Often freshwater fish are infected with various forms of helminths. Crucian carp is no exception. Some worms are harmless to humans, while others cause severe poisoning, diseases of the digestive tract, or a person begins to suffer from infection with worms. The helminths that are most commonly found in carp are discussed in this article.

What kind of worms are carp

Crucian carp is a freshwater fish, which means that it is much more likely than marine inhabitants to become infected with worms.

The most common parasites:

1. Wide ribbon - a flat worm, the larvae of which, penetrating the human body during poor-quality processing of the catch, cause a sharp increase in body temperature, headaches and painful discomfort in the abdomen. Long-term treatment for this helminth can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and even death.
2. Common ligula - tapeworm, reaching a width of up to 4 centimeters, in length - up to 0.8 meters.
3. Cat or Siberian fluke - a parasite from the group of hepatic flukes that enters the fish through river mollusks. A person becomes infected by eating improperly prepared fish. The worm affects the liver and pancreas, which leads to serious and irreversible consequences in the body and even death.
4. Anisacidosis - the larvae of this parasite are very dangerous for humans. This species of worms lives in the peritoneum of fish.
5. Chinese fluke - hepatic trematode, with an uncomplicated form of the disease causes intestinal disorders, severe pathology - damage to the liver and pancreas.
6. Pinworms - insignificant size (up to 1 cm) of worms parasitizing in the lower parts of the intestine (more often - in the rectum). A person has severe itching in the anus, aggravated at night.
7. Trematode Metagonimus yokogawaireaching up to 2.5 centimeters in length. It causes a serious illness - metagnonymosis, which is accompanied by intestinal disorders, and in severe cases - affects the brain.
8. Cestode of the genus diphyllobotrium - tapeworm, growing in length up to 10 meters, causes a dangerous disease for humans - diphyllobothriasis.
9. Ribbon worm Bothriocephalus gowcongensis, up to 35 centimeters long, is relatively safe for humans, because the fish suffers from it more.
10. Nematode Philometroides lusiana - a red helminth that is safe for humans, which parasitizes in scales, swimming bladder, scaly pockets, kidneys of cyprinids. It causes great harm to farms involved in fish farming.
11. Trematodes and flatworms causing various types of diplostomes. Pathological changes can be found in various parts of the body of the fish.
12. Helminth Philometra fasciati - red worms up to 10 centimeters long. After their removal, the fish, having undergone thorough heat treatment, is suitable for consumption.
13. Trematode Opisthorchis felineus - the causative agent of a dangerous parasitic disease of opisthorchiasis. Its focus is in the liver, pancreas, bile ducts. In the advanced stage, it can cause severe liver damage.

Parasites localized in fish are dangerous not only because they cause diseases of its internal organs, but also because they can infect the person who ate it without first having thermally processed it. But in addition to dangerous worms for humans, there are also worms relatively safe for humans in the crucian carp, with which the fish itself is infected.

Did you know? According to the World Health Organization, a huge number of the world's inhabitants are infected with one of the three types of parasitic worms. 1 billion 200 million suffer from enterobiasis, 700 million trichocephalosis, 900 million people with hookworm disease.

Diseases from eating fish with worms

The parasites that live in fish are dangerous in that they provoke dangerous diseases in humans. The most common way for worms to enter the body is poor heat treatment and not following personal hygiene rules when processing fish.

Worms are the causative agent of many dangerous diseases. These include:

• metagonymosiscausing intestinal upsets;
• opisthorchiasis - affects the liver, pancreas, gall bladder;
• clonorchiasisaffecting the liver, gall bladder and their ducts; may be accompanied by allergic rashes;
• diphyllobothriasis - accompanied by serious gastrointestinal disorders, worsening of apatitis, general weakness;
• nanophytosis - stable intestinal disorders, in severe cases - anemia;
• anisakiosis - various intestinal disorders, allergic reactions, in neglected form, can cause peritonitis due to intestinal contents entering the peritoneum;
• ligulosis - tapeworms, increasing in size, compress internal organs in habitats; In addition, less nutrients enter the body.

Crucian carp, like other river fish, is more prone to helminthic invasion than marine inhabitants. This is due to the fact that salt water for parasites is not a very comfortable habitat, they feel better in fresh water.

Important! Opisthorchiasis can be infected from pets, in particular from a cat. Therefore, do not give your pet raw fish, but only heat-treated. This dangerous disease can lead to complete destruction of the liver.

To get infected with worms - easy, one day you should try raw fish. However, it is possible to know exactly what infection has occurred only through laboratory tests. Therefore, if after eating fish you feel constant weakness, causeless nausea, there is a disorder of the stool and allergic reactions that did not exist before, it is better to consult a doctor and be examined for the presence of worms in the body.

Opisthorchiasis

The habitat of opisthorchiasis worms in fish is the gills and muscles. The disease is caused by a Siberian fluke. After entering the human body, it moves to the liver, pancreas or gall bladder, where it begins to parasitize. This leads to the fact that a huge amount of toxic substances are released into the blood. Various rashes often appear on the skin, which are one of the symptoms of infection with this parasite.

Did you know? Parasitic worms, in large quantities, are able to suck out up to half a liter of the host’s blood per day. Therefore, a person infected with worms, very quickly losing weight.

The worm is small in size, about 12 mm. In addition to fish, it also parasitizes in mammals. The disease manifests itself 20-21 days after the person consumed the infected products. The temperature rises, weakness appears, a person complains of nausea, and in some cases, and vomiting, a constant headache appears.

It is difficult for the patient to breathe, often a cough appears. Sometimes body temperature reaches + 40 ° C. With repeated infection, the symptoms do not manifest themselves so clearly, which carries an additional danger. The liver and spleen are severely affected. Opisthorchiasis can not be treated without a doctor’s prescription and alternative methods. This is fraught with the appearance of complications and the transition of ailments to a chronic form.

Crucian is a carrier of invasion, and helminths parasitize in the human body, or in the tissues and organs of domestic animals that ate infected fish.

Clonorchiasis

Crucian carp can be a carrier of another disease - clonorchosis, which is caused by the Chinese fluke. Infection occurs when you eat undercooked or poorly fried fish.

Important! With helminthic invasion, rashes often appear on the skin, which many often confuse with allergies. Therefore, with the manifestation of various kinds of rash, it is advisable to check for the presence of parasites in the body.

A disease is detected by identifying eggs in the contents of the duodenum or in feces. They treat the disease with medicines Praziquantel or Albendazole. The dosage of these drugs is determined by the doctor. Self-medication is not allowed.

The disease is severe because it is infected by the hepatic trematode (Clonorchis sinensis), which settles in the liver and gradually destroys the gland. When infected with clonorchiasis, the temperature rises, abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting, general weakness and loss of strength, mild jaundice appear. Sometimes the symptoms are not particularly pronounced.

1 - the final host, 2 - the egg, 3 - miracidium, 4 - the first intermediate host (mollusk) 5 - sporocyst, 6, 7 - redia, 8 - circus, 9 - second intermediate host

The parasite that causes this disease is considered the smallest of flatworms, because its size does not exceed 2.5 millimeters. Intestinal disorders are characteristic of a mild form of infection, they do not pose a serious danger. If the disease is not treated, complications can occur - an abscess of the liver, acute pancreatitis and stones in the hepatic ducts.

Atrophy of the liver parenchyma and portal fibrosis - develops with massive reproduction of parasites and the chronic stage of the disease in the absence of treatment. With the accumulation of worms in the bile ducts, a manifestation of Botkin's disease is possible. Launched forms are accompanied by the development of purulent diseases of the internal organs, and sometimes cancer.

Metagonymosis

Another type of worms that is transmitted through river fish is metahonymosis.. A trematode (Metagonimus yokogawai), parasitizing in the small intestine, is no more than 2 mm long and up to 0.8 mm wide. Its oblong-oval body is covered with tiny spikes. Gives eggs with a cap. Symptoms of the disease appear 1-2 weeks after infection with worms. It can be pain in the stomach, gastrointestinal upset, general weakness of the body.

The life cycle of the parasite occurs with the participation of more than one host. The worm carrier (human or animal) secretes eggs with feces, which, when ingested, are absorbed by mollusks (intermediate host).

In their organisms, eggs turn into cercariae, which leave this host and attach to scales and other organs of crucian carp or cyprinids. They are another intermediate host. When a person or animal eats thermally poorly processed infected crucian carp, metagonism infection occurs.

Did you know? Diphyllobothrium Saturn is the longest tapeworm. The parasite can reach 12 meters. It lives in the intestines of fish, but sometimes parasitizes in humans.

It is also possible to get from the scales to the hands, and with poorly washed hands and into the human body. Worms invade the mucous membrane of the small intestine, causing inflammation, atrophy of the epithelium, intestinal disorders with prolonged diarrhea. May lead to anemia. To learn about infection with this helminthic invasion, you can only study excrement and clinical signs. In order not to get infected with trematode, you need to eat only heat-treated, well-cooked or fried fish, as well as avoid the use of dried. After cutting the product, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly with soap.

Is it possible to eat infected fish

Of course, the first desire of a person, at the sight of a fish infected with worms, will be immediate disposal of it. But it is believed that if the number of detected parasites is small, after careful heat treatment it can be eaten. In case of profuse infection, which is visible to the naked eye, it is better to get rid of such a product.

But one moment when a person found that the crucian is infected with helminths, and another - if they are so small that they are simply not visible. Therefore, when eating any, especially river fish, precautionary measures must be observed.

Important! The main sources of helminthic infestation are smoked, salted and dried, as well as insufficiently boiled, fried and baked fish.

In order to protect yourself from parasites entering the body, you must:

1. Keep the fish in the freezer for at least 48 hours (-18 ° C). At low temperatures, worms and their larvae die.
2. Frying should be carried out for at least 20 minutes.
3. Reduce or even abandon dried fish or smoked, because the likelihood of infection with worms during its use is high.
4. Salting should be carried out for 2 weeks.
5. Check your belly carefully - it should not be swollen.
6. If you are engaged in fishing, it is better to catch in those fish farms where the prevention of helminthic diseases is carried out.
7. It is better to buy an unsqueezed carcass so that you can see if its entrails are infected with parasites.
8. Do not feed your pets raw fish in order not to get infected with worms from them in the future.
9. Thoroughly disinfect kitchen tools after cutting any fish, because they may leave worm eggs on them, which can then enter your body.
10. Do not give raw fish with tapeworm and other infestations to domestic or street animals.
11. Cook the fish for at least half an hour, bake for about 40 minutes.
12. In no case do not eat raw fish, especially river fish.
13. Do not try raw minced fish.
14. Eliminate the possibility of contact of fish with other products.
15. It is better to defrost a product in the refrigerator.
16. Use a separate knife and board for cutting crucians. After cutting, thoroughly disinfect them.
17. When cooking, the use of rubber gloves is recommended.

If you comply with the above conditions for the preparation of fish, then the likelihood of infection with helminthic invasion during its use in food is minimized. In any case, careful heat treatment is necessary, in which the parasites and their eggs die.

What to do if I ate fish with worms

Not all worms in fish products can be seen with the naked eye. If it so happened that you ate infected crucian carp or carps, then you will not immediately understand if the worms were infected or not. The clinical picture at first has blurry signs. The incubation periods of helminthiasis are different. Sometimes they reach 60 days.

Symptoms of helminthic invasion:

• increased irritability;
• drowsiness;
• lethargic state;
• skin rashes similar to allergic reactions;
• weakness and fatigue;
• sometimes - an increase in body temperature;
• intestinal disorders (vomiting, nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea);
• severe bloating;
• sharp gain or loss of body weight;
• depression.

If the above symptoms appear, you should consult a doctor as soon as possible and conduct laboratory tests of all family members. If the diagnosis is confirmed, hygiene rules must be followed to avoid re-infection. The doctor will prescribe appropriate treatment and diet food.

In order not to expose yourself and your loved ones to the danger of helminth infection when eating fish, carefully choose this product.

The infected crucian looks like this:

• the pupils are cloudy, the mucous membrane is overdried;
• it smells bad;
• swampy gills;
• the anus strongly protrudes, a cloudy liquid may be released from it;
• the scales are easily detached, and under it the skin is sticky;
• swollen or sagging abdomen;
• the crucian carp is soft and there is no rigor mortis; when pressed on the carcass, the fossa does not disappear.

Thus, it is very simple to get worms from river inhabitants, in particular from crucian carp. But observing the rules of cutting and properly preparing them, you can avoid infection. Worms are dangerous with complications, so do not self-medicate or delay a trip to the doctor.At the first signs of helminthic invasion, you should immediately consult a specialist. The sooner you start treatment, the easier it is to get rid of parasites, because they multiply very quickly.