The pinworm, also known as the Enterobius vermicularis is a parasitic worm that lives in the human digestive system. The emergence of pinworms occur mostly during back-to-school season. Pinworms, classified taxonomically as a helminth, are one of the most common worm infections in the United States, and holds the broadest geographic range of any helminth infection in the United States and Western Europe. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children are the first of targets as they are less prone to washing their hands and touching contaminated surfaces.
The parasitism usually begins in a daycare or preschool setting where children unknowingly get infected by not washing their hands and end up putting their hands in their mouths, swallowing pinworm eggs during lunch time. Furthermore, as stated by the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, the sharing of supplies with other children and holding hands during line ups are the first stages of contact that lead to infection.
As these nematodes, or round worms, immediately inhabit hosts, they continue to spread out and infect caretakers in addition to the children’s guardians when bathing and wiping an infected child later during the day. About 10 mm in length, the small, thin and white female Enterobius vermicularis generally reside in the large intestine and cecum, and also found in the colon and rectum of human hosts. Female pinworms retain a long, pin-shaped posterior end from which the parasite’s name originates. When asleep, the female pinworms rove to the cecum of the large intestine and to lay up to 15,000 eggs on the perineum.
The inoculation of these eggs spread to the surrounding skin of the anus and this is when the host begins to touch and scratch the infected area. The eggs then attach to their fingertips and soon enough contaminate clothing, bedding, food, and or other articles. The infection is also spread by the fecal-oral route. Children and sometimes adults tend to transfer the pinworm eggs from the anus to the mouth. Usually this is done either directly by hand Thasin 2 or indirectly through surfaces. People can also ingest these worms whilst breathing due to their small size as they can become airborne in some cases.
The eggs can survive on surfaces up to 2 weeks, and members of a household that’s infected can show symptoms of feeling irritated, fatigued, and sleepy. Although, many don’t demonstrate these symptoms at all, it can still be diagnosed by the discovery of the helminth eggs through examining the eggs is with the “tape test. ” A transparent cellophane tape is to be firmly pressed with the adhesive side against the skin around the anus. This would cause the eggs that made it to the surface of the perineum to stick to the tape and therefore placed on a slide to view under a microscope.
The test should be shortly after the person wakes up in the morning and right before they are to bathe as it keeps the eggs and or worm(s) on the surface intact without any external cleansing. The “tape test” is recommended to be done for three consecutive mornings in order to make sure that the host is indeed infected. In some cases, the eggs may hatch while still attached to the skin around the anus. When the infected eggs are transferred orally, they would then journey through the rectum in order to get to the lower intestine. The CDC informs that this is where the larvae hatch.
Within four to six hours, the pinworms make it out in the small intestine and then additionally form themselves in the colon. This is where they grow to adult size within two to six weeks. Adult females grow to be from 8 to 13 millimeters. Adult males grow to be from 2 to 5 millimeters. The average life span of the adults is about two months. In terms of treatments and cures, many of minor infections perish on their own and do not need treatment. Though in some more extreme cases, when one does need to be treated with medicine, they are prescribed an anthelmintic.
This group of antiparasitic drug would eject out the Thasin 3 pinworms through the rectum by either stunning or killing them without causing damage to the host. Some of these anthelmintics include mebendazole, pyrantel pamoate, and albendazole. Each of these drugs are to be given in a single dose at first and then another single dose 2 weeks following the prior dose. In households where more than one member is infected, it is also recommended that all household members be treated at once.
To prevent becoming a reoccurring infection, measures such as daily showers and change of underwear helps decrease the chance of eggs from contaminating more areas. Furthermore, having more care in management and regular changing of underclothing, night clothes, towels, and bedding can aid in reducing another reinfection. Promoting hygienic tendencies and behaviors such as washing one’s hands with warm water and should also prevent the spread of eggs. This in all would help not only New York, but also the rest of the U. S. to be more cautious of parasites in our environment.
