Along with lice and colic, pinworms represent one of the common challenges of parenting young children. Fortunately, unlike colic and lice, pinworms are easily treatable with the proper prescription medication. Although they are more disgusting than harmful, untreated pinworm infections can result in increasing discomfort and more serious secondary infections, so consult your doctor if you suspect them.
Pinworm Symptoms
These common parasites have erroneously been blamed for many ailments, such as tooth grinding, convulsions and loss of appetite. However, anal itching and/or restless sleep are usually the only signs of infection and some children experience no symptoms at all. For girls, the worms occasionally cause vaginal discharge. Pinworm infections are also sometimes associated with bedwetting. According to the experts at KidsHealth, severe infestations can also cause nausea or abdominal pain.
What to Look For
If anal itching and restless sleep, or recent exposure to someone with pinworms, cause you to suspect your child may be infected, look for tiny white thread-like worms around his anus. The best time to see them is a few hours after your child has fallen asleep, when the female worms are most likely to be outside of his body laying eggs. You may also see them in the toilet after a bowel movement or in your child's diaper or underwear. If you do not see them, your doctor may ask you to perform a tape test which collects the tiny, unseen eggs for laboratory confirmation.
Transmission
Contrary to popular belief, you cannot contract pinworms from your pets. While cats and dogs do get pinworm infections, they are vulnerable to a different species that cannot live in people. Pinworms live inside of the infected person's intestinal tract, but they lay their eggs in the folds of skin on the outside of the anus. Those tiny eggs can easily be transferred onto toilet seats, the floor or your child's fingernails where they can then be ingested or transplanted to toys and other surfaces in your house. Friends and family members may then unwittingly pick them up and contract the infection when they inadvertently eat them.
Treatment
Your doctor will likely prescribe two doses of chewable tablets. Unfortunately, this medication, while 95 percent effective against live worms, does not kill the eggs so a second dose is usually administered two weeks after the first to eliminate new hatchlings. To prevent re-infestation, wash all clothes, bed linens, toys and stuffed animals in hot water. Additionally, clean and cut everyone's fingernails, as eggs are frequently found on them. Children are typically allowed to return to school after the first dose of medication because school cleaning routines are generally sufficient to eliminate the risk posed by the few eggs remaining between treatments. Because pinworms are tiny and easily transmitted, do not be surprised if your doctor recommends treatment for the whole family.
