Intestinal worms can cause symptoms such as anaemia, intestinal obstruction, inflammation of the colon, impaired development, and even death.
Your doctor or a gastroenterologist will advise on the appropriate medicine and the dose. The worms are then usually passed out of the body. Hydatid disease, caused by dog tapeworm, is serious and potentially fatal. The cysts may be in the liver, lungs, spleen or kidneys, and rarely the brain.
Globally, due to intestinal parasitic infections, around 3.5 billion people are affected and more than 200,000 deaths are reported annually.
Adult worms may live up to 17 years in the human body and can continue to make new microfilariae for much of this time.
Most worm infections are not serious and can be easily treated with medicine.
The lifespan of threadworms is approximately 6 weeks, so it's important that hygiene measures are followed for at least this length of time. Everyone in the household must follow the advice outlined below.
There are many worms worldwide that can infest the bowels of people. Most of them are not a problem in Australia because of our climate and good standard of sanitation. Worms causing infection in people are parasites that live and breed mostly in the bowel (intestine).
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%.
You might have anal itching, especially at night. You could also have stomach pain, nausea, or vaginal itching. Sometimes pinworms can be seen around your anus or on your underwear or bed sheets about 2 to 3 hours after you've gone to bed.
Common signs include a cough, breathlessness or breathing difficulties but can include weight loss, lethargy, reduced appetite, anaemia and abnormal bleeding.
Not deworming can cause malnutrition, intestinal perforation, death –Paediatricians.
Why? Most people do not know they are infected or at risk, or don't have access to appropriate care. And often, health care providers are unfamiliar with these parasitic infections, and may not diagnose or treat them appropriately.
While worms can be eaten raw in an emergency, you should cook them if at all possible. Like most of the things on this list, they can potentially carry parasites—and the parasite potential should motivate you to cook them first. Not to mention the extremely unpleasant prospect of eating a live worm.
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.
Eat more raw garlic, pumpkin seeds, pomegranates, beets, and carrots, all of which have been used traditionally to kill parasites. In one study, researchers found that a mixture of honey and papaya seeds cleared stools of parasites in 23 out of 30 subjects. Drink a lot of water to help flush out your system.
Worms are a very common source of illness for both adults and children, so experts recommend that deworming should be done two times a year, or every six months, beginning at the age of two years. Deworming is the process of eliminating intestinal parasites, such as worms, using medication.
To halt the spread of worms, it's crucial to treat all members of the family – not just the youngsters! Adults should take a deworming treatment as soon as their little one shows any symptoms (which can include irritability, tiredness, loss of appetite and an itchy bottom, among others).
Thanks in part to modern plumbing, people in the industrialized world have now lost almost all of their worms, with the exception of occasional pinworms in some children. Intestinal worms are properly called “helminths,” which most dictionaries will tell you are parasites.
The worms can spread to the spinal cord, causing myelopathy. This results in pain, urinary retention, and weakness of the regions below the level of infection. Permanent paralysis can result.
It's also important to wash any bedding and towels to get rid of any eggs, as they can live for up to two weeks outside the body. “Worms like sugar,” says Dr Snell, “so it can also be a good idea to cut back on sugar in your child's diet, too.”
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.