For the itching, wash the skin around the anus with warm water. For severe itch, use 1% hydrocortisone cream (such as Cortaid) 2 times per day. Use for 1 or 2 days. No prescription is needed.
Pinworm can be treated with either prescription or over-the-counter medications. 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.
Pinworm infections often produce no symptoms but, when they occur, symptoms can include: itchy bottom, especially at night.
While the infected person sleeps, female pinworms leave the intestinal tract and lay their eggs on the skin around the anus. The eggs are laid in a sticky, jelly-like substance that, along with the wriggling of the female pinworm, causes severe itching.
After taking the pinworm medicine, itching should stop in 5 to 7 days.
Female pinworms move to the anal area to lay their eggs, which often results in anal itching. When you scratch the itchy area, the eggs cling to your fingers and get under your fingernails.
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.
Chlorine dioxide gas inactivates pinworm eggs in a non-invasive and non-corrosive manner.
As eggs can become infective after 3-5 days the bathing should be repeated every third day. If a problem is occurring, then daily bathing is best. 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.
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.
Wash bedsheets, pajamas, underwear, washcloths and towels in hot water to help kill pinworm eggs. Dry on high heat.
Although medicine takes care of the worm infection, the itching may continue for about a week. So the doctor also might give your child a cream or other medicine to help stop the itching.
Most pinworm infections are mild and easily treated. Your doctor may prescribe a single chewable tablet of a medicine called mebendazole. A second tablet is taken about 3 weeks later if the infection isn't cured. Or your doctor may recommend another kind of medicine called pyrantel, which is taken as a single dose.
Based on data from the current study, 4–5 seconds of exposure at 80°C appears sufficient to inactivate Ascaris eggs. At 75°C and 70°C treatment may also be effective, but exposure time should be increased to achieve the same level of inactivation.
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. Showering is a better method than taking a bath, because showering avoids potentially contaminating the bath water with pinworm eggs.
Once someone has ingested pinworm eggs, there is an incubation period of 1 to 2 months or longer for the adult gravid female to mature in the small intestine. Once mature, the adult female worm migrates to the colon and lays eggs around the anus at night, when many of their hosts are asleep.
People get pinworm infections from swallowing these eggs after touching an infected person's skin or personal belongings, such as clothing, bedding, and toys. Pinworms can spread as long as the worm remains alive in the infected person. The eggs can survive up to 3 weeks on clothing and other objects.
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.
After a few weeks, the female pinworms move to the end of the large intestine, and they come out of the body at night to lay their eggs around the anus (where poop comes out).
Many anti-worm preparations, for example pyrantel (e.g. brand names Anthel, Combantrin and Early Bird) and mebendazole (e.g. Combantrin-1 with Mebendazole, Vermox) can be bought over-the-counter at pharmacies. However, some are only available on prescription, such as albendazole (Zentel).
Wash hands and scrub nails each morning. Always wash hands before meals or snacks, before preparing food, and after going to the toilet or changing nappies. ❖ Every morning have a bath, or wash around the anus, to get rid of any eggs laid overnight. You must do this straight away after getting up from bed.
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.
They can be found in house dust, on toilet seats, bed linens and toys and in play areas in or outside the home. Although pinworms only grow in humans, the eggs can be carried in a pet's fur.