seen under a microscope. For example, scabies in dogs, or sarcoptic mange, is caused by the parasitic mites Sarcoptes scabei (var.canis). Their size is only 0.2 – 0.5 mm.

Another parasitic cause of itching in dogs is heiletiosis, popularly referred to as “fermenting dandruff”. This disease is caused by the mite Cheyletiella. The tick size is small (only 0.2 – 0.4 mm), which makes it impossible to see it with the naked eye. This mite causes itching and severe flaking of the skin and, moving along the surface of the skin, dragging these scales, gives the impression of moving dandruff.

Ear scabies, or otodectosis, is caused by the microscopic ear mite Otodectes cynotis.This parasite is most commonly found on microscopic examination of earwax in dogs with itchy ears. Dogs can become infected not only from sick animals, but also from hidden carriers that do not show signs of the disease, but can transmit otodectosis, sarcoptic mange, or cheiletiosis. It is important to remember that skin parasites can also be transmitted through care items, and even fleas can carry eggs and parasitic mites.

The subcutaneous mite Demodex canis causes a severe skin disease called demodicosis in dogs, which is not contagious.This mite is normally present in small amounts in the skin of healthy dogs, without causing harm, however, with a decrease in immunity, Demodexes begin to actively multiply and cause skin lesions and hair loss.

With a mild course of demodicosis, young dogs can recover without treatment. Nevertheless, the severe course of demodicosis with extensive lesions leads to a further aggravation of the decrease in the immune response, and often to secondary bacterial infections. In such cases, the animal may even die from exhaustion and blood poisoning.Dogs with a generalized form, as well as adult and elderly dogs with demodicosis, treatment is necessary.

Photo. Mite Demodex canis, causative agent of demodicosis
dogs, under the microscope

Photos. Puppy with generalized demodicosis before and after treatment

Can helminths cause itching and skin lesions in dogs? Most dog owners think of helminths as worms that live in the digestive system.Obviously, these intestinal parasites can lead to a weakening of the body, exhaustion, and increased allergic reactions. A number of helminths, such as the cucumber tapeworm of Dipylidium caninum, can itch at the base of the tail.

In addition, there are helminths that develop directly in the skin. For example, larvae of the pelodera (Pelodera strongyloides), a free-living nematode that lives in rotting organic substrates (such as wet sawdust or soil), can cause itchy skin inflammation in dogs and humans.These helminths are invisible to the naked eye, their small size, less than one millimeter, allows L3 stage larvae and females to penetrate the skin. Most often, peloderosis develops in summer, but when dogs are kept in enclosures on rotting sawdust or in stables, it can be off-season.

Cutaneous dirofilariasis is another dermatosis caused by helminths. Infection of dogs with dirofilaria repens, much less often Dirofilaria immitis) occurs through the bite of a mosquito or mosquito during the hot months.

Since it is not possible to completely avoid mosquito bites, the regular use of drugs that have a detrimental effect on microfilariae (dirofilaria larvae that enter the dog’s blood) can protect the pet from this disease.

Symptoms of infestation of a domestic dog by parasites

Fleas

The first sign that a dog has fleas is itching, especially in the abdomen, neck, sides, back and tail.Obvious lesions may not be present, or they may be represented by small red spots.

In dogs that are allergic to flea saliva, even a single flea bite can cause severe itching, and the fleas themselves may not be detected. With intensive infection, the wool becomes thin, dull, and you can also find fast insects, flattened from the sides, or their feces in the form of dark grains.

As a result of flea bites and allergies to their saliva, secondary inflammation of the skin can develop with extensive redness of the skin, pustules and crusts.Gradually, the coat falls out, the skin darkens and thickens.

Photo. Scratching, hair loss and skin redness in the neck and scalp
caused by flea bites.

Photo. The same dog with an itch. Note the dry, sparse coat
on the back and croup.

Photo. The same dog with itching associated with flea dermatitis allergic
. Look for sparse coat and skin redness.

Subcutaneous pliers

Microscopic parasitic mites are often the cause of hair loss and itching. With heiletiosis, itching, peeling of the skin with the formation of profuse dry dandruff, and baldness are noted. Most often, the disease begins in the back area. Sarcoptic mange is characterized by intense itching, redness of the skin, baldness (alopecia), crusting, especially along the edge of the ears, on the elbows, chest and lower part of the pelvic limbs. With extensive damage, depletion and poisoning of the body with toxins is possible until the death of the animal.

With otodectosis, or ear scabies, the main lesions are observed in the area of ​​the auditory canals – the dog scratches the ears and neck area, while in the outer ear they find abundant dark dry discharge, reminiscent of dry tea leaves.

Often, otodectosis is complicated by purulent inflammation of the outer ear (external otitis media), then the infection can spread to the middle and inner ear with the development of neurological disorders (head tilt, impaired coordination, convulsions, involuntary eye movements, etc.).etc.).

With demodicosis, bumps (papules), hair loss (alopecia), at first focal, later extensive, peeling, crusts, pustules with bloody contents are noted. The dog gives off a characteristic “mouse” smell. Demodectic mange is rarely accompanied by itching, however, with the development of bacterial complications, itching may develop. If skin diseases caused by subcutaneous mites are suspected, microscopy of scrapings and plucked hairs from the affected areas is performed to confirm the diagnosis and treatment.

Photo. Focal hair loss (alopecia) and skin erythema
in a dog with demodicosis.

Helminths

Roundworm larvae can cause specific skin diseases – helminthiases. One of the rare cutaneous helminthiasis is peloderosis caused by infection with the free-living round helminth Pelodera strongyloides. The disease manifests itself more often on areas of the skin in contact with contaminated soil or litter (limbs, abdomen, chest, tail).

Sick dogs have reddening of the skin, hair loss in the affected areas, itching is possible. A secondary infection often develops, in which case crusts appear or the lesions become moist. The diagnosis is confirmed by detecting helminth larvae by examining skin scrapings or plucked wool under a microscope.

Another cutaneous helminthiasis – cutaneous dirofilariasis – is manifested by chronic inflammation of the skin with the formation of nodules and nodes ranging in size from 0.5 cm to 4 cm, crusts, and sometimes ulcers on the skin of dogs.The head and limbs are more often affected, although the lesions can be observed in any other area. The disease is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito or mosquito.

In case of intestinal helminthiasis, in addition to signs of digestive disorders (vomiting, unstable stools), exhaustion with increased appetite and quality feeding, the quality of wool may deteriorate. When infected with cucumber tapeworm, which is transmitted through fleas and their larvae, wiggling fragments of tapeworm, reminiscent of rice grits, can be seen in the feces of infected dogs.Some dogs with this condition have itching at the base of the tail.

Treatment and prevention of parasitic lesions

Despite the widespread prevalence of parasitic diseases in dogs, at the moment there are drugs that can not only rid the dog of parasites, but also prevent infection.

For the control of fleas and ticks, including diseases such as otodectosis (ear mites), sarcoptic mange (scabies) and demodicosis, it is convenient to use Simparica tablets.For the treatment and prevention of these parasitic diseases, a monthly intake of Simparica is sufficient according to the instructions. You can give Simparic tablet to both adults and puppies that have reached 8 weeks of age with food or separately.

For the treatment and prevention of infestation by fleas, lice and scabies mites and round helminths, Stronghold drops can be applied to intact dry skin in places inaccessible for licking. The drug quickly spreads throughout the dog’s body, and even washing with shampoo two hours after applying Stronghold does not reduce its effectiveness.

The drug is used for the treatment and prevention of canine diseases caused by parasites; it is used for adult dogs and puppies that have reached 6 weeks of age. To prevent infection with dirofilariasis, Stronghold drops must be applied monthly throughout the entire flight period of insects. To prevent infection with peloderosis, it is important not only to treat dogs with drugs that are active against roundworms, but also to exclude dogs from contact with contaminated soil and rotting bedding.

In case of ear scabies, or otodectosis, the ear canals are cleaned with lotion, if necessary, a course of treatment with anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial drops is carried out in agreement with the veterinarian. Fortunately, annoying acaricidal agents are no longer required to be applied to the inflamed ear canal to kill ear mites. For the treatment of ear scabies, Stronghold drops can be applied to the intact skin of the neck or the Simparic tablet can be given by mouth. To prevent infection with ear mites in animals going outside, it is recommended to carry out treatments on a monthly basis.

For the speedy improvement of the condition of dogs with sarcoptic mange and peloderosis, they are washed with therapeutic antiseptic shampoos according to the instructions. To reduce itching in adult dogs, Apokwell tablets can be used as directed at a dose of 0.4 – 0.6 mg / kg twice a day, regardless of feeding, for several days while itching is present.

It should be borne in mind that the duration of treatments for parasites is due to their biological cycle
and the ability to survive in the environment.For example, the developmental cycle of Heylethiella proceeds completely
on an animal, usually only lasts three weeks. However, under unfavorable conditions, the parasite can remain viable for up to 90 days, therefore, in the case of cheiletiosis, it is recommended to repeat the treatment of all animals for 3 months. With sarcoptic mange, the recommended course of treatment is two months.

The need for treatment of the apartment also depends on the development cycle of the parasite. For example, in the case of fleas, a dog or cat is home to about 5% of the flea population, and eggs, larvae, and pupae are found in dust, carpets, crevices, or bedding.Therefore, it is important to handle both the animals and the habitat.

To do this, you can use sprays, aerosols or regularly apply to the animal preparations that allow you to affect the flea population in the environment, for example, Stronghold drops. It is known that regular monthly use of this drug for several months allows you to destroy the flea population in the immediate environment of the dog.

It is important to treat parasitic diseases in all susceptible animals in contact with a sick dog, even if they are clinically healthy.For example, dogs, cats and rabbits are ill with heiletiosis, so all pets will have to be treated. In this case, it is necessary to strictly follow the instructions for the drugs, since animals may have a species intolerance to certain groups of drugs. For example, drops and sprays based on fipronil are fatal to rabbits, and pyrethroids are deadly for cats.

Despite the rather high risk of infection of a pet with parasites, timely preventive treatment with antiparasitic drugs can prevent many diseases.

Author: Author: Anna Nikolayevna Gerke, veterinarian at the SovVet clinic, St. Petersburg, candidate of veterinary sciences, ESVD member, scientific editor of the Dermatology rubric VetPharma

90,000 The doctor warned Russians about parasites capable of penetrating the skin through water: Society: Russia: Lenta.ru

Parasitologist, candidate of biological sciences Elena Chernysheva, in an interview with the Moscow 24 TV channel, warned Russians about the danger of cercariae parasites capable of penetrating skin through water while swimming in bodies of water.

The specialist explained that cercariae are larvae that breed in dirty and warm water, in which animals and birds swim with people. “The larvae penetrate directly through the skin. It is irritating and causes an allergic reaction. It looks like insect bites, which also do not pass just like that, “- said Chernysheva.

The doctor emphasized that in the bodies of water permitted for bathing, people may not face such a problem. But in other bodies of water, there is a risk of encountering cercariae, even if you just wet your feet in the water.

Chernysheva advised, in case of contact with parasites, to treat the affected area with an ointment that relieves itching. Fever may rise, so she recommended consulting a doctor about the need to take antigestamines. At the same time, she noted that everyone’s disease can proceed differently, but children tolerate it worse. After bathing, dry yourself thoroughly with a towel and shower if possible.

Earlier Natalya Senyagina, associate professor of the Department of Infectious Diseases of PIMU, warned Russians about cercariasis, better known as “bathers’ disease”.She noted that cercariosis is an acute parasitic disease. It develops in people swimming in bodies of stagnant water.

On July 2, it was reported that a serious surge in the incidence of cercariosis was recorded in the capital region. The Russians began to turn to dermatologists with complaints of itching, fever and blisters all over the body. It turned out that patients swam in bodies of stagnant water to escape the heat. Dermatologist Inna Petrosova noted that the culprits of the disease are cercariae – helminths living in the organisms of waterfowl and wading birds.

The teenager developed parasites under the skin after being buried on the beach

The parasitic worms settled under the skin of an American teenager who buried himself in the sand on the beach. Doctors warn that sand can contain eggs of dangerous parasites, so even walking on it without shoes is unsafe.

Seventeen-year-old American Michael Mulhollen Dumas was vacationing on a beach in Florida. When he returned, there were several small red blisters on his feet, which his mother Kelly mistook for mosquito or tick bites.A few days later, however, blisters appeared on the back of the legs, and then on the buttocks. The itchy rash forced the family to see a doctor.

It turned out that parasites had settled under the teenager’s skin.

The doctor discovered that Michael had symptoms of an infection with roundworm larvae – hookworm infection. It belongs to the diseases characteristic of the poor strata of backward countries. The teen story was published in The Washington Post magazine.

The causative agent of hookworm infection is parasitic roundworms from the genus Ancylostoma.Human beings are infected by larvae that enter the body through the skin from the environment or together with contaminated food or water. Adult hookworms settle mainly in the duodenum, stick to the mucous membrane, damage it and feed on blood. Symptoms include weakness, fatigue, anemia, and bowel dysfunction.

Worm larvae are found in the faeces of infected people and animals. They can be infected simply by walking on the ground or sand on which they fell.

Michael didn’t just walk along the beach. He buried himself in the sand entirely, up to his neck.

The doctor prescribed antibiotics and anthelmintic drugs to the teenager. The days passed, but there was no noticeable improvement. Then the family turned to a dermatologist, who suggested cryotherapy – treatment of the affected skin with liquid nitrogen.

But during the treatment of the legs, Michael asked the doctor to stop. “I can feel them running away from liquid nitrogen,” he said.

There are two types of hookworms – animal and human.In fact, both of them can infect a person, but only the second settles in the intestines. The first is unable to adapt to the human body and its representatives usually stay where they are. They try to move under the skin, resulting in an itchy rash. Unable to mate or even reach maturity, they die.

Michael was infected with hookworm animals. Itching and pain were caused by their migration under the skin.

In such cases, antiparasitic drugs are usually used.But even without them, the larvae usually die within a few weeks.

Michael also had to treat a staphylococcal infection brought in during infection. If untreated, staphylococcus aureus can lead to life-threatening conditions.

His mother posted on Facebook photos of the teenager’s feet, affected by worms, and said the cost of treatment – it cost almost $ 1,500.

“Never bury yourself in the sand and don’t let your children do it! – She wrote.- I just show some pictures because it is very disturbing. Please, please pray for his healing. And you can freely share this post and warn other people. The Pompano Beach Health Department told us, “Everyone knows to wear shoes on the beach to avoid picking up parasites.” I assured them that not everything! ”

Michael is now receiving the necessary drugs and is awaiting the death of all the larvae. “I won’t wish anyone what my son went through,” says Kelly.”And I will never go to the beach without shoes.”

Not only worms can settle under the skin, but also snails . This happened to an 11-year-old boy from Los Angeles. The family went to the hospital with symptoms of an abscess on the boy’s elbow – swelling and redness of the skin. However, the child did not complain of pain and itching.

After examination, the doctors decided to drain the abscess to get rid of the pus. But there was very little pus in it – the main space was occupied by what the doctors described as “a small, dark-colored foreign body.”

“Foreign body” on closer inspection turned out to be a cochlea with a diameter of 4 mm.

It was probably a littorina, a gastropod mollusk that grows up to 25 mm in diameter.

The boy said that he slipped on rocks in one of the tidal bodies of water on the ocean coast, about 11 km from the city of Long Beach, near the port of San Pedro. Falling, he hit his elbow and flayed his skin. The parents treated the abrasion, but after a while the skin in this area turned red and swollen. Apparently, a clam egg got into the abrasion on the elbow.It developed successfully and a small mollusk hatched out of it. This whole process contributed to the appearance of an abscess.

Doctors allowed the boy, visibly agitated by this incident, to keep the mollusk for himself – to brag to his friends. But he, unfortunately, died a day later.

90,000 Scabies. To know, so as not to be afraid – St. Petersburg State Budgetary Healthcare Institution Dermatovenerologic Dispensary No. 11

Despite advances in the diagnosis and treatment of scabies, the problem of the incidence of this dermatosis remains relevant.According to official statistics, the incidence of scabies in Russia in recent years has been about 100 cases per 100,000 population. However, this indicator is actually much higher, since not all cases are registered, a rather high percentage of self-medication of the disease.

The reasons for the high incidence rate of scabies are currently social (poverty, inadequate sanitation and hygiene measures, early sexual activity, migration, increased travel), medical (contagious incubation period, atypical form of scabies) and mainly immunological ( decreased immune responses in humans to scabies mites (Sarcoptes scabiei hominis).

The first descriptions of scabies were made over 2500 years ago. Scabies is described in the Old Testament and in the writings of Aristotle. In ancient Greece, scabies was referred to a group of skin diseases united by the term “psora”. In ancient Rome, scabies was called “scabies”, this name has survived to this day. In medieval treatises, assumptions were made about the parasitic nature of scabies. Reliable evidence of the role of scabies mites in the development of the disease appears only after the creation of an optical microscope.In 1687, the Italian physician Giovan Cosimo Bonomo and the pharmacist Giacinto Cestoni first described the connection between scabies mites and typical skin symptoms following infection. It was they who first established that the disease can be caused by a microscopic organism. A complete and reliable description of the etiology and pathogenesis was given in 1844 by the German dermatologist Ferdinand Gebra. This manual was translated into Russian by A.G. Polotebnev in 1876.

Scabies is a disease caused by a mite (Sarcoptes scabiei) that can parasitize human skin.The scabies mite is ubiquitous, and at least 300 million patients are registered annually in the world.

Infection occurs from patients with scabies, as well as through contact with clothing and bed linen, on which there are ticks.

After fertilization of the female, the male dies, and the females bore holes in the human skin, in which they lay up to 50 eggs. The development of mites from egg to sexually mature parasites occurs within 4 weeks. Adults live up to 2 months and feed on host tissues, i.e.e. skin. In this case, areas of delicate skin are affected. Grain mites, as well as mites of horses, pigs, dogs, sheep, goats, cats, birds, can also parasitize humans. Animal mites on human skin do not parasitize for a long time.

Clinical picture

The latent period from the moment the tick hits the skin and up to the clinical symptoms of the disease can be from 7-10 days to 4-6 weeks. Its duration depends on the massiveness of the primary infection.

The leading clinical symptom of scabies is itching of the skin, especially at night, when the patient gets warm.The female itch mite makes holes in the skin in the form of longitudinal or sinuous grayish-white lines with two black dots at the entry and exit of the itch mite. The stroke length is 3-10 mm, and therefore their pairwise arrangement is noticeable. There may be a nodule, vesicle, or reddish crust at the entry site of the scabies mite. When scratching a secondary infection, pustular rashes appear. Favorite localization of skin lesions in scabies: abdomen, lateral surfaces of the body, skin between the fingers, lateral surfaces of the fingers.

In young children, the process often involves the palms, soles, scalp, face and neck, where itch burrows can be found.

When scratching, the passages are opened with nails and mites are spread throughout the body.

The disease can persist for several years without treatment. There may also be erased forms of the disease, when itching is mild and a small amount of rash elements in atypical places.

Diagnostics

The presence of severe pruritus in typical areas with characteristic eruptions is the basis for suspicion of scabies.The final diagnosis will be made by a dermatologist after a special examination. This must be done due to the fact that other skin diseases can also occur under the mask of scabies: neurodermatitis, eczema, pruritus, urticaria, allergic rashes, toxicoderma, etc.

Prevention

It is necessary to highlight the personal and public prevention of invasion. Personal involves observing hygiene rules when dealing with animals and sick people, as well as observing personal hygiene when visiting public places.Patients are isolated and not allowed into the children’s team until the scabies is completely cured. Other family members should be examined for scabies.

Public prevention consists in the timely identification and effective treatment of patients, anti-epidemic measures in baths, hostels, kindergartens, as well as sanitary and educational work. Patients’ linen must be boiled, and clothes and bedding are processed in disinfection chambers.

To provide qualified medical care to patients with skin rashes, you can contact St.

st.Tchaikovsky, building 1 (tel. 273-54-61)

st. Stremyannaya, building 4 (tel. 713-12-94)

90,000 Atopic dermatitis in children | Regional Skin and Venereal Disease Dispensary in Khabarovsk

Atopic dermatitis is a skin disease with an allergic nature and a chronic course. The development of pathology occurs in several stages with the appearance of specific rashes. The appearance of rashes is accompanied by severe itching and causes anxiety in the child.

Why does atopic dermatitis develop in childhood?

Factors predisposing to the onset of the disease in babies can be:

· intake of food allergens into the body;

infection of the skin;

· hereditary predisposition;

· neglect of hygiene rules;

· constant stay in stressful situations;

· intolerance to climatic or environmental conditions;

· dust mites (example of nonspecific factor).

Food allergens as causes of atopic dermatitis in children vary by age. In the smallest, allergies can develop to protein components that make up food. They are found in cow’s milk, cereals, honey, fish, soybeans, nuts, and eggs.

As a person grows up, they may lose sensitivity to food components. But it also happens that the characteristic symptomatology for a certain product manifests itself throughout life.

Aeroallergens – the second most important group of factors provoking atopy on the skin. They are household, pollen and epidermal irritants that enter the body through the respiratory system. Dust, or rather its “population” in the form of mites, often becomes a fiend of household allergens. The parasites feed on skin flakes. Cases of epidermal allergy in children are reported after contact with pets.

Exacerbation of atopy in the spring and summer months may be associated with the spread of plant pollen through the air.But if we discard everyday, natural and nutritional factors, disturbances in nervous activity may come to the fore. The affected skin transmits specific signals to the nervous system, which the brain returns to the body with neurotic disorders. But if they were already a problem for the child, the disruptions only exacerbate the course of the disease.

Microorganisms – a separate group of causes that cause atopic eczema in babies. The disease is often complicated by bacterial infections.Their pathogens include Malassezia yeast and Saures bacteria. The yeast synthesis process serves as a favorable condition for the development of atopy.

The number of non-specific irritants is made up of chemicals and detergents with which the baby was in contact. The problem of atopy can also appear as a result of wearing clothes made of rough fabrics or clothes washed in powder with ingredients harmful to baby’s skin. The identification of non-specific influencing factors occurs by the method of exclusion.

Age features of the course of the disease

Experts explain the definition of three forms of atopic dermatitis in children by different clinical symptoms that depend on the age of the patients. Let’s consider them in more detail.

1. Infant form occurs up to 3 years.

2. The nursery develops in the period from 3 to 12 years.

3. Teenage affects boys and girls 12 – 18 years old.

In each age period, skin changes have their own morphological characteristics.From 3 to 6 months atopy is manifested by erythematous elements on the cheeks. They look like a milk crust, serous erosions and papules. Peeling of integuments develops. In addition to the cheeks, the disease also affects:

forehead;

auricles;

scalp;

· extensor surfaces of arms and legs.

When the baby is at the age of 6 months. up to 1.5 years, atopy is expressed by edema, hyperemia and the expiration of exudate.Eczema affects the mucous membranes of the genitals, nose, eyes, digestive tract, urinary and respiratory systems.

From one and a half to 3 years, the papules merge and form a single foci called a strofulus. Babies experience dryness and hardening of the skin tissue. Strengthening the natural pattern indicates lichenification of the skin. Basically, changes are observed on the flexion surfaces of the limbs and, in rare cases, they occur on the feet, neck and wrists.

Regardless of the baby’s age, the acute stage of atopy can disappear as suddenly as it appeared.However, this does not mean complete self-destruction of pathology. She simply hides in the body and waits for a suitable occasion to activate. Therefore, the disease should be treated immediately, as long as there are clear signs. For the age range 3 – 5 years, the development of persistent neurodermatitis is characteristic. The disease affects only the flexion areas of the limbs. What atopic dermatitis looks like in children of different ages is shown in the photo:

Clinical signs of atopic dermatitis in children are expressed by changes in the skin, in nervous activity and worsen their quality of life.The disease always proceeds with itching. In connection with this unpleasant phenomenon, children become restless, aggressive and all the time strive to scratch the itchy integument. Because of this, sleep is disturbed. As a result, scratches appear on the body, through which pathogenic microbes can easily penetrate and complicate the course of the disease. The disease will become a danger to the health of the child only in the absence of treatment.

Therapy of neurodermatitis in children is not limited to the prescription of medications. Treatment should be comprehensive under the supervision of a physician.The most important thing is adherence to diet and limitation of contact with possible allergens. Since the constant exposure to the allergen on the body causes an aggravation of the disease. After stopping the exacerbation, the skin of such children needs special care using hypoallergenic detergents and emollients. In order for the treatment to be successful, you need to seek medical help on time and clearly follow all the doctor’s recommendations.