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Feb 23, 2024 · Intestinal parasites include worms and one-celled organisms that hatch, grow and thrive in your intestines. Antiparasitic medicines can clear most infections.
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Some people with giardia infection never develop signs or symptoms, but they still carry the parasite and can spread it to others through their stool. For those who do get sick, signs and symptoms usually appear one to three weeks after exposure and may include:
•Watery, sometimes foul-smelling diarrhea that may alternate with soft, greasy stools
•Fatigue
•Stomach cramps and bloating
•Gas
•Nausea
Call your doctor if you have loose stools, stomach cramping and bloating, and nausea lasting more than a week, or if you become dehydrated. Be sure to tell your doctor if you're at risk of giardia infection — that is, you have a child in child care, you've recently traveled to an area where the infection is common, or you've swallowed water from a lake or stream.
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Giardia parasites live in the intestines of people and animals. Before the microscopic parasites are passed in stool, they become encased within hard shells called cysts, which allows them to survive outside the intestines for months. Once inside a host, the cysts dissolve and the parasites are released.
Infection occurs when you accidentally swallow the parasite cysts. This can occur by swallowing unsafe water, by eating infected food or through person-to-person contact.
The giardia parasite is a very common intestinal parasite. Although anyone can pick up giardia parasites, some people are especially at risk:
•Children. Giardia infection is far more common in children than it is in adults. Children are more likely to come in contact with feces, especially if they wear diapers, are toilet training or spend time in a child care center. People who live or work with small children also are at higher risk of developing giardia infection.
•People without access to safe drinking water. Giardia infection is rampant wherever sanitation is inadequate or water isn't safe to drink. You're at risk if you travel to places where giardia infection is common, especially if you aren't careful about what you eat and drink. The risk is greatest in rural or wilderness areas.
•People who have anal sex. People who have anal sex or oral-anal sex without using a condom or other protection are at increased risk of giardia infection, as well as sexually transmitted infections.
Giardia infection is almost never fatal in industrialized countries. But it can cause lingering symptoms and serious complications, especially in infants and children. The most common complications include:
•Dehydration. Often a result of severe diarrhea, dehydration occurs when the body doesn't have enough water to carry out its normal functions.
•Failure to thrive. Chronic diarrhea from giardia infection can lead to malnutrition and harm children's physical and mental development.
•Lactose intolerance. Many people with giardia infection develop lactose intolerance — the inability to properly digest milk sugar. The problem may persist long after the infection has cleared.
No drug or vaccine can prevent giardia infection. But commonsense precautions can go a long way toward reducing the chances that you'll become infected or spread the infection to others.
•Wash your hands. This is the simplest and best way to prevent most kinds of infection. Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds after using the toilet or changing diapers, and before eating or preparing food. When soap and water aren't available, you can use alcohol-based sanitizers. However, alcohol-based sanitizers aren't effective in destroying the cyst form of giardia that survives in the environment.
•Purify wilderness water. Avoid drinking untreated water from shallow wells, lakes, rivers, springs, ponds and streams unless you filter it or boil it for at least 10 minutes at 158 F (70 C) first.
•Wash produce. Wash any raw fruits and vegetables with safe, uncontaminated water. Peel the fruit before eating it. Avoid eating raw fruits or vegetables if traveling in countries where they may have contact with unsafe water.
•Keep your mouth closed. Try not to swallow water when swimming in pools, lakes or streams.
•Use bottled water. When traveling to parts of the world where the water supply is likely to be unsafe, drink and brush your teeth with bottled water that you open yourself. Don't use ice.
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Nov 23, 2023 · The only way to diagnose intestinal worm parasites is by seeing eggs, larvae, or adult worms in the stool or, in the case of pinworm, collecting eggs from the perineum. The fecal (stool) exam is also called an ova and parasite test. It is used to detect the presence of intestinal worms and other gut parasites.
Parasites have a unique life cycle and can rotate between dormant and active, meaning a technician won’t always be able to see a parasite in stool. To identify intestinal parasites in this conventional test, a stool sample must contain a live parasite, which remains alive in transit to the lab.
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