Parasitic infections in humans can be detected through blood and stool tests.Different infections have their own diagnostic standards.
Indications for the examination of parasites parasitic infections are not asymptomatic;They always have some symptoms.Therefore, you should test for blood or stool for parasites if you have health complaints.Preventive testing is not required in the absence of symptoms.Symptoms suspicious of parasitic infection:
- prolonged fever to 37-37.5 degrees;
- harmless fatigue;
- a skin rash that suddenly appears and disappears;
- poor digestion - bursting in the stomach, gas, diarrhea;
- detection of anemia;
- Weight loss with normal appetite.
Only in some cases one should be tested for parasites, even if there are no complaints.This is an exam when you are applying for a job or enroll in studies, receiving certificates for swimming or review before surgery.In such cases, referring to the necessary tests by a GP or pediatrician.
What parasitic infections can be tested for?
Using various tests, any parasitic infection can be detected.Has:
- intestinal parasites - live in the intestinal lumen and separate eggs into the stool;
- Exteintestinal - Live in different organs, do not produce eggs.
Intestinal parasites can be identified by stool analysis, external parasites - only through blood.
Opistorchiasis
An infection caused by the flat worm opisthorchis.One becomes infected by eating river fish - dried or dried, that is, it is not heat treated.Opistorchiasis does not spread between humans, that is, the patient is not infected.However, a sick person separates eggs into the parasites in their stools, they enter the water and then into the fish.
Trichinosis
Trichinella are small worms that live in the muscles of pigs and wild animals.One becomes infected if he eats undervalued or underestimated meat.Trichinella from the intestine enter the muscles and form a capsule there.It is an external parasite that can reside in the muscles for decades without causing any symptoms.One cannot infect others.
Ascariasis
Round worms are long roundworms that live in the intestine.Human infection occurs through dirty hands.In the body, roundworms pass through two stages of development.In the intestine, the larvae are formed by the eggs that enter the lungs through the blood.They live here for two months, after which they are swallowed with phlegm and return to the intestine.Here, circular worms develop in adult worms and put eggs in the stool.A sick person may infect others if the hygiene rules are not followed.
Toxocariasis
Toxocara are parasites of dogs and other dogs.The toxocar's eggs are located on the animal coat and people are infected by contact with them.After ingestion of the eggs in the intestine, larvae appear from them, but no further development of the worm occurs.
The larvae are transferred with blood to different organs and form capsules in them.Like Trichinella, they can live in tissues for many years without giving symptoms.The patient is not infected and does not release toxocarus eggs in the environment.
Echinococcosis
Echinococci are parasites that live in the body of dogs.One becomes infected by contact with an animal.Echinococcus eggs enter the intestine where the larvae appear.They are transferred through the blood to organs, most often they live in the liver.Here they form cysts - bubbles with fluid, inside which are echinococci.One is not infected with others and does not release eggs on the parasites in the environment.
Giardiasis
Giardia is the simplest microorganism;The infection occurs by drinking ungodly water through dirty hands.Giardia parasites live in the small intestine and mostly children suffer from giardiasis.The patient releases Giardia into the stool and infects others if no personal hygiene is observed.
Types of parasite tests
To identify parasites in the body, you need to do stools or a blood test.Intestinal helminths and giardia can be determined by stool analysis;Blood is an auxiliary method.External parasites are identified only by blood as they do not separate eggs.
Parasite blood tests are not 100% accurate.They can be either false positive or false negative.The causes of false results are the characteristics of the body, the presence of allergies, concomitant diseases and the ability of the helminths themselves to be camouflage.
Some parasitic infections require ultrasound or X -ray.So if you suspect echinococcosis, you must first have liver ultrasound.If cysts are found there, donate blood to Echinococci antibodies.
Parasites live in the kidneys extremely rarely.These are tropical protozoa schistosomes;They are infected by swimming in contaminated waters of tropical countries.Human bladder parasites can be identified using radiography to detect antibodies.
Analysis of stool for parasites
This analysis is called a stool test for helminth eggs and protozoa.The stool test can identify the following parasites:
- Opisthorchis;
- roundworms;
- Wide tape;
- tapeworm with cattle and pork;
- Strong;
- whip;
- Giardia.
Fecal helminth analysis is not very informative as the worms do not separate eggs all the time and they are not in all samples.To get the right result, you need to donate a chair at least three times with an interval of 3 days.It is better to explore warm stools.
The parasep technique is more reliable - this is a study of stools diluted in special fluid.The method is also called an analysis of stool enrichment.Sometimes helminth eggs and protozoa are found in a coprogram - a detailed analysis of stools for the diagnosis of digestive disorders.
Modern studies on Giardia are the discovery of their antigens in stool using the PCR method.The technique has a reliability of 90-95%.
Scraping
Using the scraping method, only Pinworms are identified.These are small worms that live in the colon.At night, female worms crawl and lay eggs on the skin around the anus.The disease caused by Pinari is enterobiasis.
Enterobiasis mainly affects young children.The child can constantly commit suicide by scratching the skin near the anus and then placing his hands in his mouth.
The Pinworms test is performed in the morning without washing the child.A piece of adhesive tape is applied to the skin around the anus.It is then glued to a glass slider.A laboratory technician examines the glass under a microscope and detects eggs of worms.
Blood test
The total blood test in the presence of parasites in the body gives indirect signs:
- increase in the number of eosinophils;
- Increasing ESR.
In the acute stage of the disease, the number of eosinophils increases sharply, exceeding 20%.In the chronic stage, the total blood test is virtually unchanged.
Using enzyme immunoanalysis in blood for parasites, antibodies are found to them.The study is appropriate for the diagnosis of intestinal helminths and Giardia in the acute stage of the disease, as well as for the identification of extrastinal helminths.
Types of blood tests for parasites
Parasite blood tests are the same in adults and children.In children, the study is more informative as they are more commonly ill in acute form.Chronic helminths predominate in adults, so blood tests often produce false results.
Eliza
An enzyme immunoanalysis is used for diagnosis for parasites.This is the discovery of antibodies to helminths and protozoa in the blood.Elisa is the most information in the acute stage of the disease when antibodies are actively produced.In the chronic stage, the helminths become masked and the body stops producing antibodies against them.Therefore, ELISA gives a false negative result.If a person is allergic or autoimmune, he or she will form false antibodies and the Elisa result will be a false positive.
A blood test to detect parasites must be confirmed by other examination methods.
In children
Both parasite tests - blood and stool - will be informative for the child.Children suffer mainly from acute forms of parasitosis.The stool study for worms and protozoa is informative in 90% of cases, ELISA - in 70% of cases.
How and where to get a blood test for parasites
You can take an exam at a clinic at your place of residence or in a paid laboratory.To get a clinic testing, you should contact a general practitioner, pediatrician or specialist in infectious diseases.You can take it yourself to any paid laboratory.But if there are no health complaints, they do not need to be checked.Parasitic infections, which are asymptomatic (toxocariasis, trichinosis), do not require treatment.It is prescribed only when symptoms occur.