In order to stop the spread of
Because pinworms lay their eggs at night, washing the anal area in the morning can help reduce the number of pinworm eggs on your body. Showering may help avoid possible re-contamination in bath water. Change underwear and bedding daily. This helps remove eggs.
Call your child's school or childcare center so that they can take extra steps to prevent the spread to others. Your child can return to school or childcare 24 hours after treatment.
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.
Do not fan or fluff the bedding of a person with pinworms. Doing this can release pinworm eggs into the air. You can swallow eggs that are in the air when you breathe through your mouth.
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.
Because pinworms lay their eggs at night, washing the anal area in the morning can help reduce the number of pinworm eggs on your body. Showering may help avoid possible re-contamination in bath water. Change underwear and bedding daily. This helps remove eggs.
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.
Using a patented process Contec ProChlor V provides a 95% reduction in pinworm eggs in 10 minutes.
Return to School:
Children with pinworms do not need to miss any child care or school.
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.
Should family and other close contacts of someone with pinworm also be treated for pinworm? Yes. The infected person and all household contacts and caretakers of the infected person should be treated at the same time.
So many of us or our family members have experienced this relatively mild though distressing infection. Pinworm is the most common worm infection in North America with up to 50% of some groups of school aged children getting infected.
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.
If the skin is irritated a dilute mild antiseptic can help. Applying Vaseline to the skin after cleaning can help protect the skin and prevent the eggs sticking.
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.
Humans are the only reservoir for pinworms.” Hummel's number-one recommendation for avoiding infection is hand hygiene. “It's important to understand that hand sanitizer is not effective,” she said.
The eggs can survive on surfaces or objects (such as furniture, kitchen surfaces and toothbrushes) for up to 2 weeks in the right conditions and can infect other people if transferred to the mouth or food. Household pets cannot be infected with pinworms or pass them on to humans.
It is especially active at night or early morning. Rarely, the pinworm is seen on the surface of a stool. The pinworm's secretions are a strong skin irritant and cause the itching.
Change and wash underwear, nightwear and, if possible bed linen and towels, every day for a few days. A hot water wash, or the heat of an iron, will kill the eggs.
The medications used for the treatment of pinworm are either mebendazole, pyrantel pamoate, or albendazole. Any of these drugs are given in one dose initially, and then another single dose of the same drug two weeks later. Pyrantel pamoate is available without prescription.
Avoid simple carbohydrates, such as those found in refined foods, fruits, juices, dairy products, and all sugars, except honey. Eat more raw garlic, pumpkin seeds, pomegranates, beets, and carrots, all of which have been used traditionally to kill parasites.
Over the last few years we have all become aware of the health benefits of apple cider vinegar but did you know this fermented apple cider can also work as an effective worm treatment for our four-legged friends.