Pinworms In Children - Symptoms And Treatments For Pinworms In A Child

2023 Author: Riley Dean | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 09:15

Last updated 19 January 2018 at 15:00

Reading time: 7 minutes

Dangerous bacteria, viruses and parasites lie in wait for the child at every turn. The task of the mother is to warn her child and be on the alert at any time.

Unfortunately, it is simply impossible to save a child from all adversity. The likelihood of helminths entering the body is extremely high, and the symptoms often go unnoticed, parents simply may not attach importance to them, and since the family is usually in close contact with each other, the parasitic disease will affect every family member.

Children are prone to parasitic diseases due to their curiosity and activity, in addition to the fact that they often neglect hygiene procedures, they can drink or eat from the same dish with other children.

Infection with helminths occurs by the alimentary route (fecal-oral route) and by airborne droplets, for example, inhaling helminth eggs with dust.

The child plays in the sandbox or goes to school, communicates with different children there, exposing others to infection. Summer is the season of exacerbation of helminthiasis, many temptations to neglect hygiene arise during this period.

Content

• 1 What is pinworm helminthiasis?
• 2 Brief information about pinworm helminthiasis
• 3 Symptoms of enterobiasis
• 4 Consequences of enterobiasis
• 5 Can pinworm helminthiasis go away on its own?
• 6 General recommendations for parents during the course of treatment
• 7 Effective treatments

• 8 Which tablet or suspension works better?

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What is pinworm helminthiasis?

Pinworms are parasites related to roundworms (nematodes). The disease caused by pinworms is called enterobiasis, which literally can be translated as life in the intestines.

Firstly, it is dangerous to self-medicate for your child's health, it is recommended to consult a doctor, get tested and confirm the diagnosis with documents, because symptoms alone are not enough for a diagnosis, helminthiasis combines all diseases caused by parasitic worms, a specific medicine is selected for each type of parasite affecting this type of helminth.

Secondly, it is required to study the enemy in detail in order to rid the child of pinworms, it is necessary to know the life cycle of pinworms and find its weak points, it would not be bad to know the precautions and all the nuances associated with pinworms during the treatment period.

Thirdly, you need to think about how to treat the baby, pick up a medicine with a doctor that can relieve the child of pinworms, and the doctor should also explain how to cure your child with the help of medicines.

Brief information about pinworm helminthiasis

Pinworms enter the body orally (through the mouth, by swallowing mature eggs), or by airborne droplets, from person to person, animals do not get sick with this type of helminths.

The eggs of pinworms withstand the load of the stomach, enter the duodenum, and there larvae hatch from the eggs, on the way to the small intestine, the larvae reach maturity.

Pinworms are heterosexual worms; after mating, the males die, and the females gradually move to the rectum to lay eggs outside, in the anal fold.

Pinworm eggs die in the intestinal atmosphere, so the females have to migrate outward, migration occurs at night, when the anus is in a relaxed state. Pinworm eggs reach maturity within five hours. After laying the eggs, the female returns to the intestines, where she dies. Pinworm helminths live for about 4 weeks.

Symptoms of enterobiasis

Symptoms caused by enterobiasis can be ignored by parents, because there are almost no obvious signs of this disease:

• itching in the anus (prevails at night, at the initial stage, itching at night repeats for several days, and in the advanced stage itching is much longer, itching is associated with the migration of females from the intestines to the external environment;
• loss of appetite;
• teeth grinding; (bruxism);
• abdominal discomfort;
• abdominal pain (most often the pain arising from pinworms in children is periodic, therefore parents accept this symptom as a consequence of gas formation, intestinal colic caused by any of the products, if the pain is constant, then there is a long-term course of the disease).

The disease of enterobiasis is characterized by inflammation of the intestinal walls. This is due to the fact that individuals injure the mucous membrane, and sometimes the parasitic individual penetrates into the intestinal wall to a depth of 2/3 of its body. Taking into account the size of individuals: the size of the female ranges from 1-1.3 cm, and the male 0.5 cm.

One can imagine damage to the intestines, because in the body of an infected person, a lot of parasitic worms develop. In the area of the intestine where trauma occurs most often, inflammation appears, which later develops into an ulcer. The parasitic worm attaches itself to the walls of the intestine in order to gain a foothold in the body and not get out with the feces, which violates the mucous membrane.

The consequences of enterobiasis

• inflammation of the intestines, duodenum;
• appendicitis caused by the movement of helminths;
• intestinal obstruction (this consequence can occur in children under 1 year of age, due to blockage of the intestines by helminths, in young children, the intestinal thickness is small, the excessive spread of helminths threatens the formation of a plug, which is removed only surgically);
• dysbiosis (the next stage in the development of dysbiosis will be gastritis);
• violation of the nervous system / decrease in intelligence / memory impairment;
• dermatitis caused by scratching in the anal area;
• vaginitis in girls (caused by the penetration of helminths into the genital area);
• inflammation of the liver / jaundice (migration of helminths to the liver).

Recommendation for symptom relief:

In order to relieve the child of severe itching in the anus, you can moisten a tampon with hydrogen peroxide and apply an inconvenient place to the place.

In the event that the doctor suspects the presence of helminths, they are prescribed:

1. analysis of feces for eggs of worms;
2. scraping for enterobiasis;

Can pinworm helminthiasis go away on its own?

Yes maybe. The life span of pinworm worms is up to 4 weeks, egg laying, and, accordingly, maturation occurs outside the body, if all hygiene procedures are strictly observed, avoiding self-infection, pinworms will leave the habitat themselves.

Drug treatment against pinworm helminthiasis is subdivided according to age. Medical treatment is prescribed by a pediatrician after diagnosis.

1. treatment of children under one year old;
2. treatment of children under 2 years old;
3. treatment of children from 2 years old and more.

General recommendations for parents during the course of treatment

To achieve the effectiveness of treatment, the following rules must be followed:

• cut your child's nails;
• carry out regular hygiene procedures;
• choose underwear with tight-fitting elastic bands to prevent hands from getting under the underwear, during sleep, in order to eliminate the itching urge;
• change bed linen and underwear every day;
• it is advisable to boil the laundry or heat it with an iron;
• do not allow the penetration of hands into the pink cavity, the child should not be allowed to: suck fingers, bite nails, pens and so on;
• explain to the child the importance of hygiene;
• observe hygiene standards for all family members and undergo treatment with the child.
• disinfection of premises should be carried out several times a day, in the morning and in the evening;

Taking medications is designed to destroy adults, the eggs of pinworms do not suffer, so it is important that the child does not pick up a new portion of pinworms.

Also, disinfectants do not affect the destruction of helminth eggs, you can get rid of them only by exposure to high temperatures.

Disinfecting procedures achieve only the washing off of the helminth eggs from the surface.

Stool fixing foods: mashed potatoes, semolina and white rice (foods containing a lot of starch), fried, smoked foods, salted fish, sausages, cheese, boiled milk, mashed and heavily chopped foods, viscous cereals and strong broths, applesauce fixes (unlike raw apples), jelly, cream soup (on cereal broths).

What is recommended to feed: fermented milk drinks, kvass, white cabbage, salad, pumpkin, beets, carrots, celery.

Effective treatments

Treatment regimen:

• start adhering to a diet the day before treatment;
• at night, you can put an enema with soda (check with your doctor).

(How to treat and how to treat your child individually, the doctor should tell)

You only need to use the drug that the pediatrician has prescribed for the child, most of the anthelmintic drugs are sold in the form of tablets or suspensions, the duration of therapy depends on the prescribed drug. It is also necessary to remove helminths using sorbents.

The fact is that one type of medicine destroys parasites, paralyzes their nervous system, or kills, but does not remove dead worms from the body. Another type of influencing agent removes helminths and toxic substances from the body during decomposition. Therefore, the treatment is divided into stages.

Pinworms in children under one year of age are manifested by the symptoms described above. A child whose age is 1 year or more is susceptible to parasitic diseases, therefore it is necessary to carry out regular examination.

Pinworms in a young child are very difficult to detect, if you began to find scratches located at the anus, do not rush to think that this is enterobiasis, a symptom found may be a sign of an allergic reaction, in which case the child does not have pinworms and measures must be taken to eliminate the allergen …

To detect pinworms in a child, it is necessary to do a scraping, analysis of feces for eggs of worms. You can remove pinworms with the help of drugs prescribed by a doctor, observing all hygiene procedures and general recommendations for parents. The treatment plan for children of all ages is the same, differing in dosage.

Which tablet or suspension works better?

The action basically does not depend on the form of the drug, it depends on the type of drug and on the active substance, but from the point of view of convenience, giving the drug to children is better as a suspension type than a tablet type.

Basically, many medicines presented to a child can be crushed into powder, diluted with sweetened water and gently poured into the mouth, this applies to those funds for which it does not matter in which part of the gastrointestinal tract the substance will be active.

Before giving any medicine, you need to agree with your doctor, it is strongly recommended to carefully read the instructions for using the drug.

If, after using the drug, side effects are observed about which the doctor did not warn, you need to urgently contact him to agree on further actions.