pinworms

crazymama30

Active Member
I am sorry, this is a gross topic, but it is a thorn in my side. difficult child has had pinworms three times now, each time we call the doctor or go in and get medication, wash everything I can think of, and he gets them again. I think it is because he does not wash his hands, but I cannot get him to do that when I am home, let a lone at school. Does anyone know of anything that will help get rid of these things? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
If you have a hard time getting him to wash his hands, can you get him to at least use the anti-bactrial wash? Or even the wipes? I give Missy wipes to put in her back pack and the teacher's all have those bottles of anti-bacterials in their classrooms.

Fortunately, I do not have that problem with her. She is generally very good about washing her hands and she is quick to notice if a visitor has not.
 

crazymama30

Active Member
Great idea Loth, thank you. I put a bottle of hand sanitizer on the counter and told him he could use that instead of washing his hands, and maybe that will work. This is just disgusting
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I think there is a pill in the health food store you can give them too. I remember seeing something there.

Other than that...its a challenge.

I like the idea of the anti-bacterial lotions. Maybe you could name them something cool so he would use them. Put a neat sticker on them over the label. I think they come in different scents now.
 

crazymama30

Active Member
Well, with the amount of toilet paper he uses it shouldn't be a wiping problem. every time he has a bm I know because easy child yells out that the toilet is plugged. He used to skip wiping, I would see evidence in his underwear. Lately his underwear are innocent. I will try the foaming handsoaps too, maybe it will make it more "fun" to wash?
 

crazymama30

Active Member
Does the alcohol hand sanitizer kill pin worm? I know it is antibacterial, antivirucidal, and just plain old antigermicidal, but anti-wormicidal?
 
That was why I suggested it. Also the foam seems to go farther.

Also...baby wipes! We use them all the time. Why should having a nice, clean bottom stop just because you are no longer wearing diapers?
 

WhymeMom?

No real answers to life..
From what I have heard this is easily transferrable....so the whole family should be treated and wash pjs daily, along with daily underwear change. Recurring infestation is likely so have to keep up treatment for quite some time to get out of the cycle...Good luck with the hand washing...seems one of the best ways to prevent re-infection.....
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Does the alcohol hand sanitizer kill pin worm? I know it is antibacterial, antivirucidal, and just plain old antigermicidal, but anti-wormicidal? </div></div> I can't answer that, perhaps call the company that makes it? But, if he won't wash his hands, at least this is the next best thing. Once you get rid of the worms, if he uses it all the time, they shouldn't return, I would think.

I found that stuff to be the best invention! I keep a bottle of it in the car. I have a bottle of it in the house. When we lost power for a couple of days last year, I think I would have died of pure disgust, if we didn't have that and the Lysol/Clorox wipes in my house. I also keep the anti-bacterial wipes (single packs) in my pocket book. Yep, I'm a germ freak. I even do the shirt thing with the public restroom doors! :rofl:
 

smallworld

Moderator
When we've had pinworm here, our pediatrician has treated the whole family, including husband and me (I believe with two pills, taken 7 days apart). You could also be having a recurring problem because some kid in your difficult child's class has it, but isn't getting the proper treatment. It might be worth checking in with the school nurse.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Pinworms are transmitted via the "hand to oral" route. Kids scratch their anal area (girls can also get vaginitis from them), pick up worm eggs, and then reingest them.

Make sure all fingernails are clipped as short as possible without drawing blood.

ALL laundry/bedding, etc., needs to be washed in hot water and bleach.

I'd advise picking up some plain white bedding and underwear so you can bleach them without ruining the good stuff.

by the way...the medication your doctor rx-es is the exact same piperazine wormer used on dogs and cats...
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
AND make certain the WHOLE family takes the medication even if they don't have symptoms!

easy child was my pinworm kid, believe it or not. She got them the most, but Nichole was heavy duty for 2nd place. And we didn't even own a pet at the time.

doctor asked a simple question. Do they like to play in the dirt/grass alot?? Yep. Nichole LOVED dirt. (hence her nickname of pigpen) And easy child was big on playing in the grass.

There were lots of pets around cuz the apartment complex allowed them. Most ppl were good about cleaning up. Still...... Seemed the kid's play area was infected with the worms.

No more sitting in the grass, and I invested in a large sandbox with a sturdy cover. Handwashing especially once they came inside. No more pinworm infestations.

It may sound gross but it's a fairly common untalked about problem with kids.

Hugs
 

Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Just like Lisa, it was my easy child that got pinworms. She got it from playing softball. The doctor told us that you get pinworms from dirt and that was where easy child likely picked them up (she was a HS freshman at the time). She was a pitcher and would wet her fingers (in her mouth) and reach down to the dirt to get some added traction. She would do this over and over again during the game so some of the dirt on her fingers would get into her mouth and she ingested some of the dirt.

Our doctor also treated the whole family even though no one else had any symptoms.

It only took one dose and the fact that easy child stopped wetting her fingers when pitching to stop it cold.

Good luck!

~Kathy
 

Marguerite

Active Member
These are also called threadworms (ie Enterobius vermicularis) and I studied them at uni. AND had to deal with repeat infestations.

What I remember being told at uni - these things are almost impossible to eradicate from the house, so (as with nits) we often tend to exhaust ourselves with practices that really do absolutely nothing (or very little) to prevent. My uni professor said that the eggs can even blow around in the dust in the house for up to two weeks. Of course, the eggs DO have to get from that dust into the mouth.

Some intestinal worms are really nasty. This one is perhaps one of the least nasty, all it does is make the child uncomfortable (sometimes) at night when trying to sleep - the classic "itchy bottom". Some kids will sleep through it.

What we found with our kids - most of them were VERY sensitive to "itchy bottom" and would come and wake me up so I could take a look. You can't see the worms at bedtime, generally - they don't come out until a few hours past bedtime. And you have very little chance of seeing them in the morning.

The life cycle of these things - we swallow the eggs, the eggs hatch out in our GI tract, the worms live and grow inside but right near the end and once sexually mature, they mate inside and the females crawl out the anus to lay their eggs. This tickles and disturbs the kids, who scratch, transferring the eggs onto their fingers and under fingernails. The eggs can be picked up by using a piece of stickytape pressed to the child's anus. We never did that except when studying them at uni. A pathologist might ask you to do this to confirm an infestation. You need a microscope and frankly, late at night you generally do see the worms. You can do what we did, and look with a torch - these things are really tiny, like half inch lengths of white sewing thread only slightly shinier. They do move (which can look really gross) but do absolutely no harm to the child other than making them uncomfortable and lose sleep. Standing in the bathroom with a Maglite pointed at your child's upturned rear end is not my favourite way to spend the hour after I went to bed, but it has to be done. You may need a magnifying glass and to get in really close. Don't think about how it looks, just do it. Plan to laugh later, maybe at the child's 21st birthday party. An Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) kid can REALLY freak out with these and be really badly affected. on the other hand, some other kids won't even notice - these are the kids who cause repeat infestations which will sweep through a classroom repeatedly, and through the families of the infected kid.

We used to have an ad on Aussie TV which showed a kid passing a pencil to another kid in class, with the caption, "She has just given him worms."

These things are VERY contagious, so it is a good thing they don't do any damage. If you are uncertain, or if other members of the family are also complaining of "itchy bottom, especially in bed at night" then dose everybody, all at the same time.

So if you've successfully identified that your child has a case, it's easy to treat. We kept a supply of commercial worm pills, if a kid had a dose we dosed the kid, immediately, and every other family member. Don't worry about the pets.

The next major preventive is hand washing, which has to INCLUDE scrubbing under the fingernails. Especially the infected person. Or use a nail file regularly (before each meal).

At school - it's so easy to transfer this. An infected kid can pass this on as easily as a cold. At a younger age kids tend to have more physical contact with each other and be more familiar with each other's personal space. The eases as they get older and this is also when repeat threadworm infestations ease. Until then, emphasise the importance of handwashing before eating, and keeping hands out of the mouth as much as possible, unless you are certain your hands (and nails) are clean. An infected child usually reinfects themselves via the fingernails.

Washing the rear end thoroughly in the morning and putting on clean clothes should reduce reinfestation (and spread to others) during the day. Someone suggested baby wipes - brilliant idea, we use them a lot too.

We did find that maintaining closer attention to handwashing, and cleaning nails of the infected child we did much better at preventing further infestations.

Washing bedding, pyjamas etc - the eggs will mostly stay on the skin, or on the fabric next to the skin. So if you make your child wear underwear under their pyjamas, then you only need to change those undies and not the pyjamas or the bedding. Regular, frequent (ie 'normal' underwear/pyjamas changing is all that's needed, but you SHOULD change clothing etc once you've begun treatment. Hot water wash and hang the stuff outside to dry. Don't bother until you've begun to treat the child, because the next night will only produce more eggs. Cleaning madly may make you feel better but by that stage you're probably only going to exhaust yourself. By not kicking up too much dust, you're also not spreading it round the house. The eggs WILL die eventually - takes about two weeks though, unlike nits which die in a matter of hours at room temperature. But you CAN open up the room to let the light in - the eggs die in strong sunlight.

Here is a good link on the topic. Once you know how these beasties grow and develop, it's just a matter of common sense.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/pinworm/factsht_pinworm.htm

If you want to find more info, plug the scientific name into Google.

And having a child with threadworm is NOT an indication that you are unclean people - if so, then half the population would fit this category!

If he won't wash his hands, then all you can do is do it for him. Make sure his fingernails are short and try to get him to clean them, if there is any fingernail left to clean. File his nails smooth if he is a nail biter- that's another way to get threadworm back - biting nails. Make him change his underwear daily and wash his rear end in the mornings (you could always threaten to do it for him!). This is where you SHOULD use something disposable to wash his tail.

But if he's a real pain in the neck about it, just dose him and forget. And keep stocks of more treatments, because he WILL get reinfected.

If you know that you can hold him down ONCE, and clean him all over - then do that the morning after the first pill of the treatment. After that, reinfestation will be from wherever he's getting it elsewhere, and not his own body.

Aren't our difficult children charming? Is is any wonder this beastie affects half the population?

Marg
 

crazymama30

Active Member
He does bite his nails, picks his nose, who knows what ever else gross things he does. I do not wonder why he is "infested"
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Gee, Loth, and I tried to hold back and not go into the gross-out side of things too much...

At least we weren't talking about hookworm...

Frankly, most of the stuff I studied at uni is not fit for discussion around the dinner table - at least, in any other house but ours!

Marg
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
When I was a kid there was no medicine....the answer was warm
soapy enemas until the infestation stopped. Yikes! When my
first set of kids were little in the l960's they had liquid
medicine that looked like raspberry syrup and tasted so horrible
that even my PCs spit it out of their mouths.

The whole family taking pills is a piece of cake. All the advice
given is right on target. My Mother used to say that it was a
"Southern" thing. She was from Wisconsin and "they" didn't have
vulgar things like pinworms. LOL! DDD

PS: Do use alcohol on the toilet seats or wipes on the faucets,
door handles and toilet seats. That helps stop the infestation
from spreading.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
DDD, hookworms were the southern thing, but maybe 100 years ago or more. ABout the same size as threadworm (maybe why the association) but much, much nastier. It was so bad that it takes a long time to erase it from cultural memory. Fascinating, from a zoology/parasite life cycle/cultural angle, though...

Marg
 
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