Ectoparasites - this is what? How to get rid of parasites on the surface of the human body and animals?

The organisms existing at the expense of other organisms (hosts) are called parasites. They feed on living plants, blood, cells of animals or humans. Ectoparasites are creatures parasitizing the surface of the skin or external organs, in contrast to endoparasites living inside the host organisms or tissues.

Varieties

Distinguish between temporary and permanent ectoparasites, depending on their ability to live in an external environment:

• Constants can exist only by parasitizing the surface or inside the host organism, multiplying in a given environment.
• Temporary use of the skin, hair or coat of animals, as well as external organs only for food. Most often - it's blood or scales of the skin.

The majority refers to the type of arthropods, which have special devices for fixing on the host's body. Photo ectoparasites, presented in the article, clearly show that they are equipped with special claws (lice) or thorns on the hypostome (ixodid mite) to keep on the surface. Most parasites belong to the class of insects or arachnids (mites). But there are other types of animals, for example, leeches.

Lice

Constant ectoparasites of humans and other animals are, above all, lice. Tiny wingless insects have a mouth organ that can pierce the skin of the host, feeding on its blood. They were first discovered in the feathers of a bird that lived millions of years ago. Depending on the habitat, there are:

• The louse (constantly getting in the underwear).
• The head, whose paws are adapted to existence in hair, having a round section.
• Lobkovaya, for keeping it the most suitable medium - the hair of the lower part of the body with a triangular section.

Lice live up to 40-45 days, but each female is able to postpone up to 15 eggs a day. Having an oblong shape, they differ in white color and reach a length of up to 1 mm. Live eggs - nits, are firmly glued to the tissue or hair, having a healthy shine. If you do not follow preventive measures, the spread of ectoparasites occurs very quickly and leads to a disease (obeschevlennosti), called pediculosis. Lice are carriers of infections, the most dangerous of which is typhus.

How to get rid?

The main source of infection - patients with pediculosis. Pets are not carriers of this disease. Ectoparasites are organisms that adapt well to the environment and gradually adapt to certain poisons. Lice removal should be carried out in two stages:

• Removal of bloodsucking insects.
• Combing of nits.

When using folk remedies, one should remember that it is impossible to get rid of ectoparasites in one day at home. The best remedies are crooked water (a solution of vegetable poison, available in the pharmacy chain), onions and garlic masks, kerosene, 9% vinegar, half diluted with water, and tar soap. Boys can shave their heads, adult women - apply hair dye containing hydrogen peroxide.

The combing of the nits is carried out mechanically by means of a small crest (frequency - 0.3 mm) using a vinegar solution. Vat, soaked in a solution, should be passed between the teeth. The combing must be carried out on paper or cloth to immediately remove or disinfect after the procedure. Fighting ectoparasites is a specialized direction of specialized medical centers, so if you need an urgent solution to the problem, you can resort to their services. They have the most modern chemical means.

Temporary ectoparasites

Insects and arachnids that sit on the host's body only for food (mosquitoes, ixodids, horns, bugs) are temporary ectoparasites. What are they dangerous?

• Bloodsuckers suffer a number of serious diseases: malaria, tropical fever, encephalitis, Lyme disease and others. They are often difficult to recognize, because the symptoms at the first stage resemble ARI. In the United States, a kind of "kiss bug" is found that infects Chagas disease. Her heart, intestines and other important organs are affected. The Bedbug got its name because it bites on the lips or eyelids of a person while performing the act of defecation in parallel. When combing the wound, involuntarily, the person enters the infection in the blood. Presumably, up to 300 thousand Americans can be infected with this disease.
• Bites of insects cause allergic reactions, especially dangerous wasps, bees, midges.
• Combing the affected areas due to the toxic effect of saliva can provoke skin diseases: eczema, dermatitis.

Ectoparasites include mites, which are most difficult to remove from the body of man and animal. If a mosquito or midge can be slapped, then the tick should be removed in accordance with the rules.

Removal of ticks

There are several myths about how to get rid of a dangerous arachnid. The most common among them:

• Ticks must be lubricated with vegetable oil or paraffin, so that he pulls the proboscis, lacking oxygen.
• Remove bloodsucker only in a medical facility.

The most dangerous part of the body of a tick is its head, in which the virus is concentrated. Through saliva, he gets into the wound, so any pressure on the body of arachnid can provoke the acceleration of the infection process. You can not tear it apart or squeeze out an arthropod creature. Ectoparasites are organisms that have hooks, claws or suckers that can not be left in the body of the host. With a lack of oxygen, they can die, but pulling them out will be more difficult.

It is best to remove the mite with a thread, forming a loop that needs to be tightened. The ends should be pulled up with confident movements. If the head still remains in the wound, it must be removed with a needle treated with an antiseptic. The body of the tick for two days must be delivered to the infectious disease specialist for examination in the laboratory. According to statistics, 20% of arachnids are carriers of contagious diseases.

Fleas

Up to 400 species of fleas are spread on the territory of the country. Their peculiarity is that for each animal there are own varieties. Ectoparasites of dogs - Ctenocephalides canis. Insects are secondary to wingless, adapting to parasitism on the skin. They are dangerous because they pass from animals to humans and vice versa, being blood-sucking arthropods. Approximately 10% of the population can be found in the wool of dogs. Black crumbs (remnants of digested blood) on the back are evidence of infection by fleas that left their excrement.

Insects are less active in the cold season, but in the summer and spring they give the animals huge troubles: allergic itching, the appearance of painful wounds on the body, infection with endoparasites, and infectious diseases, including plague, dangerous to humans. Fleas live up to two years, laying eggs in garbage and mink rodents. White larvae resemble worms. Therefore, the treatment of the fur of domestic animals must be combined with the disinsection of the dwelling. Insecticidal drugs of the new generation are low in toxicity for pets and sold in the form of drops, shampoos, collars and sprays.

Vlasyedy

The most common ectoparasites of cats are withers, although they are found in all pets with wool. Insects of yellowish-gray color with a large quadrangular head and a flat body maximally reach a size of 2 mm, but reproduce very rapidly: the female is able to lay down to hundreds of eggs, tightly attached to the wool. Within a month, from adults after the triple moult, adult individuals are formed, unadapted for prolonged stay outside the animal's fur. Their food is skin scales and wool. They do not suck in the blood, but do not shun their clots, I'm on the edges of wounds or scratches.

Vlacoids do not survive on a person's skin, because they love warmth. Thanks to this feature, they are easy to spot on a pet. It is enough to bring the incandescent lamp to the cat, and after a few minutes the ectoparasites will begin to gather at the tips of the wool, reaching for heat. Even an animal that does not leave the confines of the dwelling can infect themselves with vials: through rodents, in the absence of sanitation, adequate nutrition and maintenance in a damp room. Vlsoedy - carriers of gemobartenellosis, tapeworms and a number of other infections that threaten the life of a pet. For their removal it is necessary not only to apply insecticides, but also to comb the larvae by analogy with man.

Scabies mite

Ectoparasites are not only organisms living on the surface of the skin, but also arthropods that penetrate the epidermis. A bright representative is an itch mite, or itch itch. Due to its small size, it is impossible to see it with the naked eye, but the paths that it leaves, moving in the stratum corneum of the epidermis and traces of eczema - confirming the human disease with scabies. Ways of infection are contact with the patient or common objects of everyday life. To the obvious signs that require the intervention of a doctor, include:

• Itching, worse at night.
• Slightly visible lines on the skin (up to 8 mm) with traces of the rash at the ends.
• Combs.
• Formation of purulent crusts.
• Localization in places of the most delicate areas of the skin (in the child - throughout the body).

It is impossible to remove the tick without treatment. Antiparasitic drugs treat the entire body of the patient. Antihistamines are taken internally, and all clothing and household items are subjected to boiling or steam exposure.

Mandatory treatment for ectoparasites

What does this include?

• Preventive measures (vaccinations, planned disinfestation of the dwelling, preventive treatment of animal hair with special sprays monthly from April to November, regardless of the range of the pet).
• Compliance with the sanitary and hygienic norms of housing and keeping the animal.
• Periodic examination of the coat and skin of a pet, especially after walking.
• The course of treatment of contact persons with contagious forms of the disease in the family (scabies, pediculosis).
• Combing after treatment for infection with lice or withers. Mandatory sanitary treatment of the whole dwelling.