About this topic
Echinococcosis is an infection caused by tapeworms. This kind of worm is often found in dogs, sheep, and cows. They live in the animals belly. The eggs are shed into the animal's stool. You may become infected when you take the eggs into your mouth. The egg can settle in your organs like your brain, liver, and lungs. They grow into cysts over time. These cysts can cause problems with many parts of your body. ‚
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What care is needed at home?
- Ask your doctor what you need to do when you go home. Make sure you ask questions if you do not understand what the doctor says. This way you will know what you need to do.
- Wash your hands with warm water and soap after toilet use and before handling foods.
- Avoid handling foods when you have an infection.
- Avoid sharing your personal things with other people while you are infected.
What follow-up care is needed?
Your doctor may ask you to make visits to the office to check on your progress. Be sure to keep these visits. ‚
What drugs may be needed?
The doctor will order drugs to: ‚
- Kill the worms
- Help you pass the tapeworms in your stool
- Clear your bowels to help tapeworms come out of your intestines
- Help with pain
- Lower fever
Will physical activity be limited?
You may have to limit your activity. Talk to your doctor about the right amount of activity for you. ‚
What problems could happen?
- The infection may come back after some time.
- Cysts can settle in different parts of your body. This can cause problems with your liver, heart, nerves, eyes, or other organs
- Muscle swelling
- Low red blood cells (anemia)
What can be done to prevent this health problem?
- Take care with your food and drinks.
- Avoid eating unprocessed or raw animal products like raw meats, milk, and unprocessed cheese.
- Wash vegetables and fruits with care before eating or serving them.
- Cook meat with care and the right way. Avoid eating raw and undercooked meat.
- Freeze meats to -4 ‚ °F (-20 ‚ °C) for at least 24 hours.
- If you think that your drinking water may be contaminated, let it boil for at least 30 minutes.
- Take extra care around animals.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 15 seconds. This is very important after playing with or touching your dog. Also, wash after touching any animal. Be sure to do this if you work with animals or on a farm.
- Wear proper gear if your work involves handling animal products.
- Treat your pets and other family animals against worms.
- Practice proper sanitation and disposal of stool.
- Teach children to wash their hands correctly and often.
- Avoid contact with wild animals.
When do I need to call the doctor?
- Signs of infection. These include a fever of 100.4 ‚ °F (38 ‚ °C) or higher, chills.
- Belly pain that will not go away even with drugs
- Unintended weight loss
- Weakness
- Bloody stools
- Yellowish discoloration of the skin
- Cough that does not go away
- Chest pain
- You are not feeling better in 2 to 3 days or you are feeling worse
Teach Back: Helping You Understand
The Teach Back Method helps you understand the information we are giving you. The idea is simple. After talking with the staff, tell them in your own words what you were just told. This helps to make sure the staff has covered each thing clearly. It also helps to explain things that may have been a bit confusing. Before going home, make sure you are able to do these: ‚
- I can tell you about my condition.
- I can tell you how and when to wash my hands to avoid passing the infection to others.
- I can tell you how I will take extra care with my food and drinks and around animals.
- I can tell you what I will do if I have belly pain, weight loss, bloody stool, cough, or chest pain.
Where can I learn more?
FamilyDoctor.org ‚
http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases-conditions/echinococcosis.printerview.all.html ‚
NHS Choices ‚
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Tapeworm-infections/Pages/Complications.aspx ‚
World Health Organization ‚
http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/diseases/echinococcosis/en/index.html ‚
Consumer Information Use and Disclaimer
This information is not specific medical advice and does not replace information you receive from your health care provider. This is only a brief summary of general information. It does NOT include all information about conditions, illnesses, injuries, tests, procedures, treatments, therapies, discharge instructions or life-style choices that may apply to you. You must talk with your health care provider for complete information about your health and treatment options. This information should not be used to decide whether or not to accept your health care providers advice, instructions or recommendations. Only your health care provider has the knowledge and training to provide advice that is right for you. ‚
Copyright
Copyright ‚ © 2015 Clinical Drug Information, LLC and Lexi-Comp, Inc. ‚