Causes of threadworms Scratching the anus or vagina, or wiping them after going to the toilet, can cause the eggs to stick to your fingertips or under your fingernails. If you don't wash your hands, the eggs can be transferred to your mouth or on to food or objects, such as toys and kitchen utensils.
You can get infected by: touching objects or surfaces with worm eggs on them – if someone with worms does not wash their hands. touching soil or swallowing water or food with worm eggs in it – mainly a risk in parts of the world without modern toilets or sewage systems.
Personal hygiene: [1,5]
Avoid biting and scratching around the anus. Wash/shower every morning to remove eggs on skin. Wear pants, or tightfitting nightwear in bed – and change daily washing at 40ºC or above. Consider wearing cotton gloves at night to avoid scratching.
Threadworms (Enterobius vermicularis) are the only type of worm infection commonly seen in Australia, and they are widespread. Although people of any age can get them, children are the most susceptible.
Threadworm begins with an itchy feeling around the anus (back passage), usually at night under warm sheets. Without treatment, threadworm may give rise to vaginitis (inflammation of the vagina) in girls and women. You can often see threadworms, a 1cm thread-like worm, wriggling in your child's stools or their bottom.
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.
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.
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.
People become infected, usually unknowingly, by swallowing (ingesting) infective pinworm eggs that are on fingers, under fingernails, or on clothing, bedding, and other contaminated objects and surfaces. Because of their small size, pinworm eggs sometimes can become airborne and ingested while breathing.
Reinfection does happen with pinworm
Eggs are swallowed, usually after hand-to-mouth contact, and the pinworm infection begins again. Pinworm eggs may spread to shared surfaces, such as bedding, curtains, toilets, doorknobs, towels, utensils, and furniture. These areas should be kept clean to avoid reinfection.
Medications kill only the adult worms and have no effect on developing eggs and larvae. The prescription of choice is mebendazole* and the non-prescription medication of choice is pyrantel pamoate. Both mebendazole and pyrantel pamoate are given as a single dose and repeated in 2 weeks to kill any newly ingested eggs.
Threadworms usually produce no symptoms except an itchy bottom. In fact, people may harbour them for years without realising it.
A worming treatment every three months is usually enough to prevent problems from developing. It may be necessary to deworm your dog slightly more regularly if they scavenge a lot. Remember to protect your dog against lungworm as well as gut worms. What to expect after treatment.
If left untreated, the intense itching and scratching associated with these infections will result in secondary bacterial infections. Some of these may be difficult to treat. Untreated people can continue to infect other people.
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).
Children can get threadworms when they accidentally get worm eggs on their hands and swallow them. This might happen if they put their hands in their mouths or bite their nails after coming into contact with people with worms or with worm-infected dust, toys or bed linen.
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.
1. Puppies and Kittens need to be dewormed more often: It is recommended that your puppy or kitten is dewormed every 2 weeks until they reach 3 months of age. Puppies and kittens are usually born with parasites passed on from mom (even if mom is dewormed) before they are born.
Deworming is not always necessary, but is recommended for children who live in endemic areas once a year when the prevalence of soil-transmitted parasitic worms in the community is over 20% and twice a year when the prevalence of soil-transmitted parasitic worms in the community is 50%.
Take the correct dewormer
When infected with worms, it should be dewormed periodically, for adults and children over 2 years old should be dewormed 2 to 3 times a year, ie every 4 to 6 months.
Most of the time worms don't cause any major problems, but in rare cases they can be infectious to the vagina and uterus, increasing the risk of infertility.
The most common symptoms of a threadworm can include: An itchy bottom. General irritability and behavioural changes. Trouble sleeping, or restless sleep, sometimes resulting in bed-wetting.
The pinworm, also known as threadworm, is a common intestinal parasite. A pinworm infestation is known as enterobiasis. It mostly occurs in children and leads to itching around the anus.
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.
Typical pinworm infections don't cause serious problems. In rare circumstances, heavy infestations can cause infection of female genitals. The parasite can travel from the anal area up the vagina to the uterus, fallopian tubes and around the pelvic organs.