Threadworm eggs, laid around the anus, are untouched by treatments such as
If you have tried a threadworm treatment for your child and their symptoms have not improved, take them to your GP. The doctor will examine your child and may want to do blood or faeces (poo) tests. Also take your child to the GP if: your child passes a large worm.
If you or your child have threadworms that won't go away or keep coming back, speak to a doctor. You should also see a doctor if you see slime or blood in poo, even if you don't have other symptoms of a threadworm infection.
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.
The worms will die after 6 weeks so provided you do not swallow any new eggs then no new worms will grow to replace them. Strict attention to hygiene should be sufficient. Piperazine (Pripsen) is a different medicine, and can be used in children under 2 years (but over 3 months).
You may be surprised to still see live worms in your dog's feces after deworming them, but this is normal. While this can be an unpleasant image, it's actually a good thing — it means the worms are no longer living inside your dog!
You'll likely need to give your doctor a stool sample for a few months to make sure all the worms are gone. It's harder to treat an infection caused by tapeworm cysts. In addition to the medicine that kills the tapeworm, you may need medicine to reduce inflammation or other symptoms, like seizures, that you're having.
Medication kills the worms, but not their eggs, which can survive for two weeks. Therefore, you also need strict hygiene measures for two weeks after taking medication to prevent you from swallowing eggs which may cause a new infection.
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.
Your children may come into contact with eggs in schools or nurseries, particularly in the toilets if they are not cleaned properly. This is why your child may have recurring threadworms, even if your home and personal hygiene are of a very high standard.
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.
Female threadworms lay an average of 11,000 tiny eggs, which are invisible to the naked eye. She lays these eggs outside the anus, or, in girls, around the vagina and urethra. Eggs are usually laid at night whilst the child sleeps.
Common signs include a cough, breathlessness or breathing difficulties but can include weight loss, lethargy, reduced appetite, anaemia and abnormal bleeding.
There are several reasons for worms to not move up. If it is too hot, the worms move down but will move back up when temperatures cool, however as it is winter, it probably isn't that reason. If you're putting too much new food in before they have eaten the previous food this can also cause worms to go down.
Your doctor may advise you to take another dose 2 weeks later. It is best if your child showers on the night they take the medicine and again the next morning, to remove eggs laid during the night. It is very important to treat your whole family at the same time, even if they don't have symptoms.
In a small percentage of people and other animals, though, the worms gain a permanent mouth-hold and can stick around the intestines for years.
Combantrin -1 Tablets may be taken with or without food. The tablet may be chewed or swallowed whole with fluids. All it takes is one tablet, once only for each member of your family, regardless of body weight.
One 100mg square for every 10kg of body weight (equivalent to 10mg pyrantel per 1kg). Take a single dose, after food.
If you take too much (overdose)
If you take too much Combantrin-1 with Mebendazole, you may get stomach pains, diarrhoea, feel sick or vomit.
Pinworm eggs can cling to surfaces, including toys, faucets, bedding and toilet seats, for two weeks. So besides regular cleaning of surfaces, methods to help prevent the spread of pinworm eggs or to prevent reinfection include: Wash in the morning.
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.
Treatment to get rid of worms
If you have worms, your GP will prescribe medicine to kill them. You take this for one to three days. The people you live with may also need to be treated. Any worms in your gut will eventually pass out in your poo.
In rare cases, it can take up to two weeks to stop seeing worms in their poop. If the treatment is working, the worms your puppy deposits in their stool should be dead. Dead worms are less white and more translucent than ones that are alive.
A person with threadworms (also known as pinworms) may have an itchy bottom or redness and scratch marks around the bottom. A child with threadworms may be irritable, not sleep very well and lose their appetite. Threadworms (come out of the anus at night to lay their eggs between the buttocks, causing extreme itching.
Be aware: You can worm your dog too often
And it has no obvious benefit. In fact, over-worming your dog can actually backfire, and make your dog build up a tolerance – you most certainly don't want that.