Parasitic infections

General or Other | - Others | Parasitic infections (Disease)


Description

Parasitic infection is contamination of one organism with another living organism that then begins to feed off or reside in the initial organism.

A parasite survives by hijacking another organism, robbing it of nutrients and thanking it by leaving behind toxic waste. In humans this generally means infections with very large parasites that can be seen, such as tapeworms or with tiny ones like amoeba that take intensive laboratory study to find.

Causes and Risk factors

When most humans have a parasitic infection they become ill, because their bodies are not supposed to play host to other large or small organisms of certain types, and these other organisms can cause destruction to the body including death if they are not somehow removed.

The greatest chance of getting parasitic infections tends to occur in underdeveloped countries, where methods of keeping the water supply free from amoeba or large parasites may not be as advanced.

Certain parts of the world run much greater risk for people getting parasitic infections than do others, and these include parts of Asia, Africa and South America. In other parts of Asia, much of Western Europe and most of North America, the likelihood of getting a parasitic infection is much lower, though it still exists.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Albendazole and mebendazole are the treatments administered to patients to control hookworm infection.

Another medication administered to kill worm infections is pyrantel pamoate. For some parasitic diseases there is no treatment and in the case of serious symptoms, medication intended to kill the parasite is administered, while in other cases, a symptom relief options is used. ...