Symptoms of liver fluke

Liver fluke disease is a disease caused by parasites. Most people who get the disease do so by eating unclean food, especially some aquatic food, such as seafood. These foods will provide opportunities for parasites to parasitize. Moreover, parasites are so small that it is impossible to detect their existence with the naked eye. Some people become sick after eating food containing parasites for various reasons. Parasites enter the human body without being noticed.

Liver fluke disease is generally difficult to detect quickly, and by the time it is discovered, the disease may have already occurred for a long time. Because at this time some obvious symptoms have already appeared. It is better to detect liver fluke disease as early as possible. If you can understand some of the symptoms of liver fluke disease in advance, you can control and treat it in time.

Symptoms of liver fluke:

The disease generally has a slow onset, and only a few patients with severe infection within a short period of time will show acute clinical symptoms. People with mild infection often have no symptoms or only have a feeling of fullness in the upper abdomen, lack of appetite or mild abdominal pain after eating. The patient tires easily. Worm eggs can be detected in feces. Those with more severe infections usually have a slower onset and experience loss of appetite, upper abdominal fullness, mild diarrhea, and dull pain in the liver area. 24% to 96.3% of patients have hepatomegaly, especially in the left lobe, with tenderness and percussion pain. It may be accompanied by symptoms of neurasthenia such as dizziness, insomnia, fatigue, lack of energy, palpitations, and memory loss.

Some patients may develop obstructive jaundice or even biliary colic due to large numbers of adult worms blocking the common bile duct. Severe cases of chronic repeated infection develop into cirrhosis and portal hypertension, with symptoms such as weight loss, anemia, varicose veins of the abdominal wall, hepatosplenomegaly, ascites, and jaundice. Children with severe infection may suffer from malnutrition, growth disorders, and even dwarfism. Severe infections often present with acute onset. The incubation period is short, only 15 to 26 days. The patient suddenly developed chills and high fever reaching over 39°C, which was a remittent fever. Lack of appetite, aversion to greasy food, hepatomegaly with tenderness, mild jaundice, and a few patients have splenomegaly. After a few weeks, the acute symptoms disappear and the disease enters a chronic stage, characterized by fatigue, indigestion, hepatomegaly and tenderness, etc.

The symptoms of liver fluke disease vary in severity and can generally be divided into three degrees: 1. Mild cases may have no symptoms and worm eggs are only found during stool examination. Or there may be mild gastrointestinal symptoms, such as stomach tenderness after eating, soft stools, etc. About 35%. ②Moderate: mainly obvious gastrointestinal symptoms, such as lack of appetite, indigestion, distension and pain in the right upper abdomen, hepatomegaly, and mild edema. If bacterial infection occurs, cholangitis and cholecystitis may occur. About 55%. ③ Severe cases have obvious gastrointestinal symptoms, such as repeated diarrhea or constipation, right upper abdominal pain, or splenomegaly, ascites, anemia, etc. It is more common in children, accounting for about 10%.

The same patient may have several of the above clinical types simultaneously. In addition, there are a very small number of patients from non-epidemic areas who are infected in large numbers for the first time and may suddenly become ill about one month after infection, with symptoms such as chills, high fever, distension and pain in the middle or right upper abdomen, enlarged liver with tenderness, mild jaundice, and splenomegaly. The number of eosinophils in the blood increased significantly. A very small number of patients experience leukemoid reactions. After a few weeks, the acute symptoms disappear, but symptoms such as indigestion, fatigue, and liver enlargement remain.

The invisible enemy is the most terrifying enemy. For parasites, which are invisible killers of the body, people can only take good precautions to prevent them from taking advantage of the opportunity. Do not eat uncooked food, do not eat overnight meals, and eat less seafood that is suitable for parasites to survive. All food must be cooked at high temperature before eating. This can prevent the occurrence of diseases like liver fluke to the greatest extent.