Any worms in your gut will eventually pass out in your poo. You may not notice this. To avoid becoming infected again or infecting others, it's very important during the weeks after starting treatment to wash your hands: after going to the toilet.
Treatment to get rid of worms
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.
Most people don't experience serious complications from pinworm infections, but in rare cases the following complications can occur: Urinary tract infections (UTIs). UTIs can develop if you do not treat the pinworm infection. Vaginitis and endometritis.
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.
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.
For most, it's a short stay, with the immune system evicting the worms in days or weeks and leaving no trace that the parasites were ever there. 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.
However, hygiene measures alone may work. 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.
You can buy medicine (mebendazole) for threadworms from pharmacies. This is usually a chewable tablet or liquid you swallow. Treat everyone in your household, even if they do not have symptoms. Tell the pharmacist if you need to treat a child under 2, or if you're pregnant or breastfeeding.
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.
Threadworms usually produce no symptoms except an itchy bottom. In fact, people may harbour them for years without realising it.
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 people with loiasis do not have any symptoms.
Most of the tapeworms that affect humans come from eating undercooked animal products — particularly beef and pork — as well as contaminated fish that's raw or undercooked. Symptoms can be nonexistent: People can live with a tapeworm and not know for months or even years.
Pinworms can usually be treated completely with two doses of over-the-counter medicine called pyrantel pamoate, available in the United States under the brand names Pin-X and Reese's Pinworm Medicine. Take one dose immediately and another dose two weeks later.
Depending on the frequency of bathroom visits this can take up to one week. Symptoms of threadworm infection usually disappear within one week of treatment. Threadworms are highly contagious. Hygiene measures should be followed for 6 weeks.
The medicine should start to work straight away but it may take several days to kill all the worms. It's important to take the medicine as a pharmacist or doctor tells you. Do not stop early if you have been told to take it for several days.
Threadworm eggs may be found in house dust, they stick to clothing, carpets, towels and bed linen. They can also be picked up in garden soil, on unwashed vegetables and salads, or from someone who already has worms.
Strict observance of good hand hygiene is the most effective means of preventing pinworm infection. This includes washing hands with soap and warm water after using the toilet, changing diapers, and before handling food.
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).
Raw garlic
Garlic is said to kill any existing eggs and prevent female pinworms from laying more eggs. You can ingest it in small doses or apply it topically like a salve. If you wish to ingest the garlic, dice up a clove and mix it into pasta or sprinkle it on bread. You can also eat the garlic on its own.
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.
Sometimes worms are visible in the anal area, on underwear, or in the toilet. In stool, they look like small pieces of white cotton thread.
About half the world's population (over 3 billion people) are in infected with at least one of the three worms forming what Columbia University parasitologist Dickson Despommier calls the "unholy trinity"—large roundworm, hookworm and whipworm.
Worms can live for years, usually anywhere between 4 to 8 years. It all depends on the climate and predators like birds, toads or rats. However, since the body of a worm consists of 90% water, one of the most common causes of death is when the worm's skin dries out.