The eggs then stick to fingers and under fingernails and are easily transferred to the mouth, to food and to other people, and the life cycle of the threadworms is continued. Bedclothes, underwear, towels, toys, furniture, floors (especially around toilets) and other places in the home can have threadworm eggs on them.
Pinworm eggs can also be transferred to the fingers from clothing or bedding, and then spread around the home. Eggs may be inhaled from the air or deposited onto food and swallowed. Pinworms can survive up to two weeks on clothing, bedding or other objects, if kept at room temperature.
Pinworm infection is spread by the fecal-oral route, that is by the transfer of infective pinworm eggs from the anus to someone's mouth, either directly by hand or indirectly through contaminated clothing, bedding, food, or other articles.
They can survive up to 2 weeks on clothing, bedding, or other objects. Infection occurs after accidentally ingesting (swallowing) infective pinworm eggs from contaminated surfaces or fingers. 5.
Preventing threadworms
Kitchen and bathroom surfaces should be kept clean. If your child is infected, encouraging them not to scratch the affected area around their anus or vagina will help prevent reinfection and reduce the risk of the infection spreading to others.
These can survive for up to 2 weeks outside the body on underwear, bedding etc. Good hygiene will clear any eggs from the body and the home, and prevent any eggs from being swallowed.
Threadworm is spread when children scratch their bottom, causing the eggs to collect under the fingernails. The child then carries the worm eggs back to their mouth with their hands. The eggs can also be spread indirectly, in food, dust, or other items. The eggs can survive up to two weeks outside the body.
Use clean washcloths or paper towels each time. Scrub the toilet seat daily with disinfectant or soap and water (Picture 2). Wipe down any toys that your child usually puts in his mouth or hard surfaces that he has touched with disinfectant or soap and water.
A person is infected with pinworms by ingesting pinworm eggs either directly or indirectly. These eggs are deposited around the anus by the worm and can be carried to common surfaces such as hands, toys, bedding, clothing, and toilet seats.
Launder in hot water.
Wash bedsheets, pajamas, underwear, washcloths and towels in hot water to help kill pinworm eggs. Dry on high heat.
Eggs can pass to other people when they touch these surfaces and then touch their mouth. They take around 2 weeks to hatch. Children can get threadworms again after they've been treated for them if they get the eggs in their mouth. This is why it's important to encourage children to wash their hands regularly.
Dry-cleaning or hot laundering kills any eggs or larvae that may be present. Heat generated by a clothes dryer is effective as well. Vacuuming floors, carpets, and inside heating vents effectively removes larvae as well as hair and lint, which could support future infestations.
Threadworms live for about 5-6 weeks in the gut, and then die. Before they die, the female worms lay tiny eggs around the anus (back passage). This tends to occur at night when you are warm and still in bed.
To remove threadworm eggs and prevent re-infection: Change and wash underwear, nightwear and, if possible bed linen and towels, every day for a few days. A hot water wash, or the heat of an iron, will kill the eggs.
A health care provider can diagnose pinworm infection by identifying the worm or its eggs. Worms can sometimes be seen on the skin near the anus or on underclothing, pajamas, or sheets about 2 to 3 hours after falling asleep.
Do not scratch. Itching around the anus caused by a pinworm infection usually happens at night. Try wearing gloves, pyjamas, and close-fitting clothing to help prevent scratching.
It moves. If it doesn't wiggle, it's probably lint or a thread. The worm may be seen around the anus or on the child's bottom. It is especially active at night or early morning.
Threadworms do not go away by themselves, and people do not build up immunity to them, so they must be treated in order to eradicate them totally from the body.
Vacuum or brush upholstered furniture. Change the vacuum cleaner bag daily and seal it before throwing it away. so that they can take extra care with linens and hand washing. Your child may return to school or child care 24 hours after treatment.
Pyrantel pamoate is in most over-the-counter (OTC) treatments for pinworms. This includes Reese's Pinworm Medicine and Pin-X. Prescription-strength medications are also available. Your doctor may prescribe a two-dose treatment of mebendazole or albendazole to help you clear the infection.
The usual disinfectants, including most commonly used bleach solutions, have little effect on the parasite. An application of hydrogen peroxide seems to work best.
This infection occurs after a person swallows tapeworm eggs. The larvae get into tissues such as muscle and brain, and form cysts there (these are called cysticerci).
Threadworms usually produce no symptoms except an itchy bottom. In fact, people may harbour them for years without realising it. Distaste aside, threadworms do no harm - except, as my GP wryly observed, to the sufferer's self-esteem. The worms are white and about a centimetre long by 0.5mm in diameter.
The worms die after about six weeks. Provided that you do not swallow any new eggs, no new worms will grow to replace them. So, if you continue the hygiene measures described above for six weeks, this should break the cycle of re-infection, and clear your gut of threadworms.
Worm eggs can survive for several days on external surfaces, but you can play your part in preventing a reinfestation by doing the following: Wash all the bedsheets and linen that family members have been sleeping on with hot water, to kill any remaining eggs.