In order to reduce and eliminate the inflammation consume more carbs from vegetables and fruits and use olive oil or grass-fed butter instead of sunflower or soybean oils for cooking. In order to improve the overall health and to reduce and eliminate inflammation the main thing to do is to avoid processed foods and consume home cooked meals with plenty of natural ingredients, vegetables and fruits. HEART SURGEON REVEALS THE REAL CAUSE OF HEART DISEASE! Health Tips
For decades doctors and surgeons have claimed that high cholesterol is the cause of heart diseases. All this time, high cholesterols was treated with medications for reducing the levels of cholesterol and with diet based on low fat intake. But, scientists have recently discovered that heart disease is not caused by high cholesterol levels. The real cause is something way different from cholesterol.
This recent research showed that the real reason for heart disease is arterial inflammation. This discovery shook up the medical community. The dietary recommendations have created even bigger problems because they resulted in a worldwide epidemic of diabetes and obesity. The statistics show that in the USA only, ¼ of the adult population takes medications for lowering the cholesterol or statins. The same data also show that in the USA 75 million citizens suffer from heart disease and 20 million from diabetes. Each year the number of young patients suffering from heart disease is rising and this is clearly showing that cholesterol is not the reason for this type of diseases.
The real cause is the inflammation. The inflammation is actually very beneficial because it`s the natural reaction of the body to invaders. Since we are constantly exposed to toxins the body is not able to fight and process all the foreign invaders and the inflammation becomes chronic. This condition has direct consequences to the health and heart.
Unfortunately, we are the ones causing the chronic inflammation with the unhealthy lifestyle and unhealthy diet. The constant consumption of inflammatory products and foods rich in fat and sugar is harmful for the health. This type of diet leads to development of chronic inflammation and different diseases like diabetes and heart diseases. Another factor for the increased numbers of heart disease patients is the low fat diet which is highly recommended as a treatment for high cholesterol levels.
The unhealthy foods that we all consume almost daily are causing big damage to our health. It doesn’t matter where and how the inflammation is caused, what matters is that the inflammation can and will damage the health seriously. These types of foods affect the arteries and bit by bit the inflammation increases and serious medical conditions occur as a result.
The cinnamon rolls, for example, are maybe the worst food for the health. They contain high amounts of carbs and sugar which increase the risk of many medical conditions and diseases. The consumption of sweets and sugar increases the levels of sugar in the blood vary fast. This causes the pancreas to produce insulin which is a hormone that regulates the levels of glucose in the blood. This causes a chain reaction. The constant intake of sugar makes the pancreas to produce high amounts of insulin which results in high amounts of glucose which, on the other hand, gets converted into fat. The sugar molecules attach themselves to the proteins which can damage the artery walls causing increase of the inflammation and in time it can damage the blood vessels beyond repair.
The sweet rolls also contain high amounts of omega 6 fatty acids because they are usually baked in soybean oil. This type of oil contains high amounts of these acids which are used for increasing the shelf life of the products. Although omega 6 acids are beneficial, they must be in perfect balance in the body with the omega 3 acids. If these acids are not balanced, the inflammation will increase due to the production of cytokines produced by the cellular membranes.
The ratio of omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids in the western diet is 30:1. This diet is extremely high on omega 6 fatty acids and this is really concerning. This type of diet increases the weight and the risk of diabetes and heart diseases.
Increasing the intake of processed foods increases the risk of cancer, diabetes, obesity and heart disease. The only way to lower the risk of developing some of these diseases is to change the diet and start consuming more natural foods. In order to reduce and eliminate the inflammation consume more carbs from vegetables and fruits and use olive oil or grass-fed butter instead of sunflower or soybean oils for cooking.
Animal fat or saturated fat shouldn’t be excluded from the diet because they don’t cause heart diseases. They contain low amounts of omega 6 acids, so they don’t cause inflammation. Saturated fat doesn’t affect and increase the levels of cholesterol in the blood also.
The low fat diet has caused much worse conditions. Controlling the cholesterol with this diet has increased the numbers of heart diseases patients worldwide. In order to improve the overall health and to reduce and eliminate inflammation the main thing to do is to avoid processed foods and consume home cooked meals with plenty of natural ingredients, vegetables and fruits.
This article is about the infection. For the organism, see Ascaris.
Not to be confused with Acariasis a mite infection.
Ascariasis
Ascaris infection in X-ray image- Duedenal worms - in the first portion of the bowel after the stomach (South Africa) (16238958958).jpg
High number of ascaris worms – visible as black tangled mass – are filling the duodenum, the first portion of the bowel after the stomach, of this South African patient (X-ray image with barium as contrast medium)
Specialty Infectious disease
Symptoms Abdominal swelling, abdominal pain, diarrhea, shortness of breath[1]
Causes Eating Ascaris eggs[2]
Prevention Improved sanitation, handwashing[1]
Medication Albendazole, mebendazole, levamisole, pyrantel pamoate[2]
Frequency 762 million (2015)[3]
Deaths 2,700 (2015)[4]
[edit on Wikidata]
Ascariasis is a disease caused by the parasitic roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides.[1] Infections have no symptoms in more than 85% of cases, especially if the number of worms is small.[1] Symptoms increase with the number of worms present and may include shortness of breath and fever in the beginning of the disease.[1] These may be followed by symptoms of abdominal swelling, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.[1] Children are most commonly affected, and in this age group the infection may also cause poor weight gain, malnutrition, and learning problems.[1][2][5]
Infection occurs by eating food or drink contaminated with Ascaris eggs from feces.[2] The eggs hatch in the intestines, burrow through the gut wall, and migrate to the lungs via the blood.[2] There they break into the alveoli and pass up the trachea, where they are coughed up and swallowed.[2] The larvae then pass through the stomach for a second time into the intestine, where they become adult worms.[2] It is a type of soil-transmitted helminthiasis and part of a group of diseases called helminthiases.[6]
Prevention is by improved sanitation, which includes improving access to toilets and proper disposal of feces.[1][7] Handwashing with soap appears protective.[8] In areas where more than 20% of the population is affected, treating everyone at regular intervals is recommended.[1] Reoccurring infections are common.[2][9] There is no vaccine.[2] Treatments recommended by the World Health Organization are the medications albendazole, mebendazole, levamisole, or pyrantel pamoate.[2] Other effective agents include tribendimidine and nitazoxanide.[2]
About 0.8 to 1.2 billion people globally have ascariasis, with the most heavily affected populations being in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia.[1][10][11] This makes ascariasis the most common form of soil-transmitted helminthiasis.[10] As of 2010 it caused about 2,700 deaths a year, down from 3,400 in 1990.[12] Another type of Ascaris infects pigs.[1] Ascariasis is classified as a neglected tropical disease.[6]
Contents [hide]
1 Signs and symptoms
1.1 Migrating larvae
1.2 Intestinal blockage
1.3 Bowel obstruction
1.4 Allergies
1.5 Malnutrition
1.6 Others
2 Cause
2.1 Transmission
2.2 Lifecycle
3 Diagnosis
4 Mechanism
5 Prevention
6 Treatment
6.1 Medications
6.2 Surgery
7 Prognosis
8 Epidemiology
8.1 Regions
8.2 Infection estimates
8.3 Deaths
9 Research
10 Other animals
11 Miscellaneous
12 References
13 External links
Signs and symptoms[edit]
Further information: Helminthiasis § Signs and symptoms
Most people who are infected with only a small number of worms have no symptoms. It is common to find that most people are infected by a small number of worms, while a small number of people are heavily infected, something that is characteristic of many worm infections.[1][13] Clinical features depend on the affected body site.
Migrating larvae[edit]
As larval stages travel through the body, they may cause visceral damage, peritonitis and inflammation, enlargement of the liver or spleen, and an inflammation of the lungs. Pulmonary manifestations take place during larval migration and may present as Loeffler's syndrome, a transient respiratory illness associated with blood eosinophilia and pulmonary infiltrates with radiographic shadowing.[14]
Intestinal blockage[edit]
Piece of intestine, blocked by worms, surgically removed from a 3-year-old boy in South Africa.[15]
The worms can occasionally cause intestinal blockage when large numbers get tangled into a bolus or they may migrate from the small intestine, which may require surgery. More than 796 A. lumbricoides worms weighing up to 550 g [19 ounces] were recovered at autopsy from a 2-year-old South African girl. The worms had caused torsion and gangrene of the ileum, which was interpreted as the cause of death.[16]
Bowel obstruction[edit]
Bowel obstruction may occur in up to 0.2 per 1000 per year.[1] A worm may block the ampulla of Vater, or go into the main pancreatic duct, resulting in acute pancreatitis with raised serum levels of amylase and lipase. Occasionally, a worm can travel through the billiary tree and even into the gallbladder, causing acute cholangitis or acute cholecystitis.
Allergies[edit]
Ascariasis may result in allergies to shrimp and dustmites due to the shared antigen, tropomyosin; this has not been confirmed in the laboratory.[17][18]
Malnutrition[edit]
The worms in the intestine may cause malabsorption and anorexia which contribute to malnutrition.[19] The malabsorption may be due to a loss of brush border enzymes, erosion and flattening of the villi, and inflammation of the lamina propria.[20]
Others[edit]
Ascaris have an aversion to some general anesthetics and may exit the body, sometimes through the mouth, when an infected individual is put under general anesthesia.[21]
Cause[edit]
Ascaris life cycle: Adult worms (1) live in the lumen of the small intestine. A female may produce approximately 200,000 eggs per day, which are passed with the feces (2). Unfertilized eggs may be ingested but are not infective. Fertile eggs embryonate and become infective after 18 days to several weeks (3), depending on the environmental conditions (optimum: moist, warm, shaded soil). After infective eggs are swallowed (4), the larvae hatch (5), invade the intestinal mucosa and are carried via the portal, then systemic circulation and/or lymphatics to the lungs . The larvae mature further in the lungs (6) (10 to 14 days), penetrate the alveolar walls, ascend the bronchial tree to the throat, and are swallowed (7). Upon reaching the small intestine, they develop into adult worms (8). Between 2 and 3 months are required from ingestion of the infective eggs to oviposition by the adult female. Adult worms can live 1 to 2 years.
Transmission[edit]
The source of infection is from objects which have been contaminated with fecal matter containing eggs.[2] Ingestion of infective eggs from soil contaminated with human feces or contaminated vegetables and water is the primary route of infection. Infectious eggs may occur on other objects such as hands, money and furniture.[2] Transmission from human to human by direct contact is impossible.[22]
Transmission comes through municipal recycling of wastewater into crop fields. This is quite common in emerging industrial economies and poses serious risks for local crop sales and exports of contaminated vegetables. A 1986 outbreak of ascariasis in Italy was traced to irresponsible wastewater recycling used to grow Balkan vegetable exports.[23]
The number of ova (eggs) in sewage or in crops that were irrigated with raw or partially treated sewage, is a measure of the degree of ascariasis incidence. For example:
In a study published in 1992, municipal wastewater in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia detected over 100 eggs per litre of wastewater[24] and in Czechoslovakia was as high as 240–1050 eggs per litre.[25]
In one field study in Marrakech, Morocco, where raw sewage is used to fertilize crop fields, Ascaris eggs were detected at the rate of 0.18 eggs/kg in potatoes, 0.27 eggs/kg in turnip, 4.63 eggs/kg in mint, 0.7 eggs/kg in carrots, and 1.64 eggs/kg in radish.[26] A similar study in the same area showed that 73% of children working on these farms were infected with helminths, particularly Ascaris, probably as a result of exposure to the raw sewage.
The larva of Ascaris lumbricoides developing in the egg
Ascaris lumbricoides adult worms (with measuring tape for scale)
Ascaris lumbricoides adult worms
Ascaris egg, incubation process: The Ascaris egg incubation process consists in placing the egg in a controlled environment, at 26 °C during 28 days, in acidic conditions. This process allows for evaluation of an egg to determine if it is viable or not, by watching the bipartition of the nucleus, and the growth of the larva.
Lifecycle[edit]
The first appearance of eggs in stools is 60–70 days. In larval ascariasis, symptoms occur 4–16 days after infection. The final symptoms are gastrointestinal discomfort, colic and vomiting, fever, and observation of live worms in stools. Some patients may have pulmonary symptoms or neurological disorders during migration of the larvae. There are generally few or no symptoms. A bolus of worms may obstruct the intestine; migrating larvae may cause pneumonitis and eosinophilia. Adult worms have a lifespan of 1–2 years which means that individuals may be infected all their lives as worms die and new worms are acquired.[13]
Eggs can survive potentially for 15 years and a single worm may produce 200,000 eggs a day.[2] They maintain their position by swimming against the intestinal flow.[27]
Diagnosis[edit]
Most diagnoses are made by identifying the appearance of the worm or eggs in feces. Due to the large quantity of eggs laid, physicians can diagnose using only one or two fecal smears.[citation needed]
The diagnosis is usually incidental when the host passes a worm in the stool or vomit. The eggs can be seen in a smear of fresh feces examined on a glass slide under a microscope and there are various techniques to concentrate them first or increase their visibility, such as the ether sedimentation method or the Kato technique. The eggs have a characteristic shape: they are oval with a thick, mamillated shell (covered with rounded mounds or lumps), measuring 35-50 micrometer in diameter and 40-70 in length. During pulmonary disease, larvae may be found in fluids aspirated from the lungs. White blood cells counts may demonstrate peripheral eosinophilia; this is common in many parasitic infections and is not specific to ascariasis. On X-ray, 15–35 cm long filling defects, sometimes with whirled appearance (bolus of worms).
Mechanism[edit]
Ascaris takes most of its nutrients from the partially digested host food in the intestine. There is some evidence that it can secrete anti-enzymes, presumably to protect itself from digestion by the hosts' enzymes. Children are often more severely affected.[1]
Prevention[edit]
Prevention is by improved access to sanitation which includes the use of properly functioning and clean toilets by all community members as one important aspect.[1] Handwashing with soap may be protective; however, there is no evidence it affects the severity of disease.[8] Eliminating the use of untreated human faeces as fertilizer is also important.
In areas where more than 20% of the population is affected treating everyone is recommended.[1] This has a cost of about 2 to 3 cents per person per treatment.[1] This is known as mass drug administration and is often carried out among school-age children.[28] For this purpose, broad-spectrum benzimidazoles such as mebendazole and albendazole are the drugs of choice recommended by WHO.[29]
Treatment[edit]
Further information: Helminthiasis § Treatment
Medications[edit]
Medications that are used to kill roundworms are called ascaricides. Those recommended by the World Health Organization for ascariasis are: albendazole, mebendazole, levamisole and pyrantel pamoate.[2] Other effective agents include tribendimidine and nitazoxanide.[2] Pyrantel pamoate may induce intestinal obstruction in a heavy worm load. Albendazole is contraindicated during pregnancy and children under two years of age. Thiabendazole may cause migration of the worm into the esophagus, so it is usually combined with piperazine.
Piperazine is a flaccid paralyzing agent that blocks the response of Ascaris muscle to acetylcholine, which immobilizes the worm. It prevents migration when treatment is accomplished with weak drugs such as thiabendazole. If used by itself, it causes the worm to be passed out in the feces and may be used when worms have caused blockage of the intestine or the biliary duct.
Corticosteroids can treat some of the symptoms, such as inflammation.
Other medications[edit]
Hexylresorcinol effective in single dose[30]
Santonin, more toxic than hexylresorcinol[30] and often only partly effective.[31]
Oil of chenopodium, more toxic than hexylresorcinol[30]
Surgery[edit]
In some cases with severe infestation the worms may cause bowel obstruction, requiring emergency surgery.[32] The bowel obstruction may be due to all the worms or twisting of the bowel.[32] During the surgery the worms may be manually removed.[32]
Prognosis[edit]
It is rare for the infections to be life-threatening.[1]
Epidemiology[edit]
Ascariasis deaths per million persons in 2012
0-0
1-1
2-2
Disability-adjusted life year for ascariasis per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004.
no data
less than 10
10-20
20-30
30-40
40-50
50-60
60-80
80-100
100-120
120-140
140-150
more than 150
Regions[edit]
Ascariasis is common in Africa and in Southeast Asia. It also occurs in the United States including Gulf Coast.[citation needed]
Infection estimates[edit]
Roughly 0.8-1.3 billion individuals are infected with this intestinal worm, primarily in Africa and Asia.[1][2][11] About 120 to 220 million of these cases are symptomatic.[1] One study indicated that the prevalence of ascariasis in the United States at about 4 million (2%).[citation needed]
Deaths[edit]
As of 2010 Ascariasis caused about 2,700 directly attributable deaths, down from 3,400 in 1990.[12] The indirectly attributable deaths due to the malnutrition link may be much higher.
Research[edit]
There are two animal models, the mouse and pig, used in studying Ascaris infection.[33][34]
Other animals[edit]
Infections in pigs leads to poor weight gain and thus financial losses for the farmer.[1] In pigs the infection is due to Ascaris suum.[1] In horses and other equines, the equine roundworm is Parascaris equorum and the parasites are colloquially called Ascarids. A problem for young animals more than for mature ones, clinical signs include unthriftiness, potbelly, rough hair coat, and slow growth.[35]
Miscellaneous[edit]
