Childhood Diseases and Illnesses
Pinworms
Description/Symptoms
- Caused by a tiny white thread like worm that lives in the intestines and crawls out of the anus at night to lay its eggs.
- Symptoms include:
- anal itching
- disturbed sleep
- irritability and local irritation (although many children have no symptoms).
- Eggs are spread to others by the infected person's fingers after touching the infected anal area/stool of infected person (e.g., diapers) or by articles contaminated with eggs (e.g., clothing, bedding, food, or other articles).
Instructions for Schools
- Does not need to be reported to Peel Health.
- Exclusion unnecessary.
- Promote good personal hygiene (washing hands after going to the bathroom, before eating or preparing food).
- Promote clean, short fingernails to prevent secondary skin infections on scratched skin.
- Children should be discouraged from sharing towels, sucking fingers, nail biting and scratching anal area
- Trimming and scrubbing the fingernails and bathing after treatment is important to help re infection and spread of pinworms.
Notes
- Refer to physician for diagnosis.
- Treatment available at pharmacy.
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