What is taxolopramosis? Symptoms, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of toxoplasmosis in adults, children and pregnant women.
Contents
Pathways of infection with toxoplasmosis
- Toxoplasmosis called complexa disease caused by parasites of toxoplasm. The ultimate host of these parasites is the cat. However, intermediate carriers of tocoplasma can act as a human and other animals
- To date, about half of the world's population is infected or carries a toxoplasm
- Some of them do not even suspect of staying in their bodies of such unpleasant residents. The most common such infectionin the countries of the third world with a low standard of living and income
Paths of infection with toxoplasmosis
As mentioned above, the cat is the host of the parasite, but on the way to its owner, toxoplasm can go through many animate and inanimate objects.
A person is able to catch this disease as follows:
- through contact of dirty hands with a face after cleaning in the garden or yard( specifically particles of earth with mouth)
- through the cat's toilet
- through eating raw or uncreated meat, eggs
- through eating unwashedvegetables or fruits that have come into contact with the infected soil
- through contact with the mouth of the hands holding raw, undercooked, nauseated or undercooked contaminated
- meat through a blood transfusion or organ transplantation
- through contact with blood-contaminated animals or humans in the analysis of
- when processing the meat of a sick animal through a cut or scratch
- hereditary from mother to fetus
- The point is that parasites can be found in meat, intestines or feces of animals,infected with them. When a pet( cat) goes to the toilet, its feces can contain toxoplasma larvae that can easily enter the human body through contact of unwashed hands with face
- . In addition, a person can become infected with toxoplasmosis by eating rabbit, pork, lamb or veal. These animals have the opportunity to get infected by parasites through the grass grown on the ground into which the excrement of other sick animals has fallen
- Similarly, a person can infect an infection by touching the mouth with hands smeared in contaminated soil, or eating a poorly washed plant and fruits with suchof the Earth
Toxoplasmosis in Adults: Symptoms and Signs
In an adult, only acquired toxoplasmosis can be diagnosed, since the innate would have manifested itself in childhoodve or at birth.
Toxoplasmosis in adults can have three forms:
- chronic
- acute
- latent
The latent form of the disease, as a rule, proceeds absolutely asymptomatically, and it is possible to reveal it only when passing the tests. A person can be a carrier of toxoplasm for years and even decades, and not even suspect about it.
The acute form of toxoplasmosis is the least common disease. It occurs only in 0.2% of patients. Typically, these are patients with severe immunodeficiency or other autoimmune diseases( HIV).
The incubation period of the acute form of toxoplasmosis can range from five days to three weeks.
Main symptoms of acute forms of the disease are as follows:
- fatigue
- fever and chills( pain in the muscles and joints)
- headaches
- lymphadenopathy
- change in the form of the liver and spleen
- hepatitis
- encephalitis or meningoentsifalit
- endocarditis and myocarditis
- makulopaluleznaya rash
- pneumonia
- increasetemperature
- vomiting
- problems with the eyes( inflammatory processes in the retina and choroid of the eye, opacity of the lens)
In general, the acute form of toxoplasmZmoza is similar in its symptoms to poisoning. Such an unpleasant condition can last about a week. After this time, acute toxoplasmosis, as a rule, passes into a chronic form.
Chronic toxoplasmosis, basically, proceeds in much the same way as the latent form of the disease. That is, there are no obvious symptoms and signs.
However, this happens at the time of remission. During the period of exacerbation, the following symptoms can be noted:
- prolonged rise in body temperature to 37.5%( which can not be brought down by any antipyretic agent)
- memory impairment
- nervousness, irritability, mood swings
- unreasonable fears
- susceptibility to light and sound
- sleep deterioration
- lymphadenopathy
- abdominal pain
- nausea
- constipation
- vegetovascular dystonia
- calcifications
- endocrine system diseases
All of these signs often occur between two weeks to two months after infection.
Toxoplasmosis in children: symptoms and signs
- Acquired toxoplasmosis in children has all the same manifestations as in adults. Congenital toxoplasmosis is very dangerous
- If a woman was diagnosed with toxoplasmosis early in life, then she is usually recommended to have an abortion.
- . If the infection occurred at a later date, it is possible that the child can be born with some deformities and pathologies
such complex manifestations of the disease include:
- strabismus
- blindness
- chorioretinitis( inflammation of the vessels and retina)
- epilepsy and convulsions
- brain abscess
- disorders in the mindMr.
- development incoordination
- spinal cord lesions
- hydrocephalus( a big head and small body)
- calcification in the cerebral cortex
According to statistics, children with congenital toxoplasmosis even a few years ago did not live until the age of five years. Today, scientific discoveries and the development of medicine allow you to fight with toxoplasmosis of congenital form and even completely cure children.
It is important to know that only the fruit that is infected in the womb at the time of infection can become infected with toxoplasma. All subsequent pregnancies of an infected woman will be successful, as antibodies to the disease will be produced in her body.
Toxoplasmosis in pregnant women: symptoms and signs
Most often, toxoplasmosis in pregnant women does not show itself. A woman feels the same as an uninfected pregnant woman.
However, in some cases, chronic or acute forms of the disease may exhibit the following symptoms:
- high body temperature
- skin rash
- enlargement of lymph nodes
- myocarditis
- myositis
- brain damage
- central nervous system damage
- internal diseases
- vision problems
- genital diseases
diagnosis of toxoplasmosis
Diagnosis of toxoplasmosis usually occursthrough a series of studies: serology, ultrasound and computed tomography.
The last two methods of diagnosis are able to identify the consequences of toxoplasmosis. But to determine the presence in the body of the parasites themselves or their trace of being in it, the serological method is used.
For blood serology, blood is taken from the vein.
The analysis reveals the presence in the blood of antibodies or immunoglobulins( Ig) to parasites of toxoplasm. If the infection has got into the human body, then it immediately begins to defend itself and produce special antibodies capable of neutralizing the virus.
So, serology determines the presence or absence of such immunoglobulins in the human blood.
Analysis for toxoplasmosis in pregnant women
Ideal option is when a woman, in the process of preparing for pregnancy, will give a number of tests for the presence of the toxoplasmosis virus in the blood.
- Then it will be possible to find out whether she ever contacted this type of infection or not. If antibodies are found in the blood, then the woman should not be afraid of anything, since even contact with toxoplasm during pregnancy is nothing to her
- . But if there were no such immunoglobulins in her analysis, then she should be more careful and observe all the rulesprevention of the disease( they will be discussed later)
- If the pregnancy is unplanned for a woman and serology was not performed the day before, the analysis on TORCH infection will be assigned to her in the first trimester of pregnancy
- Such an analysis is able to detect in the bloodand pregnant active antibodies that indicate an acute infection in the body, or antibodies that indicate that a woman before toxicity has experienced toxoplasm and has immunity to
- . If a woman's infection with a virus was detected during the study, she may be assigned an additional analysisin two to three weeks
- Such an analysis will give an accurate picture of the time of infection and what can be expected from the virus. In parallel with the repeated analysis for infection, amniocentesis( fetal amniocentesis) for infection in the fetus
Amniocentesis is performed by inserting a thin needle into the fetal bladder through the anterior abdominal wall of the mother and sampling the amniotic fluid.
In addition to the procedure for the study of amniotic fluid, additional ultrasound can be used to assess the size of the fetal organs and to identify pathologies in its development.
Analysis of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women. The norm of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women
In the course of serological studies in the body of a pregnant woman, two types of IgG and IgM immunoglobulins can be detected.
- IgM antibodies, found in a woman's blood, indicate the infection of a woman with toxoplasma. Such immunoglobulins begin to be produced in the female body two weeks after infection. Over a couple of months, their number first rises rapidly, and then descends to zero
- The presence of IgG-type antibodies in the blood suggests that the woman's immunity encountered toxoplasmic viruses and overcame them. The presence of such antibodies can persist in human blood for several years.
- . If antibodies of the same type were detected during the study, then such a situation can speak of a toxoplasmosis during the previous twelve months. In this case, the woman is prescribed an additional analysis - for avidity of antibodies
- The higher the avidity of IgG antibodies( more than forty percent), the less likely that a woman has become infected with toxoplasmosis during pregnancy.
- This rule applies when both groups of antibodies were detected during the first trimester
- analysis. If the sameavidity of IgG immunoglobulins is below this indicator, then the analysis is usually decided to be repeated after a couple of weeks.
- So immediately diagnose the infection with toxoplasmosis during pregnancy, doctors do not dare. Only after the second study, in the situation when avidity of IgG remained low enough, it is possible to talk about infection of already pregnant woman
- . If the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in a pregnant woman is confirmed, she is prescribed amniocentesis and PCR to exclude the fact of fetal infection. PCR is a polymer chain reaction that can detect the presence of infection in the fetus. If the PCR is negative, do not worry - the baby is not infected
Toxoplasmosis in pregnant women, consequences for women
As a rule, toxoplasmosis during pregnancy does not carry a particular danger for the future mother. More is to beware of the crumbs.
There are times when a woman experiences all the most difficult symptoms of toxoplasmosis during infection. However, this happens very rarely and it is much easier to cure it of this disease, rather than to prevent irreversible processes in the development of the fetus.
Toxoplasmosis in pregnant women, consequences for the child
Unlike mother, the baby is most susceptible to the development of various pathologies and complex diseases.
- The greatest risks arise when a woman is infected with toxoplasmosis directly during pregnancy and on the eve of her. In these cases, with the timely diagnosis of the disease, most doctors can insist on the interruption of pregnancy.
- . Statistics state that almost one hundred percent of infected pregnancies in the early stages ended in miscarriages or fatalities at later dates.
- The fact is that this disease can be treated, howeverdrugs used for treatment are so strong that their impact can not but affect the development of the fetus. Precisely because the situation is too complex and contradictory
- If the infection occurred at a later date, there is a small chance that the infection will not spread to the fetus. There are cases when women with toxoplasmosis in late terms give birth to absolutely healthy children. However, there are more sad examples of
Treatment of toxoplasmosis in pregnant, adult and children
- Treatment for adult toxoplasms is only acute form of the disease
- For latent and chronic toxoplasmosis, no special treatment is required
- As a rule, sulfonamidedrugs paired with chloride and deligam
- In parallel, a course of antibiotics of the tetracycline group
- can be administered. If there is a lesion of the central nervous systemth system, the doctor can prescribe glucocorticoids
- Almost all patients with toxoplasmosis show the course of immunomodulators, vitamin complexes and antihistamines
- For very complex acute manifestations of the disease, a course of chemotherapy drugs( delagil, funcadar)
- can be prescribed. As a rule, the course of treatment of toxoplasmosis is carried out intwo phases - the first - ten days, then the break in ten days, and again the ten-day treatment
- Treatment of pregnant women is to begin at the end of the first threeAETR - after the twelfth week of
- often prescribed to pregnant sulfadiazine and pyrimethamine
- For children used the same group of drugs as adults, but in other dosages
Prevention toksopalazmoza in pregnant
- As mentioned above, to reinsure a woman, it is advisable to pass an analysis for the presence of immunoglobulins to toxoplasma in her blood even before conception. This will detect the presence of antibodies, thereby calming the future mother
- If the blood was found only antibodies IgG, a woman can safely continue the usual way of life without fear of infection. Her pet can also continue her carefree existence.
- . If a woman has no antibodies to toxoplasmosis in her body, she should be more careful. If a cat lives in her apartment, it is advisable to take samples from her for the presence of parasites
- . If the tests show no toxoplasm, then the cat should be carefully looked after: do not give raw or unprepared meat, do not let go, exclude contact with other animals.
If a cat has been found parasites, a pregnant woman is best to limit their contact with the animal as much as possible. In some cases, doctors advise to remove the cat altogether.
It is also not recommended to have a new pet during pregnancy. But if you already want to acquire a little happiness, you must first take samples from him for the presence of a virus in the body.
In any case, whatever the blood test for a pregnant woman, it is necessary to comply with a number of rules to avoid infection with toxoplasmosis:
- use only ready-to-eat meat
- all products before use should be thoroughly washed
- regularly wash your hands
- for work in the garden or yarduse gloves
- shift the duty of cleaning the cat's toilet on someone from the household
How to treat toxoplasmosis: advice and feedback
What woulddeveloped was not modern medicine, and no matter how effective the treatment of toxoplasmosis was, it is best to avoid infection by observing the rules of personal hygiene and the advice of doctors.
To a greater extent this applies to pregnant women and children. After all, this is the most vulnerable category of the population. In addition, treatment of this category is associated with a number of difficulties and contraindications.
In addition to all the listed methods of prevention of toxoplasmosis, a person must definitely strengthen his immunity:
- properly eat
- eat enough vitamins and useful trace elements
- play sports
- harden
- spend more time outdoors