Children at High Risks of Getting Pin Worms

Pin-worms are a type of little worm that commonly infects the intestines, often in kids. Many of the kids in your school have probably had pin-worms at one time, and the worms are nothing to be afraid of. Pin-worms are really small — about as long as a staple. Their eggs get inside the body through the mouth after you touch something which is contaminated with pin-worm eggs, then touch your hands to your mouth.

Round Worms

After getting in your mouth, the eggs pass through the digestive system. The eggs hatch in the small intestine, and the baby worms grow and move on to the large intestine. There, the pin-worms grab onto the wall of the intestine. After a few weeks, the female pin-worms move to the end of the large intestine, and they come out of the body at night to lay their eggs around the anus. The amount of time that passes from when someone swallows the eggs until the worms lay new eggs is about 1 to 2 months.

How Do Kids Get Pin-worms?

Pin-worm eggs can end up on anything touched by someone who has pin-worms: on a counter in the kitchen, in a bed, or on a desk at school. The eggs also can be on clothes, towels, or eating utensils. The eggs can live for about 2 weeks, and when you accidentally touch them and then put your fingers in your mouth, you can swallow the eggs without even knowing it.

High Risk of getting infection

Pin-worms can also spread from one person to another. The worms do not come from pets, only people. And people who have pin-worms are not dirty — kids can get pin-worms no matter how often they take a bath or play in the mud.

Kids in school get pin-worms easily because they spend a lot of time with other kids, who may have pin-worms. They might touch something with pin-worm eggs on it when they're playing with other kids and eat the eggs without even knowing it. The eggs are so light that a few may even end up in the air, where they could be swallowed when you breathe in. This is not a common way of getting pin-worms, though.

If you already have pin-worms, you could swallow more eggs if you scratch around your bottom and put your fingers in your mouth. Or a few of the eggs around your anus could hatch while they're on your skin, and the baby worms might crawl back inside your body and grow into adults.

School children are at high risk

How Do I Know If I Have Pin-worms?

If you have pin-worms, you might see the worms in the toilet after you go to the bathroom. They look like tiny pieces of white thread. You also might see them on your underwear when you wake up in the morning. But the pin-worm eggs are too tiny to be seen without a microscope.

The itching from the pin-worms might wake you up in the middle of the night and make you squirm a lot. So if you're itchy and sore on your backside, tell your mom or dad. And if you see worms in your underwear or in the toilet, you should tell a parent right away. You should know, though, that some people with pin-worms don't have any symptoms at all but, if the infection is heavy, the symptoms can be correspondingly more severe.

How is pin-worm infection spread?

Pin-worm infection is spread person-to-person. Within a few hours of being deposited on the skin around the anus, pin-worm eggs become infective (capable of infecting another person). They can survive up to two weeks on clothing, bedding, or other objects. Infection is acquired when these eggs are accidentally swallowed, usually due to inadequate hand washing by the parents and children. However, eggs on bedding or other objects that are touched while the eggs are still viable can cause infection or reinfection of people.

Worms near the anus

What are the consequences of untreated pin-worms?

• Pin-worms can cause:
• Diarrhea,
• Significant mal-absorption of food,
• Genital itching,
• Bed wetting (enuresis), or
• Vaginal discharge which can be associated with genital skin irritation and rash.

The Worms can fill up your intestine

What Will the Doctor Do?

If pin-worms are suspected, transparent adhesive tape or a pin-worm paddle (supplied by your health care professional) are applied to the anal region. The eggs (and sometimes the parasites themselves) adhere to the sticky tape or paddle and are identified by examination under a microscope. The test is sometimes referred to as "the Scotch Tape test."

The Scotch Tape test

If you have pin-worms, don't worry. They don't cause any harm (just itching!), and it won't take long to get rid of them. Your doctor will give you some medicine that you will take 2 times over 2 weeks 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 pin-worms on to other people, the doctor may want the other people in your house to take medicine, too. Your mom or dad will probably want to wash everyone's sheets and pajamas to get rid of any eggs that might still be around.

Wash your hand including nails

How are pin-worms prevented?

• Good hygiene will help reduce the spread of the parasites.



Wash Your Hand

• Hand washing after handling bedding, diapers, underwear, and other items that may contain the infective pin-worm eggs will also help.
• Cleaning under the fingernails and not biting the fingernails will also help reduce the chance of contacting the parasites.
• Clothes, especially underwear, should be changed and washed daily to help prevent spreading the disease.



Wash and Change frequently

• Treating everyone infected in a household at the same time may help prevent recurrence and spread to others.
• Because the eggs remain infective for up to three weeks in a moist environment, prevention of spread and reinfection is difficult but possible.

Facts about Pin worm 

1. Pin-worm infections are caused by worm-like parasites that infect humans' intestines and rectal/anal areas. 
2. Young children and their household members are at risk for pin-worm infections when there is infected person around.. 
3. Pin-worms are visible. They range in size from 2-13 mm, are white, and resemble a worm but the pin-worm eggs are small, transparent and can be seen only with a microscope. 
4. Pin-worm infections are spread person-to-person by ingesting pin-worm eggs that have contaminated fingers, bedding, clothing or other items. 
5. The symptoms of pin-worm infection are discomfort and itching in the anal/rectal area. Children especially will scratch the rectal/anal area, get eggs on their fingers or underneath their fingernails and transport the eggs to bedding, toys, other humans, or back to themselves. The eggs hatch into larval forms in the small intestines and then progress to the large intestine where they mature, mate, and progress to the rectal/anal area where females deposit about 10 to 15 thousand eggs. 

Always eat well-cooked food

With these simple steps, keep the worms away!

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