Parasitic worm study removed after pictures of British couple’s buttocks published by tabloids | The Independent

The British Medical Journal has pulled a paper on parasitic worms after the subjects of the study ended up having photos of their buttocks published by tabloids.

An unnamed husband and wife contracted the infection on the island of Martinique during a Caribbean cruise.

While enjoying a trip to the beach, the couple reported feeling an initial burning sensation on their skin as they sat on the sand.

A day later, the 52-year-old woman noticed a rash of “red pinprick marks” had appeared across her buttocks, according to the BMJ report.

The pair later sought treatment at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where doctors told them they had cutaneous larva migrans, also known as hookworm larvae.

They were both treated with medication to treat parasitic infections after a round of steroids and antibiotics they were given on the cruise ship failed to work.

But trouble arose when Dr Douglas Maslin at Addenbrooke’s decided to share the case through the BMJ after noting a “lack of familiarity with the condition” had delayed his team from making a diagnosis.

Photographs of the couples’ infections posted alongside Dr Maslin’s report were soon picked up by several tabloids.

Within days of the findings being published, the photographs were being run next to stories with headlines such as “Caribbean getaway leaves a nasty souvenir” and “Beach couple left with burning red rashes on their backsides”.

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The exposure proved too much for at least one of the subjects, as the BMJ has now accepted a request to remove the study from its records.

“This article has been withdrawn”, the BMJ website now reads in the place where the article once was.

“With no admission of liability, BMJ has removed this article voluntarily at the request of the patient concerned.”

Addenbrooke’s Hospital has been contacted for comment.

Back-to-school worms to watch out for

The most common worm infection in the United States is pinworm, and the people most likely to get this roundworm infection are children and those who care for children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen in a day care or preschool setting or when children could go back to school in the fall,” said Peter Jay Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Although the “ick” factor for pinworms is high — they crawl around the anus and lay eggs — they usually amount to nothing more than irritable and sleepy kids.

However, toxocariasis and cysticercosis, other common worm infections in the United States, could invade the brain and hinder a child’s performance in school. “We should think of (toxocariasis) at back-to-school time,” Hotez said. “If this is interfering with learning and you treat it, this is something that could improve learning in the United States.”

Here is a look at the most common worm infections in the United States, and how to spot and prevent them.

Pinworms

It is hard to put a number on how many people suffer from pinworms in the United States each year because there’s no national system for tracking infections. But pinworms, known to parents as one of the grossest infections in children, are probably less common today thanks to better hygiene, Hotez said.

People get infected by swallowing pinworm eggs, which get on their hands through touching contaminated bedding or towels, or when caretakers wipe an infected child. Worms hatch and live in the intestine, but crawl through the anus and lay their eggs around the buttocks, which can cause intense itching. The eggs can then be passed to other people.

“Washing hands with soap and water after using the toilet or before preparing food and keeping fingernails clean is most important,” Hotez said.

Most infections are pretty mild, and symptoms are no more drastic than itching, lost sleep and irritability. Still, pinworms can crawl into the appendix and are thought to be responsible for a small number of appendicitis cases in the United States. They’ve also been linked to infections of the urinary tract in boys and girls, and the genital tract in girls. Related: Kansas City sees spike in shigella infections among children

Oral medications such as albendazole and mebendazole do a good job of killing the worms, which are about the size of a staple. The drugs are safe for children at least 2 years old, and those younger than 2 can usually take a smaller dose.

Often, doctors will prescribe one of these drugs to a child with symptoms without even testing for the worms, Hotez said. However, when deciding whether to treat other people in the house who do not have symptoms, it’s good to do a diagnostic test, he added. This can be done by pressing clear tape against the skin around the anus and looking under a microscope for eggs stuck to the tape.

Dientamoeba

Creepy, crawly worms may not be the only thing children have to worry about when they get pinworms. There is some indication that microscopic parasites called dientamoeba can hitch a ride on pinworm eggs and get into the intestines, where they can cause diarrhea, abdominal pain and fatigue. The symptoms resemble those of irritable bowel syndrome, and some experts have even suggested that dientamoeba could be one of the causes of this common gut disorder.

People who have dientamoeba, which is diagnosed by testing stool samples, should take antiparasitic medication, such as metronidazole or secnidazole, Hotez said. It is not clear if these infections are serious or carry other risks, but the symptoms can be painful, he added.

Because the parasite gets into the stool, it is important for people with dientamoeba to wash their hands well after going to the bathroom.

Toxocara

Even though pinworms are officially considered the most common worm infection in the United States, Hotez suspects they have actually been surpassed in prevalence by the roundworms that cause toxocariasis, a much more serious disease that can have a range of health effects and possibly even affect a child’s ability to learn.

Whereas pinworms are “more of a nuisance than a medical problem, (toxocariasis infections) are definitely issues that are concerning,” said Dr. Francisca Abanyie, a medical officer at the CDC’s Center for Global Health.

Infections occur when people eat eggs from the roundworm, which is called toxocara. The eggs are spread by dog and cat feces, and they are common in soil and sandboxes. Surveys have found them in as many as 39% of sandbox samples in Kansas but less than 1% of soil samples from parks in New Jersey. A study by the CDC suggests that between about 10% and 20% children 6 to 11 years old have been infected with roundworm, although many cases probably did not lead to symptoms.

Unlike pinworms, toxocara do not confine themselves to the intestines. Instead, the roundworm larvae wiggle their way into the bloodstream. They can travel to organs such as the lungs, liver and nervous system, where they can cause coughing and asthma, fever, enlarged liver, cognitive problems and epilepsy.

Related: How to avoid the ‘back-to-school plague’Toxocariasis may be partly responsible for the fact that children in very poor areas of the United States, where roundworms are more prevalent, perform less well in school, as Hotez said in a recent editorial in JAMA Psychiatry.

The medications used for pinworm, albendazole and mebendazole, can treat toxocariasis. The trick is diagnosing the disease, because its symptoms can be confused with other diseases, Hotez said. His lab is working on developing diagnostics for toxocariasis, and he hopes children will eventually be tested routinely every year.

Cysticercosis

Another one of the most common worm infections in the United States is cysticercosis. The infection starts when people ingest tapeworms from contaminated pork that has not been cooked properly. The tapeworms take root in the intestine, produce eggs that get shed in the stool, and people who accidentally eat the eggs develop cysticercosis.

Tapeworm eggs can go anywhere in the body, including the skin, brain and other organs, although many infections never lead to symptoms, said Paul Cantey, a medical epidemiologist in the Center for Global Health.

A CDC report found that there were 18,584 hospitalizations for neurocysticercosis, which occurs when infections invade the brain and cause symptoms, between 2003 and 2012. Seizures are the most common symptom associated with neurocysticercosis, and children seem to be more likely than adults to experience them, Cantey said.

People with neurocysticercosis are usually first treated with antiepilepsy or anti-inflammatory medication to reduce the symptoms, and then medications such as albendazole to clear the infection.

Threadworms

What and Why? 

Threadworms are far the most common worm infestation of humans, which we do not share with any other animal. Eggs have been found in faeces 10,000 years old so they have probably been around as long as we have. Read all about it and discover some harmless tricks to beat this nuisance once and for all.

About 60% of school children and up to one in five adults are currently affected in developed countries, without much regard for poverty or social class; so most families have them at some time or other. Fortunately they are harmless but discovering for the first time that you or your children have them is a nasty shock and symptoms can be quite a nuisance. Getting rid of them is easy, but keeping free requires constant vigilance if you have school age children, or if your work puts you regularly in close contact with people.

Adult female worms are white and about 10mm long, so they are quite easy to see; their resemblance to pins or threads accounts for their various names. They live in your lower bowel and a few get excreted by accident, but they are easily overlooked in your faeces unless you are heavily infested. You will rarely see a male worm; they are smaller, and only survive long enough to fertilize a female. Her 11,000 eggs are then laid in relays, during expeditions outside your anus onto the skin of your buttocks, usually in the evening or at night. The worms’ wriggling movements set you itching; if you scratch yourself in your sleep the eggs get under your fingernails and all over your hands. From there you quickly spread them to your face, nose, eyes and mouth; others on your bedding and clothes can survive for anything up to two weeks before dying. A child who sucks his thumb can consume a great many eggs in a very few days and may consequently get so many adult worms in his bowel that they obstruct it and cause colic or are mistaken for appendicitis.

The female worms go on laying for four to six weeks before dying, by which time their eggs have had a chance to be consumed and develop in your intestine to adults in their turn; each generation takes about two weeks. So it only takes a month or so for quite a small initial contamination to become a serious nuisance in an unguarded family.

What can I do?

Advice to maintain and maximise your health

1. If no-one in your family has symptoms, relax. Your defences are pretty good already!

2. Maintain good hygiene: Get everyone to scrub their finger-nails with a good nail-brush (bristles still straight and springy) very first thing every morning, along with thorough washing of their hands and faces. This is the keystone of worm prevention. If you never swallow any eggs from your own worms they die out within six weeks and any chance infection from outside your family will get nowhere. Everyone will have to keep their finger-nails manageably short however, for this to work perfectly.

3. Wash clothes and bedding: If any of your children suck their thumbs or fingers and worms are about, get them to wear two pairs of pants at night (or one pair plus pyjamas) and launder these daily. Change all bed-linen as soon as you discover an outbreak, and be careful not to billow it about in your haste to get the job done. Keep dirty linen in a closed bin-liner or separate clothes basket until you can get it all washed.

4. Garlic: A whole clove of garlic with its outside skins removed as if for cooking, and moistened with oil, makes an excellent suppository to reduce heavy infestation. Be careful not to bruise the garlic, and to oil it well, or it will make the skin around your anus feel uncomfortably hot; but many worms will be shed with your next bowel action. Two or three cloves of raw garlic, chopped and swallowed quickly with water when fasting, reinforce and prolong this effect. Fresh horse-radish is a less readily available alternative.

5. Herbal remedies: It is hard for children to cope with hot-flavoured herbal remedies, so try these others instead. Raw rose-hips have barbs on them which ensnare threadworms quite effectively. Break the hips out of their pods, and mix them with jam or peanut butter so that you can swallow them whole. Grated raw carrot is also effective, and no hardship at all for most children. Sage tea (1 teaspoon of herb to pint of water) is a useful complement to either of these.

6. Powerful one-shot remedies are available from your doctor, but need to be repeated after two weeks to catch newly hatched adult worms. They are not a satisfactory method of long-term control.

7. Roundworms are much larger, the shape and size of earth-worms. They are also far less common, have a more complicated life cycle, and can produce significant disease in your lungs as well as your intestine. All the above measures still apply and will successfully protect almost everybody; but if you pass a large worm you should certainly consult your doctor to be sure the infestation is cleared up completely.

British Medical Journal’s photos of buttocks bit by worms a bit too revealing for patients

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Warning, graphic photo: While sunbathing on a beach in Martinique, a British woman suddenly felt burning on her backside

Author of the article:

Fred Barbash, The Washington Post, Washington Post

Publishing date:

Feb 28, 2018  •  February 28, 2018  •  4 minute read  •  Join the conversation A British couple received bites from worms on a beach while on vacation in Martinique. Photo by Petr Kovalenkov /Getty Images

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Medical and scientific journals withdraw or retract articles on a regular basis, usually because of errors discovered or questions raised about the research described. A few days ago, however, a highly unusual “correction” appeared in the prestigious British Medical Journal announcing the withdrawal of a case study titled “Cutaneous larva migrans with pulmonary involvement.”

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The article, which was not retracted, contained no errors. The BMJ simply said in the undated note that “with no admission of liability, BMJ has removed this article voluntarily at the request of the patient concerned.”

Here’s what happened.

While sunbathing on a beach in Martinique, a British woman suddenly felt a burning sensation on her backside. The next day, she woke up to find a nasty rash of “red pinprick marks” on her bottom.

To be clear, the removal of the article does not amount to a retraction and the journal stands by its factual content

Soon her husband broke out with the same rash in the same unfortunate place.

While they received treatment in Martinique in the form of steroid cream, antibiotics and antifungal medication, the irritation did not subside. The voyage home, 10 days on a cruise ship, must have been uncomfortable.

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Nor was the rash gone when they got home.

So they went for treatment at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, England. Doctors there found their backsides “infested by worms,” as the Cambridge News reported. Thecouple found relief from a combination of medications.

The doctors thought their case so interesting they wrote it up for the British Medical Journal. The journal did not use the name of the patients. But as journals often do in case studies, it accompanied the text with photos – in this case, of their backsides, from different angles, in full color.

The couple gave their permission and were warned that journal articles were often read by journalists as well as medical professionals, the BMJ said in an email to The Washington Post. But the couple apparently had not anticipated the potential for tabloid interest.

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By mid-January, their buttocks were spread across Britain and, indeed the world, with headlines such as “Til Rash Do Us Part” in The Sun and “Caribbean getaway leaves a nasty souvenir” in the Daily Mail.

These were not your typical titillating tabloid photos. They were shots from various distances of behinds bearing inflamed red blotches.

Many tabloid readers found them gross.

“A description would have done,” commented one reader of Britain’s Daily Mail, adding that “we didnt need to see the evidence.”

“Does the DM pixelator have a day off today?!?,” wrote another.

“Thanks – that’s put me right off my cheese & ham toastie,” wrote a third.

Like the journal article, the stories did not include the names of the patients or say where they lived or when they visited Martinique.

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But there was enough information – the age of the woman, the island, the cruise, the hospital – that the couple apparently felt that acquaintances conceivably could have made the connection.

One of the patients – the journal didn’t say which one – got in touch with BMJ and “explained that they were concerned about being identified by close friends and/or colleagues, as a result of the subsequent media coverage,” the publication said in a statement emailed to The Post.

“Prior to publication of the article, written consent from the patient was obtained,” said the statement. “By signing the consent form, the patient indicated their understanding that complete anonymity could not be guaranteed and it was also made clear in the consent form that BMJ publications are viewed by many non-doctors, including journalists.”

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“The patient’s concerns did not amount to a legal threat,” it added. ” . . . Nevertheless, the journal took the editorial decision to remove the article, because of the distress the patient had suffered.

” . . . To be clear, the removal of the article does not amount to a retraction and the journal stands by its factual content.”

A spokesman for the hospital, part of Cambridge University Hospitals, also issued a statement: “The case study was shared with the BMJ with the aim of medical advancement, to aid other clinicians, and potentially help the treatment of future patients with similar conditions. Because the article was being picked up in non-medical publications, a request was made for it to be removed.”

1. There are as many types of cruises as there are plates on a buffet. What floats your boat?

2. If you want to avoid bed bugs, don’t leave your dirty laundry in your room, new study says

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In fairness to the tabloids, there was some news and public service value to the stories useful to people planning on visits to tropical or subtropical beaches.

The diagnosis, as described by Livescience, quoting the no-longer-accessible case study, was “cutaneous larva migrans,” otherwise known as a hookworm infection.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people pick up this nasty parasite from the feces of dogs and cats. If those dogs and cats happen to poop on a beach, sunbathers can contract the infection.

In the case of the British couple, the infection found its way into their lungs, causing coughing, and in the woman, shortness of breath and pain.

The advice from the CDC for those visiting such beaches: “wear shoes and use protecting mats or other coverings to prevent direct skin contact with sand or soil.”

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Filariasis | DermNet NZ

Author: Vanessa Ngan, Staff Writer, 2008.

What is filariasis?

Filariasis refers to parasitic infection caused by filarial parasites. The clinical manifestation and treatment of filariasis depends on the type of filarial parasitic worm (nematode) involved. The following table lists the parasite and the filarial disease caused.

All filarial infections cause some type of skin problems in addition to systemic manifestations.

How do you get filariasis?

Filariasis is predominantly a disease of tropical countries and affects the lives of millions of people. Filariasis is spread from host-to-host via the bites of certain flies and mosquitoes that act as vectors for the parasites. For example the filarial nematode Onchocerca volvulus enters the skin from the bite of an infected blackfly (Simulium species). The nematode is in its third larval stage before it moults to its fourth larval stage in 4-6 weeks. Then after some months it moults again to become a juvenile adult that matures and mates after about a year to produce microfilariae. These adult worms live and mate encased in fibrous nodules just below the skin surface and can live there for up to 10-15 years.

It has been discovered that a type of Rickettsia (Wolbachia spp.) has a symbiotic relationship with filarial nematodes. The bacteria initiates the filarial disease process with a severe adverse inflammatory reaction.

What are the cutaneous signs and symptoms of filariasis?

The cutaneous signs and symptoms vary depending on the type of filarial infection.

Onchocerciasis

Onchocercal dermatitis is the most common sign/symptom of onchoceriasis. The skin becomes very itchy and a red spotty rash is often present. Scratching often leads to bleeding, ulcers and secondary infections. The lower trunk, pelvis, buttocks, thighs and legs appear to be the most affected. Microfilariae are the main cause of this dermatitis.

In addition to onchodermatitis, nodules containing adult worms called onchoceromas develop just below the skin surface. These nodules can be up to several centimetres in diameter and are usually firm, flattened or bean-shaped, movable and non-tender. They most often occur over bony parts of the body such as the skull, ribs, scapulae, elbows, and knees.

If left untreated, onchoceriasis can lead to chronic skin changes. Skin loses its elasticity and layers of the skin start to die and form scar tissue. This very thin wrinkled skin results in an elephant-skin appearance that later turns into something like lizard skin.

Bancroftian and Malayan filariasis (lymphatic filariasis)

The most obvious symptom of lymphatic filariasis is elephantiasis. This is a condition where the limbs swell to the point that they resemble an elephant’s foreleg in size, texture and colour. This thickening of the skin and swelling of underlying tissues is caused by parasites lodged in the lymphatic system, a network of channels, nodes and organs that maintain proper fluid levels in the body. Elephantiasis appears to be due an immune response to the dead and dying worms in the lymphatic system. Mainly limbs, breasts and genitalia are affected. Without treatment continued lymphatic damage will lead to irreversible elephantiasis.

Loiasis

The initial bite from a redfly infected with the Loa loa parasite causes redness, swelling and itching. As the parasite moults to larval stage 4 it causes red urticarial papules (itchy red spots) in the skin of the affected area. Then over the next 3 months or more as it develops into the adult form, patients may experience pain and numbness of the affected area, temporary swelling of a limb, itchiness and occasionally hives.

Mansonelliasis

Most patients infected with M perstans do not experience any symptoms. Newcomers to an endemic area who become infected appear to experience more symptoms than local inhabitants. Symptoms include swelling of the arms, shoulders, and face; abdominal pain; itchiness; fatigue; and joint pain.

The most common symptom of a patient infected with M streptocerca is chronic itching dermatitis that is often confined to one part of the torso. Constant scratching may thicken the skin.

Dirofilariasis

Humans are poor hosts for this filarial parasite as the worm usually dies before reaching sexual maturity. However in recent years there has been a reported increase in the number of human dirofilariasis cases. The head, neck, breasts, arms, legs and scrotum are most commonly affected. A flesh-coloured to red inflamed tender nodule develops. This can be painful and cause burning and itching.

How do you treat filariasis?

There are four key treatment methods available:

• Antihelminthic therapy (orally or by injection)
• Antibiotic therapy (against the symbiotic Wolbachia bacteria)
• Surgical excision
• Needle aspiration/injection

Treatment depends on the infecting parasite.

How can you prevent filariasis?

The best way to prevent filariasis is by preventing spread of the parasites by vector control. This means eliminating or controlling infected flies and mosquitoes. Research is underway to find a biological agent that will eliminate the vector and is inexpensive, non-toxic to humans and deployable on a large scale.

For some filarial infections long-term or intermittent treatment with antihelminthic therapy have been suggested.

Cutaneous larva migrans, creeping eruption, sand worm

Cutaneous larva migrans is the most common tropically acquired dermatosis. It is characterised by erythematous, serpiginous, pruritic, cutaneous eruption caused by percutaneous penetration and subsequent migration of larvae of various nematode parasites.¹ It is most commonly found in tropical and subtropical geographic areas; however, because of the ease and the increasing incidence of foreign travel by the world’s population, cutaneous larva migrans is no longer confined to these areas.

We report a 2 year old girl who presented with a four month history of itchy rash on her thigh. There was a history of travel to Jamaica before the onset of the rash. She had a serpigenous, erythematous, itchy rash on the back of her right thigh. She was successfully treated with thiabendazole.

The larvae of the dog hookworms A braziliense, A caninum, and U stenocephala, together with certain other parasites, produce in humans a skin eruption which differs from that caused by “human” hookworms. Most infections are due to A braziliense. Infections occur on sandy bathing beaches, in children’s play areas, and by contact with pet sandboxes. Lesions are most common on the lower legs and buttocks, but also occur on the arms, hands, and face.²

The larva, after penetrating the epidermis, is unable to enter the blood or lymph streams and instead burrows just below the corium, travelling up to an inch a day. Papules mark the site of entry and advancing end of the larva, and the tunnelling causes linear, slightly elevated erythematous and serpigenous areas which itch intensely. Vesicles may form along the course of the tunnels and scaling develops as the lesions age. They may develop secondary bacterial infection. The most common sites in children are the buttocks and the dorsa of the feet, but any area can be affected. The eruption generally disappears after 1–2 months, but may present for 6 months or longer.

TREATMENT

The time honoured treatment for cutaneous larva migrans is by freezing of the area with ethyl chloride or similar refrigerant sprays. Diethylcarbamazine or thiabendazole can be used. Thiabendazole can also be used topically.³

Consent was obtained for publication of this figure

REFERENCES

1. ↵

   Knight R. The hookworms. In: Warrell DA, Cox TM, Firth JD, eds. Oxford textbook of medicine. Oxford University Press 2003:799–800.

2. ↵

   Goldsmid J, Kibel MA, Mills AE. Cutaneous larva migrans. In: Campbell AGM, McIntosh N, eds. Textbook of paediatrics. Churchill Livingstone 1998:1490–1.

3. ↵

   Van den Enden E, Stevens A, et al. Treatment of cutaneous larva migrans. N Engl J Med1998;339:1246–7.

The parent’s guide to symptoms and treatment

Endless coughs and sneezes, runny noses, and unexplained itchy bumps—kids seem to be a magnet for germs. In our parent’s guide to childhood illnesses, we talk about the symptoms and treatments for the most common conditions. Read the full series here.

What is ringworm? | Symptoms | Ringworm vs. other rashes | Diagnosis | Treatments | Prevention

True or false: Ringworm is caused by a creepy crawly that burrows under the skin? Most people are surprised to find out that this condition has nothing to do with worms. Rather, it’s a contagious skin infection that easily spreads after direct contact with an infected area. It’s common—at least 20% of people have at least one infection in their lifetimes—but it’s also treatable, usually without serious complications.

What is ringworm?

Ringworm, also known as tinea or dermatophytosis, is a fungal infection that affects the skin and nails. There are 40 different species that cause ringworm, falling into three genuses: Trichophyton, Microsporum, and Epidermophyton. The condition gets its name from its hallmark symptom: a round, itchy rash. 

“It can present on almost any part of the body except for the mucosal skin,” says Anna H. Chacon, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based in South Florida, who serves on the advisory board for Smart Style Today. “I have seen it on the face, genitalia, trunk, extremities, and scalp. It can have varying degrees of severity.” The infection is referred to differently depending on where it presents.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it’s called:

• Tinea pedis on the feet (commonly referred to as athlete’s foot)
• Tinea cruris on the groin area, inner thighs, or buttocks (commonly referred to as jock itch)
• Tinea capitis on the scalp
• Tinea barbae on the beard (commonly referred to as barber’s itch)
• Tinea manuum on the hands
• Tinea unguium on toenails and fingernails
• Tinea corporis on other parts of the body, such as arms or legs

Ringworm of the scalp and body are the most common types of ringworm in young children. The other forms are rare before puberty: They generally affect teens and adults.

There are 40 different species that cause ringworm, falling into three genuses: Trichophyton, Microsporum, and Epidermophyton.

How do you catch ringworm?

“Ringworm is spread through direct contact—often from person to person, contaminated surface to person, or pet to person,” says Ashanti Woods, MD, a pediatrician at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. “Often one touches a contaminated surface and has the fungus on their hand. They then scratch themselves and embed the fungus that was on their hand into their skin.”

Ringworm infections often occur in schools, childcare centers, community gyms, and pools. It can be carried on any surface, but some of the highest risks include:

• Surfaces that are wet or damp
• Towels, combs, brushes, hats, and other personal items
• Gym mats
• Shared spaces that tend to be warm and moist, such as bathrooms and locker rooms

Other risk factors for contracting ringworm include:

• Living in a warm humid climate
• Malnourishment
• Poor hygiene
• Playing contact sports (particularly wrestling as it involves skin to skin contact)
• A weakened immune system (through illness or medication)

While ringworm can take several weeks to fully cure, it is no longer spread to others after 48 hours of treatment. Children do not need to miss school or daycare for ringworm, but if possible, it is a good idea to cover the affected area with clothing or a loose bandage during the infectious period to prevent potential spread to other children or caregivers.

Ringworm symptoms in children

Ringworm gets its name from the rash’s “worm-like” appearance. “Typically, ringworm starts off as a red pimple that grows out into a ring with a raised border and smooth clear central area,” Dr. Woods says. “Ringworm of the scalp typically leads to bald patches with crusting or flaking/scaling of the skin. Occasionally, the lymph nodes closest to the area of inflammation will swell up and may become painful to touch.”

Symptoms of ringworm of the body include:

• Ring-like rash with a raised edge
• The center of the ring often becomes less red as the lesion gets bigger 
• Itchiness in the rash area 

On light-colored skin, patches usually appear red or pink. On dark-colored skin, patches tend to be brown or gray. Patches can appear in one or multiple areas and grow slowly in size.

Symptoms of ringworm of the scalp include:

• Patchy, flaky, or scaly patches or sores
• Hair loss that causes bald patches or blisters
• Itchiness or tenderness of the scalp

If the patches become infected, they can become a kerion, a pus-filled mass that leads to swollen and tender lymph nodes in the head and neck. 

Ringworm vs. other rashes

These are some conditions that can be mistaken for ringworm, in order of most common to least common. When in doubt, make an appointment with your child’s primary care provider to confirm the diagnosis.What should I do if suspect my child has ringworm?

What should I do if suspect my child has ringworm?

“[Diagnosis of ringworm] can be made by examination alone,” says Dr. Woods. “Occasionally, a physician or nurse practitioner may take a skin scraping or skin culture to confirm it’s ringworm.” The provider may also look at the rash under a black fluorescent light.

Because other conditions can mimic ringworm, it’s a good idea to see a healthcare professional to confirm a diagnosis. Ringworm can be diagnosed by a general practitioner (family doctor), nurse practitioner, dermatologist, or pediatrician.

Contact a healthcare provider within 24 hours if pus is present, the rash is warm to the touch, painful, or has streaking beyond the initial lesions, or if your child had a recent tick bite and a rash that looks like ringworm appears.

Contact a healthcare provider during office hours if:

• Your child has a fever 101 or greater.
• Your child is less than 12 months old.
• You are unsure if the rash is ringworm.
• The scalp is involved.
• The rash gets bigger or spreads after one week of treatment.
• More than three lesions are present.
• The rash lasts longer than four weeks.
• Your child has a weakened immune system.
• Your child participates in contact sports.

Treatments for ringworm in kids

“Sometimes the body can clear ringworm on its own,” says Susan Bard, MD, a dermatologist at Vive Dermatology in Brooklyn, New York. “But oftentimes [ringworm] will require medical intervention.”

Ringworm of the body

In many cases, ringworm of the body can be treated at home with over-the-counter (OTC) medications, without involvement of medical professionals—but it is not possible to get rid of ringworm fast.

“The treatment for ringworm of the body is an OTC topical antifungal such as clotrimazole cream (Lotrimin),” Dr. Woods says. “It is applied to the affected area twice a day for four weeks.”

Common antifungal creams for treatment of ringworm include:

Ringworm of the scalp

Ringworm of the scalp requires a prescription from a healthcare professional, and treatment usually lasts one to three months. “Ringworm of the scalp is treated with oral antifungal medicines and topical antifungal shampoo,” says Dr. Woods.

Prescription antifungal medications used to treat ringworm of the scalp include:

While ringworm can frequently be treated with OTC medications, home remedies are not effective.

How to prevent ringworm in kids

It is common for ringworm to recur, and it can spread to other members of the household. Some ways to ensure a ringworm infection clears up completely, and to help prevent its spread to other family members include:

• Use all medication as directed, and for as long as is recommended—even if the ringworm appears to be gone.
• Treat all ringworm at the same time (areas of the body, and people in the house who are infected). In the case of ringworm of the scalp, it is helpful to have the whole household use the antifungal shampoo whether or not they are showing symptoms.
• Practice proper handwashing—especially those who have touched the area affected by ringworm, such as the child and the person administering treatment.
• Keep your child’s body clean and dry, especially the area affected by ringworm. Develop good hygiene habits such as regular bathing, and gently towel off after every shower, bath, or swim. (Use a different towel for the affected area than for the rest of the body.) If your child has recurrent infections, consider drying specific areas (groin, between toes) with a hair dryer on the cool setting. Keep up this practice even once the ringworm is gone to help prevent a recurrence.
• Have your child wear breathable clothing (clothes that don’t make the child sweat), and change their clothes (including socks and underwear) every day.
• Encourage your child to shower when sweaty, and avoid sharing towels or other personal items such as hats, combs, and headbands. Use shower shoes in communal bathrooms or public places.
• Disinfect or throw out items that may be contaminated from contact with an infected person. Ringworm can live on surfaces for a long time.
• Watch your pet for signs of ringworm, and take it to the vet if any are observed. If ringworm keeps recurring, it would be a good idea to have your pets examined to see if they are the source of the infections.

Ringworm is unpleasant and stubborn. It’s easy to catch, hard to get rid of, and is generally a nuisance. Thankfully, with OTC and prescription medication, it usually goes away fully, and without lasting effects. 

90,000 Press: Internet and Mass Media: Lenta.ru

A couple of lovers from Great Britain, who were being treated for parasitic worms, unexpectedly saw their own photographs on the pages of famous tabloids. It is reported by The Washington Post.

Tourists contracted an infection while on holiday on the French island of Martinique. At one point, the woman felt a burning pain in the buttocks, and the next day she saw a red rash. After some time, a rash was found in a man. As it turned out later, the skin lesion was caused by worm larvae.

The couple immediately sought treatment, but the local doctors prescribed only useless antibiotics and an anti-fungal agent. Upon returning home, the lovers went to a Cambridge hospital, where they were prescribed the necessary antiparasitic drug. However, too much time has passed since the infection, so the worms managed to lay larvae even in the lungs, which caused patients to cough, shortness of breath and chest pain.

The doctors considered the situation to be unique and considered it as an instruction for other doctors who are often referred to by vacationers.In this regard, the paramedics asked the couple for permission to publish their photographs in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), to which the lovers agreed.

However, information about the disease was quickly picked up by tabloid British publications, including the popular Daily Mail and The Sun tabloids, which in the headlines called the infection “an unpleasant souvenir” (another option: “Until the rash does us part”). Their pages reported the woman’s age and resting place, and also published photos of infected buttocks.

The couple feared that friends or colleagues might recognize them by this data, so they asked the BMJ publishers to urgently remove the study. The staff of the magazine went forward and voluntarily closed access to the article on the official website. In the British media, materials are still present and are accompanied by pictures of naked buttocks.

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Parasite nearby – Power – Kommersant

Diagnostics of trichinosis – pass the analysis to SZTSDM

Trichinosis (trichinosis, biohelminthiasis) is a lesion of the internal organs and the central nervous system of Trichinella, roundworms parasitizing in the small intestine.Among the characteristic signs are allergic reactions, fever, swelling, severe muscle pain.

Disease definition

The causative agent of trichinosis was discovered in 1835. They are Trichinella, a parasitic roundworm of the Enoplea class. Individuals become sexually mature 2 days after the invasion. After fertilization, the males die, and the females begin to produce larvae after 48 hours. This process can take up to 6 weeks.

A large number of larvae are born.There are cases in history when there were up to 15 thousand parasites per 1 kg of muscle tissue. They penetrate through the mucous membranes into the blood and lymph vessels. This allows them to migrate through the body. The larvae enter all tissues, but are able to survive only in skeletal, striated muscles. The habitat can be the chewing, oculomotor and diaphragm muscles.

Penetrating into muscle tissue, the larvae partially destroy its fibers, causing cellular infiltration.It accumulates cellular elements, including blood and lymph. A few weeks later, a fibrous capsule forms in this place. Its walls gradually thicken, but the exchange of nutrients between the parasite and the host does not stop. The blood vessels feed the capsule, so the larvae can live like this for many years.

The life cycle will close only when the parasite, along with the meat of the host, is eaten by another predator. In this case, the larvae will enter the intestines, reach sexual maturity, and everything will start all over again.

Causes of trichinosis

Trichinosis can be contracted by eating contaminated carnivore meat. First of all, these are wild animals, but there are sick animals among agricultural livestock, as a rule, pigs. They are omnivores, for example, they can eat an infected mouse that disappears into a pigsty. There are also cases of cannibalism among them. Herbivores can technically be infected, which has been tested experimentally, but in real life this does not happen.

The most common cause of human infection is eating lard with layers of meat. The disease does not depend on the season, however, the number of patients increases during the hunting season and at the beginning of winter, when livestock is slaughtered. The risk group includes hunters, workers of livestock farms, slaughterhouses, meat processing enterprises.

Trichinella can withstand temperatures down to -20 C. They remain viable in frozen meat for up to 20 months.The capsule is so strong that the larva is not afraid of salting and smoking. Parasites are able to die only at temperatures from +63 C and above, acting within 15 – 20 seconds. At the same time, this temperature must be reached in the middle of the piece.

Classification

According to the clinical course, trichinosis is divided into:

The severity of the course is distinguished:

The disease can proceed without complications and with the following complications:

• thrombosis of arteries and veins;

• meningoencephalitis;

• pneumonia;

• hepatitis;

• myocarditis and more.

The criterion is the severity of symptoms of intoxication, swelling, muscle pain, increased body temperature. With a mild form, the symptoms are mild. Moderate is characterized by fever, facial edema, and myalgia. Severe form – generalized edema and other pronounced symptoms, up to the complete immobility of the patient.

Symptoms

Incubation period.Lasts from the moment of infection until the first symptoms appear from 10 to 40 days. Shorter in case of massive parasitic invasions, long in mild form.

Allergic phase. During this period, there is an active reproduction and death of parasites. Due to the products of their vital activity, the immune system is activated, which is expressed in allergic reactions. The invading larvae hit the vessels, causing allergic myositis (inflammation of the skeletal muscles).

The acute course of trichinosis is expressed by the following symptoms:

• An increase in temperature from subfebrile condition to +40 C.

• General intoxication (nausea, fatigue, headaches).

• Puffiness affecting the face, eyelids, eyebrows. In special cases, the neck, trunk, limbs swell. This is considered a red flag.

• Conjunctivitis (inflammation of the mucous membrane of the eye, expressed in reddening of the white of the eye, lacrimation).

Muscle pains begin more often with the calf. Then the pain occurs in the buttocks, back, peritoneum, and rising, reaches the tongue, intraocular and chewing muscles. The pain is often intense, aggravated by movement and palpation.

Dyspeptic disorders and allergic reactions in the form of a polymorphic rash all over the body can also be observed. There is a high eosinophilia in the blood (up to 80%). The number of eosinophils (a type of white blood cell that fights multicellular parasites) increases gradually.A sharp rise is a bad sign.

Organ lesion phase. Comes about 4 weeks after infection, characterized by the manifestation of systemic vasculitis. Organ damage can be fatal.

On average, a disease with severe symptoms lasts up to 15 days in a mild form, and 6 weeks in a moderate form. With a severe course of the disease, treatment can take up to six months.

Complications

During the phase of organ damage, the following complications may develop:

• Myocardial damage, as well as tachycardia (an increase in heart rate), arterial hypotension (a decrease in blood pressure by 20% or more from normal), vascular insufficiency.

• Lung damage – pneumonia (inflammation, ischemia and necrosis of the lung tissue) associated with systemic vasculitis.

• Damage to the central nervous system – meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain), encephalomyelitis (damage to the spinal cord and brain).

• Damage to the liver and kidneys (hepatitis and nephritis).

• DIC syndrome – the formation of disseminated blood clots.

It is impossible to predict both the presence of complications and their form. It all depends on where the larvae penetrate. If timely treatment is not carried out, damage to vital organs can be fatal. The situation is aggravated by the fact that not always mild forms of the disease can be detected in time.

Diagnostics

Based on clinical manifestations, a preliminary diagnosis is made.It is necessary to find out the fact of eating contaminated, insufficiently thermally processed meat (pork or wild animals).

Confirm the diagnosis – trichinosis can be based on laboratory tests of the meat itself (if there are residues), and as a result of the patient’s examination. For this, the following activities are carried out:

• Trichinelloscopy – the study of the meat of animals used by humans. The research is aimed at detecting Trichinella larvae.

• Serological diagnostics (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). The test may be positive after 2 weeks from the onset of the disease

• Skin tests. They are also carried out after 14 days from the onset of the disease. A positive result can be obtained over many years.

• Instrumental diagnostics. Ultrasound of muscle tissue, joints, abdominal organs.An ECG is also performed to exclude myocarditis, X-ray if lung damage is suspected

At an early stage, when blood tests and muscle biopsies cannot give an accurate result. The doctor conducts differential diagnostics to exclude pseudotuberculosis, opisthorchiasis, typhoid fever and other diseases similar in manifestations. Instrumental methods allow you to fully study the patient’s condition, exclude or detect organ lesions in time.

Treatment

The diagnosis and treatment is supervised by a parasitologist; examination by a gastroenterologist, cardiologist, allergist, immunologist and other specialists is also required.

Therapy consists of two directions: etiotropic and pathogenetic.

As part of the etiotropic treatment, Trichinella is destroyed, the production of the mask stops. In some cases, it is possible to disrupt the encapsulation process, to kill some of the muscle parasites.To

Etiotropic therapy gives a greater result during the incubation period. Allows to prevent the clinical manifestations of trichinosis. The effectiveness decreases in proportion to the increase in the period from the beginning of the invasion.

Pathogenetic therapy is aimed at eliminating symptoms. The main drugs are antihistamines. In severe forms, hormonal agents are prescribed. Antipyretic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs are also prescribed.

Monitoring of the patient’s condition and the effectiveness of treatment should be carried out after 6 and 12 months.

Forecast

With a mild to moderate form of trichinosis, the prognosis is favorable. Timely treatment allows you to achieve a conditionally complete recovery within 1.5 – 2 months. The larvae are calcified and remain in the body forever.

In severe cases, the disease may last for 6 months or more.Relapses of the disease are possible throughout a person’s life. They are expressed in myalgia (severe muscle pain), residual asthenization (increased fatigue, sleep disturbance, loss of the ability to prolonged mental and physical stress) and muscle contractures (limitation of passive joint movements).

A vaccine against trichinosis has not been developed. The lethality is 5%.

Prevention

Since the only way to get infected is by eating contaminated meat, it is important to pay special attention to the product.Meat, semi-finished meat products and salted-smoked products should be purchased only in stores. Because they are undergoing a sanitary examination. It is worth giving up the use of wild animals. The percentage of infected individuals is extremely high:

With extensive invasions, the capsule of the larvae in the fibers of the striated muscles can be detected visually without third-party devices. However, with a small invasion, the contaminated product can be missed even during the study – trichinelloscopy. It is also worth considering the human factor, since the examination of meat for trichinosis is carried out by a laboratory assistant under a special microscope.The biochemical method of digestion is more reliable, but it is time consuming. Intravital diagnostics by ELISA, which can be performed before slaughter, is also effective.

Contaminated carcasses must be disposed of. You can’t just throw them away, as they can be eaten by stray animals and rodents, and this will continue the spread of trichinosis.

Meat of wild animals and pork that have successfully passed trichinelloscopy should still be cooked for at least 6 hours.

Advantages of SZDTSM JSC

In the subdivisions of JSC “SZTSDM” you can pass tests for trichinosis and other laboratory tests.

The advantages include the convenient location of the laboratory terminals. Selected places with good transport accessibility. It can be easily reached both by private car and public transport. Medical centers and laboratory terminals are located in St. Petersburg, Leningrad region., Veliky Novgorod, Novgorod region, as well as in Pskov and Kaliningrad.

go to analyzes

90,000 Flying buttocks Pig-ass worm [44] (Chaetopterus pugaporcinus)

Almost a kilometer deep in the ocean, the pig’s back worm is not busy with anything: it only swims and looks like the back of a pig’s body. Called Chaetopterus pugaporcinus , which literally means “a worm that resembles a pig’s backside,” the pig’s backworm was discovered in 2006 by Karen Osborne, a researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (who has already become famous for the pig worm).He was caught by a remotely controlled unmanned underwater vehicle (ROV) patrolling the mesopelagic zone near Monterey Bay, which stretches in the ocean at depths from 200 to about 1000 meters. Although a small amount of sunlight enters here from the overlying epipelagic, many animals from the mesopelagic rely on bioluminescence for signaling and communication.

One glance at this blueish balloon with a pink wrinkled mouth, looking like an alien from another world, is enough to realize that this creature does not look like a single worm in the world.Osborne found that although his body is segmented, one of the segments in the middle of the body is widened, and this causes the two adjacent segments to swell like a balloon, giving it the appearance of a pig’s butt. Since it shares some structural features in common with the larvae of a group of marine polychaete worms called Chaetopteridae, which feed by filtration, Osborne thought that the pork-back worm might be in the larval stage. However, the creature is relatively large (for a sea worm), about the size of a hazelnut, and in a 2007 Biological Bulletin, Osborne admitted: …… from five to ten times more than any known chaetopterid larvae. ” The only other possibility is that this worm was in an adult state, which would make it the strangest-looking adult chaetopterid ever seen. All known adult chaetopteris have long, segmented bodies and live in vertical or horseshoe-shaped tubes inside tunnels dug on the seabed. Here they live, catching plankton with the help of a mucous network they produce, attached to the top of the tube.But the pork backworm drifts at a depth of 900-1200 meters, and its downward mouth is surrounded by a cloud of mucus, which, Osborne believes, can be used to capture tiny food particles and detritus that descend from the layers of water. above. The pork back worm also lacks reproductive organs, which makes it even more mysterious, but Osborne says that this only means that the captured specimens did not participate in the reproduction process only at that time, and not that they do not do it at all …“Many annelids [segmented worms] only display reproductive organs during a period of active reproduction, which can last from only a few weeks to a couple of months,” she adds.

Unable to classify this worm based on morphological features, Osborne and her team analyzed the DNA of a significant number of marine worm species, creating their first family tree to represent the relationship between 12 chaetopterid species.This did not help them establish whether this new species was a larval or an adult form, but the team suggested that its strange appearance may be the result of the larva not being able to settle to the seabed like other worms, and this impeded the growth process. [45] leaving it in larval form forever. “The existence of such larvae that have lost the incentive to settle to the seabed or have not found a suitable habitat at all is possible, but it would hardly be correct to assume that the sequence of their finding by us in a certain habitat in the water column and the successive series of their morphology are not related to the size they reach (it ranges from 12 to 23 millimeters), says Osborne.- They always have the same number of segments and the same mixture of larval and adult characters. It would be nice to find them during reproduction, and then we would be able to understand whether they can go through a full life cycle exclusively in the water column ”.

****

Yes, while the pork back worm may look like the back of an unpleasant looking mammal, it doesn’t seem to bother him. When he just swims around, unconcerned about what the other chaetopterid worms are doing is exactly what made him a pork-butt worm in the first place, but I bet he’s pretty unperturbed on his own.For example, imagine the first day of high school; Pig Bottom Worm moved there from another school, and all the local dudes would say, like, “Oh my God! Have you seen this new guy? He looks like an ass. ” Meanwhile, they themselves hang out in their pipes on the seabed.

And the Pig Bottom Worm will float by, leaving their words almost unheeded, and in reality not even really bothering about it, saying with all his looks: “What’s the matter, dude?” And many of the tough peppers will continue to laugh at him, dumping their farts on him, and leaving him alone in practical chemistry classes, but Pig Butt Worm’s ass does not hesitate about this, but after school he will hang out with the older guys from college, who really wanted to spit on various nonsense, like himself.Of course, sooner or later, this will lead to the fact that one of the popular girls, together with one of the same popular guys, decides to pull off a cunning plan, the purpose of which will be to bring Pig Ass Worm together with her older sister, because then her strict dad will allow them both to go for school dances; and the popular guy will be very lucky, because he will have the opportunity to bang the popular girl after dancing for the first time in his life. And the Pig Butt Worm will just go there with him for company, because he really doesn’t care and he was still under the gas all the time.

But in the course of the affair, the Pig-Ass Worm will be seized by a real passion for the girl’s sister, because she doesn’t give a damn about everything that happens to him even more than he does, and she will begin to sympathize with him, because she hates most people, making an exception only for him.

Of course, the cunning plan will be realized during the dances, when everyone will be dressed up in costumes and evening dresses made of seaweed, and the sister will think that Pig Bottom does not care deeply, including herself, although this is not at all so.

And then a huge fish will break through the wall of the upside-down shell that the dance hall is made of and swallow everyone in one big gulp. It seems that the strict dad sensed that this would be the case.

Analysis for enterobiasis

Microscopic examination of a smear-print from the perianal region for the detection of eggs of the causative agent of enterobiasis Enterobius vermicularis (pinworms).

Synonyms Russian

Enterobiasis, pinworm.

Synonyms English

Enterobius vermicularis, Enterobius vermicularis infection.

Research method

Microscopy.

What kind of biomaterial can be used for research?

Imprint from the perianal area.

How to properly prepare for the study?

• Collection of biomaterial for research is carried out only in the morning (until 10:00), before bowel movements.On the eve of taking the biomaterial, do not toilet the skin in the anus and buttocks.

General information about the study

Enterobiasis is a helminthiasis caused by worms from the pinworm genus. It is one of the most common parasitic diseases in children. The infection is widespread throughout the world, including in developed countries, according to rough estimates, the infection rate in children is 4-28%.

Pinworm – the causative agent of the disease – a white worm, 0.5-1 cm in length, in the human body lives in the cecum and appendix.It feeds mainly on the contents of the intestines. The main clinical symptom – itching in the perianal region occurs when pinworms lay eggs on the skin during sleep (from 5,000 to 15,000 eggs) and then die. Distribution occurs mainly through the fecal-oral route, for example, eggs can fall under a person’s nails when scratching, then get on household items and personal hygiene items. In the transmission of the pathogen, hand hygiene is the main problem, therefore, children are more likely to get sick with enterobiasis, especially in crowded places (kindergartens, schools).

The high prevalence of enterobiasis can be explained by a mild clinic of the disease, which most often manifests itself in perianal itching. In addition, symptoms such as anxiety, loss of appetite, insomnia, irritability may be present. With a severe and prolonged course, mental developmental disorders of children may be noted. In rare cases, ectopic enterobiasis can develop, for example, in the kidneys or fallopian tubes, which can lead to serious consequences.

Diagnosis is carried out by scraping from the perinanal area (using adhesive tape) followed by microscopy.

In the treatment of enterobiasis, a special role should be given to hygienic measures: washing hands, cutting nails, changing frequently, washing and ironing clothes. To prevent the spread of eggs, zinc ointment is applied locally to the perianal area. Medical treatment consists in taking anthelmintic drugs (contact persons also undergo treatment).

What is the research used for?

• For the detection of helminthiasis.

When is the study scheduled?

• In the presence of clinical manifestations, more often with itching in the perianal region.
• If enterobiasis is detected in a contact person.
• For various medical examinations (during hospitalization, medical examination, registration of a medical book, etc.).

What do the results mean?

Reference values: negative.

The presence of pinworm eggs indicates the presence of enterobiasis.

Get tested for parasites in Yekaterinburg

Parasitic diseases remain the world’s most underestimated health hazard. Pathologies have a universal clinical picture, suitable for any strains of influenza, acute respiratory infections, acute respiratory viral infections and other types of seasonal colds. Typical signs are dizziness, weakness, nausea, low-grade fever, runny nose, dry cough.A blood test for parasites will help to confirm or exclude helminthic infection from the anamnesis, which is extremely important in developing an effective treatment regimen. The standard set of studies includes scraping, detection of helminth eggs in the feces and an antibody test. It is recommended to donate blood for parasites every 6-12 months in order to completely eliminate the likelihood of developing dangerous, difficult-to-diagnose complications.

In the medical center “Chance” you can take tests for parasites in Yekaterinburg and get accurate results within 1-7 days.This will allow the attending physician to make a reliable diagnosis and prescribe adequate treatment. In the laboratory of the clinic, research is carried out on all types of helminthic invasions. Tests for parasites (feces and blood) help identify:

• bovine and pork tapeworm;

• intestinal nematode, including pinworms;

• parasitic human ascaris worms;

• tapeworms;

• flagellate protists (lamblia).

A comprehensive analysis for parasites by blood in Yekaterinburg allows you to detect the simplest helminths that live outside the gastrointestinal tract and are not available for detection in the feces. A blood test for antibodies of the IgM and IgG classes has the highest level of accuracy, reaching 99%. Tests help diagnose asymptomatic, but extremely dangerous diseases such as toxoplasmosis, trichinella, demodex, giardiasis. A timely blood test for parasites will help eliminate the infection in a short time.

Inflammation of the paraanal glands in dogs

Inflammation of the paraanal glands , requiring high-quality treatment, is not difficult to diagnose correctly. You will see the characteristic symptomatology of riding the dog with the back of the body. What is the reason for this pathology? In a certain structure of the glands of external secretion.

All carnivores have small sacs with ducts on both sides of the posterior opening. The exact location of these glands is the sacral edge of the passage (the inside of the rectum).The excretion of the ducts is carried out near the anal ring.

Diagnostics

The secret of the soft consistency of yellow, grayish or brown color is secreted by the dog during evacuation (or when it is frightened by something) and is intended to indicate territory. Experts attribute the tagging function to rudimentary surplus.

Inflammation of the paraanal glands in dogs (and their treatment) is currently not well understood. Diagnostics is carried out when inflammation is detected.During the procedure, the animal shows noticeable anxiety and a number of other specific signs.

Symptoms of inflammation of the paraanal glands in dogs

Inflammation near the anus in pets is common. We advise you to immediately seek help from a veterinarian if you have characteristic symptoms.

Main signs of pathology:

• The pet is worried about the anal area. He reaches out to lick and bite her.
• The animal often sits with its back on the ground and drives it.
• An unpleasant odor is emitted from the dog.

With severe inflammation below the anus, red edema and bulging are observed. A purulent abscess may be accompanied by the presence of fistulas with the outflow of fetid purulent masses.

Survey

Complete blood count and serum biochemistry required. Cancer diagnostics involves the use of an X-ray to examine the chest and pelvis and an ultrasound scan to look for metastases in the abdominal cavity.

Causes of the disease

Veterinary medicine currently does not have sufficient knowledge about the immediate causes of the pathology. We can only talk about a list of possible risk factors.

These include:

• overweight;

90,096 diarrhea;

• weakening of the muscles in the anal area;
• improper nutrition;
• prolonged liquid evacuation;

90,096 malignant formations in the glands themselves or near them;

• incorrect secret development.

In all of the above cases, the secret is allocated unevenly. The glands become hardened and the ducts clogged. The bags are stretched due to an increase in the dense, viscous mass. Inflammation begins. The next stage is the accumulation of bacteria in the secretion, the formation of an abscess, and sometimes malignant transformation of tissues.