Exclusion from school or day care Exclusion is not necessary if your child has threadworms and is being treated. However, you are encouraged to let your child's teacher know so other children may be checked for infection and prevent threadworm being spread further.
It's also a good idea to keep your child home from school or child care while they have worms, to stop worms spreading to other children.
Should I keep my child home from school? You usually don't need to keep your child home if they have a threadworm infection.
If you or your child has threadworms, everyone in your household will need to be treated as there's a high risk of the infection spreading. This includes those who don't have any symptoms of an infection. For most people, treatment will involve taking a single dose of a medication called mebendazole to kill the worms.
How serious are threadworms? They are more embarrassing than anything else, because they can cause an irresistible urge to scratch the bottom. They are generally harmless and don't cause long-term damage. However, scratching can aggravate the problem and make it more difficult to treat.
If you or your child has threadworms there's no need to stay off nursery, school or work.
Children with pinworms do not need to miss any child care or school.
Contaminated clothing and bedding should be washed in hot water. Other methods of preventing infection include regularly washing hands and scrubbing finger nails. A shower with a good bum wash is also a good idea, especially in the morning.
Treat all the family members at the same time, even if they aren't showing any symptoms. Adults can also get threadworm. If possible, your child should have a shower on the night they have the medicine, and again the next morning to remove the eggs laid during the night.
The life cycle of threadworms
This tends to occur at night when you are warm and still in bed. The eggs are too small to see without a microscope, but cause itching around the anus due to accompanying irritating mucus. You then scratch around the anus to relieve the itching.
A person will remain infectious for as long as there are worms laying eggs on the skin around his or her rectum. Pinworm eggs can remain infectious in an indoor environment for two to three weeks.
Although often asymptomatic, parasitic infections can lead to disruptions in mood, behavior and sleep – particularly in children with worms. The most common worm infection amongst Australian children is threadwork (pinworm, Enterobius vermicularis).
Be careful not to handle earth worms very much if at all — they don't like to be touched. Earthworms breathe through their skin they need humidity to survive. If over handled they can die. I made sure my daughter was very careful with the few worms she was allowed to touch.
If you have worms, a GP will prescribe medicine to kill them. You take this for 1 to 3 days. The people you live with may also need to be treated. Any worms in your gut will eventually pass out in your poo.
What precautions must I take? Medicine will kill the worms in the gut, but not the eggs that have been laid around the anus. 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.
After six weeks, any threadworms in the gut will have died naturally, so there won't be any new eggs . The following hygiene measures will help to rid your home of threadworm eggs: Wash your hands regularly, and encourage your child to do the same.
Anyone can get threadworms - they are not a sign of poor hygiene, and family pets are not responsible for harbouring or transmitting them. What are threadworms?
The exact prevalence is not known, but European estimates have suggested that 20 to 30% of pre-school and primary-school-aged children will have threadworm infestation. Asymptomatic infection is common. Many people seek over-the-counter treatment.
Pinworms are small worms that live in the human intestine (gut) and crawl out at night to lay eggs in the anal area. pinworms, tell your childcare provider or call the school. Childcare and school aged children do not need to stay home.
Should family and other close contacts of someone with pinworm also be treated for pinworm? Yes. The infected person and all household contacts and caretakers of the infected person should be treated at the same time.
Pinworms are contagious and easily spread, usually from child to child. Pinworm eggs can be picked up on children's fingers when they're playing. When children who are infected scratch their itchy bottoms, the tiny eggs can get under their fingernails. Eggs can stay on your child's skin for several hours.
Because pinworms lay their eggs at night, washing the anal area in the morning can help reduce the number of pinworm eggs on your body. Showering may help avoid possible re-contamination in bath water. Change underwear and bedding daily. This helps remove eggs.
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.
COMBANTRIN® is only effective against adult worms, which means any eggs or immature worms inside the body might still linger after the initial treatment. In order to minimise the risk of reinfestation, a follow-up treatment two to four weeks later is strongly recommended if symptoms are still present.