Why do children develop intestinal worms and what can be done to prevent them?

As a parent, you may feel like you’re constantly offering cures for the intestinal worms that infect your children – usually in the form of sweetened chocolate or chewable tablets.

In fact, most children in Australia (or any rich country) have far fewer worms than children in places where poor hygiene makes all kinds of worms common.

However, there is one type of worm that is very common and closely associated with humanity, and it can overcome even the most stringent standards of hygiene. Young children really do well with infestation by these little pests.

Pinworms are an ancient species and have been found in the faeces of fossilized primordial mammals 230 million years old. The closest relatives of pinworms to humans are our closest relatives, the great apes.

It is believed that our pinworms have evolved with us. The oldest pinworm eggs from a human host were found about 10,000 years later in dried human feces found in a Colorado cave. Therefore, pinworms are very well adapted to life with humans.

These worms are white and thread-like, and the females are up to 13 mm long. Males are less than half that size. It lives in people all over the world, mostly in children between the ages of 4 and 11. It can also affect adults, although it usually has fewer negative effects.

Pinworms have been linked to several other conditions, including types of appendicitis, vaginitis, and urethral infections, but this is not common.

The problem usually does not occur with adult worms that live in the caecum (the sac where the small and large intestines meet) for up to two months.

And when a female emerges from her intestines to lay her eggs around her anus—usually early in the morning—it can be irritating.

The life cycle of a worm actually depends on the child or adult. When the eggs are scratched on the hands or under the nails, they can be passed on to other children at home or school or to adults.

They often end up in a child’s mouth where they can be swallowed and cause another infection, known as a “spontaneous infection”.

The child may scratch so badly that it causes a skin infection called puritis. This becomes very painful and can lead to loss of sleep.

There are many reasons why a child gets tired and naughty. But if your primary school child is behaving this way, pinworms may be to blame.

Pinworm eggs are too small to be seen individually, but females lay over 10,000 cream-colored eggs that can be seen around the anus.

The medicine should be taken by each member of the family and the dose should be repeated after two weeks to ensure control of pinworms at home. Soiled clothing and bedding should be washed in hot water.

Other ways to prevent infection include washing your hands regularly and rubbing your nails.

And although we have better control of pinworms in the 21st century, they are still with us, and it is unlikely that we will be able to eradicate such a well-adapted and closely intertwined parasite.

The report was prepared under the guidance of Mark Sandman, Emeritus Professor at the Australian Federation University.

Source: Science Alert.

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