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A stool for worm eggs
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 05.07.2025
Normally, helminth eggs are not detected in feces. If helminth eggs are present, their morphological features can be used to determine the presence of an invasion and the type of helminth. In a single routine study, the frequency of detection of helminth eggs in the feces of patients with helminthic invasions is relatively low. Therefore, a negative result of a single stool test for helminth eggs does not yet indicate the actual absence of the disease. Moreover, even negative results of repeated stool tests for helminth eggs should not be considered a reliable sign of the absence of helminthic invasion.
The effect of helminths on the human body is varied. They can cause toxic and toxic-allergic phenomena (roundworms, trichinella), have a mechanical effect, injuring the intestinal wall; cause bleeding, leading to anemia (for example, hookworms), and also facilitate the penetration of pathogenic microbes from the intestinal contents into the blood; close the lumen of both the intestines and the excretory ducts of the liver and pancreas (roundworms), lead to various metabolic disorders and vitamin deficiency (vitamin deficiency B 12 with invasion by broad tapeworm).
Worms that parasitize humans belong to one of two subtypes - roundworms (nematodes) and flatworms (plateworms). The latter, in turn, are divided into tapeworms - cestodes and flukes - trematodes.
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