Parasites can live in different organs of the human body and do not reveal their presence for many years. In this case, the patient complains about the health and problems of the organ in which the parasite has colonized. A person can treat for years without any improvement, because the objective cause of the discomfort is a pest that settles in the body.
Many people think that if they wash their hands and don't touch stray animals, then they can prevent parasites, but this is not the case. If you don't wash vegetables thoroughly or eat undercooked meat and fish, you can get infected, which is especially important in the modern sushi craze. Therefore, with long-term deterioration of health, a parasite check is recommended so as not to waste time treating diseases that do not exist.
Fecal analysis for parasites
If you suspect that you or your child has parasites, but don't know which parasite tests to get, you should talk to your doctor. The easiest and the first analysis you will be offered to perform will be a stool analysis. When a stool sample goes into the lab, experts try to find the eggs in it.
This analysis allows you to determine the presence of several parasites, including:
- Roundworms or nematodes such as roundworms, whipworms, hookworms, hookworms;
- flukes or flukes, such as liver flukes, cat flukes, schistosomiasis;
- Tapeworms, such as bovine tapeworm, pork tapeworm, broad tapeworm.
The main disadvantage of this parasite test is its low reliability, as the worms may not lay eggs long enough, or at specific times when they reproduce. Therefore, such an analysis is usually performed 3 times, but even this does not guarantee 100% accuracy.
In addition to stool analysis, enterobiasis analysis is used to look for worm eggs. It is designed to detect pinworm eggs in stool and in the skin folds around the anus, known as pinworm scraping. To make this analysis as informative as possible, it was also run several times, with a few days in between.
Parasite blood test
A fairly efficient and modern method for detecting parasites is the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA. This test allows you to detect antibodies and antigens to the parasite in a blood sample.
Antigens are the parasites themselves and their parts, and their metabolites, while antibodies are immunoglobulins that the body produces to fight antigens. This method allows you to identify various parasites in the human body.
The main advantage of a blood test for parasites is the ability to detect them in the body at an early stage, when the pests are few and their eggs will certainly not be found in a stool analysis. Detection of parasites by ELISA is very simple, for this you need to take a blood sample from a vein. Study this sample for 1-9 days and then get a result that is 95% reliable.
In the case of an acute course of helminthiasis, other methods of blood analysis for parasites are also used, such as immunofluorescence (RIF), indirect hemagglutination, latex agglutination (RAL). In addition, ultrasound and X-ray studies of human organs, computed tomography, endoscopy, endoscopy are used. Which tests to perform and which tests to perform for parasites are usually decided by the attending physician, analysing the patient's complaints and symptoms.
How to donate stool for parasite analysis
For the most accurate results, the parasite test must be passed correctly. Fecal analysis of worm eggs must be placed in a special disposable container with a screw-on lid. Urine or genital secretion samples should not be allowed to enter the material selected for analysis.
Take a stool sample, empty it into a clean, dry container, and take a volume of about two teaspoons of stool sample from the resulting material, equal to about 8-10 cubic centimeters. Samples must be taken from different parts of the fecal block, from the top, sides and inside.
For the most reliable parasite analysis results, feces should be sent to the laboratory within 30-45 minutes of defecation. If the stool needs to be kept longer, it should be placed in the refrigerator, but no longer than 5-8 hours. It should be kept in an airtight container at a temperature of +4 - +8 °С. But even such storage can adversely affect the validity of the analysis.
The result of this analysis may be negative if parasites are not detected, and positive if parasites are detected. Which worms a person has will then be indicated.
How to analyze enterobiasis
Enterobiasis, or pinworm disease, is most common in children. To make a correct diagnosis, you can do a scraping to check for pinworms or a blood test to check for parasites in children. Scraping allows you to identify the parasite's eggs. Do a scraping in the morning before going to the toilet. It is necessary to scrape the surface of the skin folds around the anus with a cotton swab moistened with glycerin. After that, place the stick in a plastic test tube and close it tightly with the cap. If necessary, you can store the tube in the refrigerator for a few hours. For reliable analytical results, at least three scrapes over several days are required.
A blood test for parasites in children allows you to determine whether parasites are present at one time. But children are often afraid to donate blood, so stool analysis is advisable for them. This blood and stool test can be performed in almost any laboratory in a clinic or in any private laboratory that does this type of research.