Eeeu
…. Worms!
Worms may be a tasty treat for the birds in your garden, but they’re
pretty nasty in your body. Worms in children (and adults) is more common than
we think. Tots, who are still developing their immune systems, play in the
sand, eat dirt, share toys and food, and use their hands to eat with, are
especially vulnerable. A listless, irritable, miserable child, may well have worms.
Children with worms may have a ferocious appetite or no appetite at all. They can
have diarrhoea or be constipated. Luckily, treating worms is simple and complications
can be avoided when treated early. Speak to your pharmacist about regular
family and pet deworming.
How children get worms:
Worm eggs are mostly spread in faeces and dirty water. Clean toilets,
fresh running water and proper sanitation is fast becoming a problem in South
African communities. Worms commonly
found are roundworm, threadworm, whipworm and tapeworm with hookworm more prevalent
in KwaZulu-Natal. Threadworm and pinworm eggs can survive even in the dirt and
can spread where there is overcrowding. Eggs contaminate sheets, toilet seats,
toys and the fur of animals. An infected child can re-infect themselves. Tapeworm
for example, irritates the anus during the night. A child may scratch, then
suck his fingers. Contaminated puddles can infect children playing in them. Tapeworm
eggs are found in raw meat and cause cysts to develop anywhere in the body.
Symptoms to look out for:
Restless sleep – because of an itchy bottom. Threadworm and pinworm
infect the intestine and eggs are laid in the rectum at night. This causes the
itch. Worms can be seen as tiny white threads in faeces or the eggs can be
identified if removed from the rectum the next morning with sticky-tape. It’s
useful to take these or a stool specimen to the doctor.
Bed wetting is associated with a pinworm infection. Swallowed eggs hatch
and mature in the small intestine and female worms crawl to the rectum where
they lay their eggs at night. The worms may hatch and crawl back into the
bowel, but in little girls, they can also crawl into and infect the vagina. In
severe cases, the womb and fallopian tubes can become infected.
Wet cough. The larval stages of round worm occur in the lungs with
symptoms of bronco-pneumonia, coughing and general illness.
Weight loss. Despite a good appetite, children with intestinal worms can
become malnourished and lose weight.
Nausea / No appetite. Roundworms are shiny white, live in the small intestine and can
grow up to 15 cm and longer. They can block the intestines or be vomited.
Anaemia – hookworm and whipworm attach themselves to the lining of the
bowel where they suck the blood and cause loose, blood-stained stools.
Treatment:
Most medicines used to treat worm
infections kill worms by either starving them or paralysing them; for example:
- Mebendazole, albendazole and thiabendazole work by preventing the worms from absorbing the sugars they need for survival.
- Praziquantel and ivermectin work by paralysing the worms in the gut (intestine).
Please take your child to the doctor or clinic. You can also speak to
your pharmacist. Treatment is usually for a week or a single oral dose of a
de-wormer that’s repeated a week later.
The whole family needs to be treated; bedding should be laundered on the
hottest wash cycle and sand-pit sand changed regularly. Make sure children (and
adults) wash their hands every time after using the toilet. Always wash fruit
and vegetables and cook meat well. Keep your children’s nails short and clean.
When is it serious?
Neglected worms can become serious. The parasite will deprive the child
of nutrition, weaken the immune system and use the child as host to multiply.
Cysts from threadworm and pinworm can develop on the brain causing pressure and
fitting, lungs can become congested and intestines blocked. During their
formative years when children should be growing, learning and having fun, those
with worms are sickly and miserable and it may take a long time for them to
recover. Regular deworming is such a simple solution!
