Wash all the sheets, blankets, towels, and clothing in the house in hot water. Carefully clean everyone's fingernails (which may hold the worm eggs) and cut them short. Scrub toys, countertops, floors, and other surfaces the infected child has touched. Vacuum carpets.
Promptly wash used bed linen, all clothing, towels and washcloths in hot water with detergent. Vacuum carpets and floors well. Wash the canister or change the vacuum cleaner's bag after each use. Seal the bag before throwing it away.
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A health care provider should be consulted before treating a suspected case of pinworm infection. Treatment involves two doses of medication with the second dose being given 2 weeks after the first dose. All household contacts and caretakers of the infected person should be treated at the same time.
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.
❖ Change and wash underwear, nightwear (and bed linen if possible) each day. Avoid shaking clothes and linen as any eggs on them may be wafted into the air and be swallowed.
Pinworm eggs can also be transferred to the fingers from clothing or bedding, and then spread around the home. Eggs may be inhaled from the air or deposited onto food and swallowed. Pinworms can survive up to two weeks on clothing, bedding or other objects, if kept at room temperature.
During treatment and for a few weeks afterwards, it's also important to follow strict hygiene measures to avoid spreading the threadworm eggs. This includes regularly vacuuming your house and thoroughly washing your bathroom and kitchen.
Your doctor will give you some medicine to take right away and then again 2 weeks later to be sure the worms are gone. The doctor can also give you a cream to help stop the itching. Because it's easy to pass pinworms on to other people, the doctor may want the other people in your house to take medicine, too.
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.
Medicine can kill pinworms but not their eggs which can survive outside of the body for up to two weeks. Hand sanitiser is not effective against threadworms or their eggs, the best thing to do is wash hands regularly, scrub under fingernails, and wash clothing and bedsheets on hot cycles regularly.
In order to stop the spread of pinworm and possible re-infection, people who are infected should shower every morning to help remove a large amount of the eggs on the skin.
A hot water wash, or the heat of an iron, will kill the eggs. Do not shake bed linen indoors as this can spread eggs around. Shower each morning, and wash around anus.
Doorknobs, toilet seats, furniture, countertops, cell phones, remote controls, and other shared surfaces the infected person may have touched, as eggs can survive up to 3 weeks on indoor surfaces.
For several days after treatment, it is important to clean the bedroom floors, either by vacuuming or damp mopping. After treatment has been administered, you should also wash all bed linens in hot water. Remember – do not shake these items out before putting them in the washing machine.
It's common to treat the whole family because the worms are so contagious. And get ready for lots of laundry (set the water temp to 130°F). Wash all bedding, stuffed animals, and towels -- and then keep on laundering bedding and towels every few days. Underwear and PJ's should be cleaned daily for at least three weeks.
Although not all infected people will have symptoms, many will experience itching around the rectum. Some females may also experience itching in the genital area. How soon do symptoms appear? Symptoms usually are noticed one to two months after infection.
Reinfection does happen with pinworm
Reinfection can happen by touching surfaces that have already been contaminated with pinworm eggs by another person. Eggs are swallowed, usually after hand-to-mouth contact, and the pinworm infection begins again.
If you are self-treating for pinworms, take the medication once only. Do not repeat the dose without talking with your doctor first. Depending on the type of worm infection you have, your doctor may direct you to take the medication only once or for several days.
Keep your child's and your own fingernails short. Change bed linen, towels and underwear daily for several days after treatment. Bedlinen and clothing should be machine-washed in hot water to ensure that all the eggs are killed.
Clean the home post-treatment
Worm eggs can survive for several days on external surfaces, but you can play your part in preventing a reinfestation by doing the following: Wash all the bedsheets and linen that family members have been sleeping on with hot water, to kill any remaining eggs.
Should I keep my child home from school? You usually don't need to keep your child home if they have a threadworm infection.
A person is infected with pinworms by ingesting pinworm eggs either directly or indirectly. These eggs are deposited around the anus by the worm and can be carried to common surfaces such as hands, toys, bedding, clothing, and toilet seats.
Yes. A pinworm infection can also be spread through: Bed sheets and undergarments: Eggs can spread through contact with contaminated sheets, towels or underwear of infected people.
Pinworms (Enterobius vermicularis) are small, white worms about the length of a staple that live in the rectum of humans. About 20% of children will get pinworms. It is more common in school-age children than pre- schoolers. Adults are rarely affected, except for parents of infected children.