Pinworms, or roundworms, live in the intestines of humans. Pinworms are small, white, round, parasitic worms that, at first glance, resemble a short strand of white cotton. Pinworms are found in many parts of the world, tend to infect young children, and, while harmless, can be a nuisance causing a wide variety of disease symptoms.
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Part 1 of 2: Studying the Infestation Cycle
Step 1. Know how it spreads
Tapeworms can attack everyone, young and old alike. Spread occurs through feces and orally. Transmission occurs between individuals when worm eggs that contaminate fingers, bedding, clothing, and various other items are ingested. For example, a child who is infected with pinworms will scratch his bottom so that the eggs of the worms will stick to his fingers or nails, which will then stick to other objects or people, or even be swallowed back into his stomach again.
Step 2. Know the risks
The more often you are around people who don't have a great concern for cleanliness, the higher the risk you run.
- High risk: Children in school or kindergarten, people in rehabilitation institutions, and their families, householders, and caregivers. Children's hands can stick to many places without being washed thoroughly afterward. They also often touch their mouths, toys, tables, each other, wipe clothes, etc. using their fingers. The same is done by people in rehabilitation institutions. For both groups, their environment is the perfect habitat for pinworms.
- Medium risk: All people who have physical contact with high-risk individuals are included in the medium-risk category. Apart from ensuring your overall cleanliness, there isn't much that can be done. You can't avoid everyone just because they might be infected with pinworms, so all you can do is take care of yourself as best you can.
- Low risk: Almost everyone else falls into this category. Adults who have little contact or have limited contact with medium-risk groups fall into the low-risk category.
Step 3. Recognize the life cycle of pinworms
After the worm eggs are ingested, an incubation period occurs which includes the maturation of the female gravid in the small intestine for one, two, or more months.
- Once mature, the female worms migrate to the colon and lay eggs around the anus at night while the host is sleeping. During the process of laying eggs, female worms use adhesives to attach their eggs to the anus. This adhesive is what causes itching on the skin.
- The cause of the itching is worse at night because the worms migrate to the area around the rectum to lay eggs at this time.
Step 4. Know how it's spread
If you scratch the itchy area, microscopic worm eggs can stick to your fingers. After that, the eggs can stick to the mouth or other mucous membranes.
Spread from hand to mouth can also occur indirectly. Eggs can stick to a variety of surfaces such as clothes or tables and last for two to three weeks before sticking again to other hands which, in turn, touch their unwashed fingers to their mouths
Step 5. Watch for signs of an infestation
In addition to itching in the rectal area, helminth infections can occur without showing any symptoms of the disease. Examples of these symptoms are:
- Difficulty or lack of sleep, especially if you have never experienced the problem before.
- Bedwetting
- Looks irritable, like gritting his teeth
- Vaginal discharge in women
- Bacterial infection of the skin
Step 6. Look for signs of worms
If any of these symptoms appear, the examination of worms can be done through the naked eye in the following ways:
- You may be able to see worms in the anal (rectal) area, especially if you examine them approximately two or three hours after the infected person has fallen asleep. Use a flashlight as a tool.
- You may also be able to see worms in the toilet after an infected person goes to the bathroom. Check to see if the worms are squirming in the feces. Pinworms are very small in size, about this length: _. Its shape resembles a white thread.
- Pinworms can also be found in children's underwear in the morning.
Step 7. Take a sample of the infected area
If you suspect a pinworm infestation, the doctor who examines you will ask to place a transparent tape on the rectum. The pinworm eggs will stick to the plaster. Your doctor will be able to observe the eggs using a microscope.
- A sample of the fingernail may also be taken by the doctor to look for the presence of eggs in it.
- You can also use a pinworm stick. The tool, which is shaped like a spatula, literally "grabs" the area around the rectum and then examines it in a plastic test tube.
Part 2 of 2: Preventing Pinworm Infections
Step 1. Teach and apply proper hand washing techniques
The best way to prevent infestations starts here. Your hands are the part of your body that is most likely to transfer pinworm eggs. Therefore, wash your hands to clean them from these eggs. Make sure you and your family wash your hands before eating or handling food, after using the bathroom, and after changing a child's diaper.
- Use warm water with mild soap and wash your hands thoroughly for about thirty seconds.
- Wash your hands before, during and after activities with friends/family in rehab, co-workers, and many other people.
- Keep your hands away from your mouth while you are in school or a rehab setting.
- Make sure your hands are clean if you have recently had a small child being treated for a pinworm infection.
Step 2. Cut your nails short and keep them clean
Avoid biting your nails. Remember that nails are a favorite hiding place for pinworm eggs. If you touch them or scratch the itchy areas where pinworms hide (clothes, exposed skin), your fingernails will become the next hiding place.
- Do not clip your nails too short because your fingers will experience other symptoms of the disease.
- Always clean the area under your fingernails when washing your hands and bathing. At all times, make sure the area is kept clean.
Step 3. Avoid scratching the skin around the anus
Wear well-fitting nightwear, underpants, and gloves for children. At night, this will make it difficult for them to scratch their anus and prevent worm eggs from sticking.
Each family member should take a shower every morning and change underwear every day (avoid shared baths so that the water is not contaminated). During the healing process, take a shower at night and in the morning to get rid of the eggs that the worms lay out at night
Step 4. Avoid eating in the bedroom
The risk of coming into contact with pinworm eggs increases if you eat in your room.
Step 5. Use warm, high-temperature water in your dryer on all sheets, pillowcases, blankets, towels, and clothing that you suspect has been in contact with an infected person
To be even more safe, wash everything in warm water.
When you wash sheets, clothing, and towels belonging to someone who has been infected (or who you suspect is infected), do so with care. Avoid shaking the fabric and wash it separately from the rest of your clothes
Step 6. Put light into your room
Keep the curtains/windows open all day because pinworm eggs are sensitive to sunlight.
Tips
- Pinworm infection is not a sign of poor hygiene. Infection can be prevented using simple cleaning measures, but the presence of worms does not reflect the level of cleanliness of a person or home.
- Always wear clean underwear and wash regularly.
- In a school or child care setting where the infection has become widespread, all infected individuals should be treated at the same time. Repeat the treatment two weeks later.
- Treatment includes two doses of prescription or generic drugs with the second dose taken two weeks after the first.
- If there are recurring infections after treatment, look for the source. The child's playmates or classmates, family members, and helpers should be checked.
- Recurrent infections can occur easily. All family members should receive treatment if one or more individuals in the household have an infection.
- Pinworm eggs are rarely found in chairs or urine samples.
- Use Lysol or other bacterial cleaner instead of cloth towels to wipe down the toilet, sink, and other items in the bathroom.
- Consult a healthcare provider before treating a possible pinworm infection.
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Common places where pinworm eggs are transmitted:
- Sheets, towels, underwear, pajamas
- Toilets and bathroom fittings
- Food, drink glasses, cutlery and kitchen counters
- Toys and sandbox
- Work desks and meals at school
Warning
- Pinworm infections often occur in more than one person in the home environment and rehabilitation institutions.
- Child care centers often experience repeated cases of pinworm infection.
- Just because you fall into a risk category doesn't mean you will or won't be infected with pinworms.
