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Symptoms of ascaridosis
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
The incubation period of ascariasis is 2-3 weeks. With low-intensity invasion, the early stage of the disease is subclinical. In children of preschool and early school age, the acute phase of the disease usually manifests itself as fever or high subfebrile temperature, skin exudative rashes, sometimes pain throughout the abdomen, nausea, and bowel disorder. Most often, pulmonary syndrome is noted in the form of a dry or wet cough with the development of "flying" infiltrates, less often - pneumonic foci, blood eosinophilia up to 20-40% against the background of leukocytosis up to 12-15 x 10 9 /l. In case of particularly massive invasion, in addition to pneumonia and pleuropneumonia, granulomatous hepatitis with hepatosplenomegaly, moderate jaundice, increased serum transaminase activity, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin level, all globulin fractions and changes in sedimentation test parameters may develop. Heart damage with tachycardia, muffled heart sounds, signs of dystrophic changes in the myocardium cannot be ruled out. Without desensitizing and active specific therapy in young children, massive invasion can lead to death.
In the chronic stage, ascariasis is manifested by periodically occurring pain in the epigastrium, around the navel, sometimes in the right iliac region, decreased appetite, less often - increased hunger, unstable stool. Sometimes only constipation. In young children weakened by insufficient nutrition, there are diarrhea with stool no more than 2-3 times a day with an admixture of mucus, without blood. With massive invasion in young children, pale skin, mucous membranes, decreased nutrition, delayed physical development are noted; moderate anemia, pronounced eosinophilia, a tendency to leukopenia, an increase in ESR to 15-20 mm / h, hypoalbuminemia are detected in the blood serum.
There are acute stages (migration), intestinal stages and stages of complications. In the acute stage, the disease may be limited to general allergic symptoms or develop into pulmonary syndrome or severe polyorgan damage (hepatitis, myocardial dystrophy, pneumonia, pleuropneumonia, pleurisy). In the chronic stage, gastroenteric or asthenic syndrome may predominate.
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