Roundworms Health Video

Video Transcript

Dr. SUSAN MCGLADERRY: Hello! My name is Dr. Susan McGladerry. I'm the medical director from First Med Centers in Budapest Hungary. I would like to talk to you a little bit about roundworm infections. These are caused by nematodes, parasitic worms with long cylindrical bodies that cause diseases of the digestive tract and other organ systems. They are widespread throughout the world but with some regional differences. The courses and the symptoms of the roundworm infection vary according to the species and also depending on the life cycle of the parasite. The symptoms can range from no symptoms at all to an acute toxic food poisoning-like syndrome. And in some cases, also causing chronic condition where there may be fatigue, anemia, weight loss, and general feelings of malaise. How do you humans get these infections? Well, it comes from eating contaminated food or from simply not washing hands properly before eating. The infection start with the ingestion of eggs and these may be found in the soil or the environment or in contaminated meat. Larvae hatch in the digestive tract and from there, they pass via the blood either into the muscles or the lungs, the liver, or even the brain, depending on the type of parasite. There are several different kinds of roundworm infection and I'm just going to mention a few. The first one is anisakiasis. This is most common in countries where raw or pickled fish or squid is very popular. So Japan, the Netherlands, even in the US. Ascariasis is another roundworm infection. This one is one of the most widespread parasitic infections in humans with over 1.3 billion people worldwide affected. It occurs where sanitation and hygiene standards are low. Toxocariasis is another infection. This is caused by parasites that live in the intestines of dogs and cats. So, how do we diagnose these roundworm infections? Well, we do so on the basis of stool, blood tests, maybe x-ray, ultrasound, and sometimes even we need to make an endoscopic procedure or gastroscopy to identify worms in the digestive tract. The treatment is with special drugs against these worms and it usually will clear the infection completely but of course it doesn't prevent reinfection. In some cases, however, treatments need to be made endoscopically or even a surgical procedure may be needed to get rid of the parasite. What can you do to prevent these infections? Well, the best thing is to have good hygiene and sanitation and to be careful when you're handling animals. It's also important to avoid raw or improperly prepared fish or squid. If you have any pets, do make sure that you have them regularly treated for worm infections.