Quite often, parents face the problem of poor health in their children. Every now and then there are causeless allergic reactions in the form of atopic dermatitis, constant colds, indicating a decrease in immunity, abdominal pain and right hypochondrium with an increase in the liver. Numerous examinations reveal nothing significant, and the child does not gain weight, lagging behind in physical development. And there may be one reason - this is lamblia in children.
Giardiasis belongs to the group of secretive parasitic infestations, therefore it is rather difficult to identify it in some cases and there are several reasons for this, which are considered in this article. Microscopic unicellular parasites are independent living creatures and use the body, in particular the intestinal lumen and bile ducts as their habitat. They get inside through the mouth with objects contaminated with infected children (toys, pencils, etc.), as well as through poorly washed fruits and vegetables. And young children just differ in their ability to try everything “by the tooth”, therefore they are very vulnerable in terms of infection. And only careful and timely hygienic processing of objects that could be a source of infection can counteract this. If older children have a bad habit of biting their nails, sucking the tip of a pencil or pen, then among them, with giardiasis, up to 60% of the patients are found.
A feature of this parasite is that it is able to be in the external environment for a long time in the form of cysts that are resistant to adverse effects and are found even in chlorinated tap water. They feed on those substances that come with food and should go to the construction of tissues of a growing organism, but do not reach their destination, therefore, with a sufficiently large amount of seeds, lamblia in children causes a deficit in body weight. In the process of their life, lamblia in children produce wastes that have a powerful allergenic potential and, when absorbed into the blood, lead to general sensitization of the body, causing massive allergic manifestations, primarily on the skin, in the form of various rashes.
If the treatment is correctly prescribed for giardia in children, they are easily excreted, but for this they must first be diagnosed. This is where the main problem exists. The fact is that Giardia in children lives high in the small intestine and it is far from always possible to find them with a coprological study. Therefore, if this test for lamblia in children is negative, this does not mean that the child is not sick. For reliable research on giardiasis, duodenal sounding is necessary to check portions of bile for the presence of parasites. But this procedure is acceptable for older children, but what about the younger kids? In this case, serodiagnosis will help, that is, you just need to donate blood for analysis and with the help of a special test, modern medicine will easily detect traces of the presence of the parasite. This method is by far the most reliable to detect lamblia in children. It is recommended for all children who have a suspicion of infection with giardia.
Treatment of lamblia in children is carried out with antiparasitic drugs, among which metronidazole and a derivative of nitrofuran (Macmiror's drug, for example) are most often used. The drugs must be prescribed by the attending physician, and treatment must be under his control. Usually these are two courses of taking the drug for 10-12 days, but in each individual case the doctor decides everything. Self-treatment is unacceptable, since uncontrolled intake of these drugs can itself cause severe adverse reactions, especially if the required dosage is exceeded.