How to understand that a child has worms, and what to do about it?

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

The child is faced with the likelihood of helminthic invasion quite often. And it is difficult to protect yourself from this, since the larvae of parasites, being in the ground, are able to maintain viability for a long time despite the temperature regime.

Helminthic invasion is especially dangerous for children of the first year of life, since it can cause developmental disorders.

If a child has worms, what symptoms should alert parents, and can home remedies be treated?

Reasons, ways of invasion

In medicine, infection with worms is called helminthic invasion. The most common cause of this phenomenon is a gross violation of hygiene rules. We will consider the symptoms of infection of a child with worms and methods of treatment further, and now let's talk about the reasons.

How a child may develop worms:

1. Contact method - the child becomes infected through contact with or from parents or other children. The sources are bedding, toys, things. Contact with animals is especially dangerous. While walking on the street, they pick up dirty objects, and children are very fond of hugging pets.
2. Water also poses a danger to children in terms of the likelihood of helminthic invasion. Swimming in water bodies, they often swallow water, which may contain larvae and eggs of parasites. In addition, during the hot season, children often drink from the tap, and the quality of water purification is not always high. Teaching a child to drink filtered, bottled or boiled water helps reduce the likelihood of infection.
3. Infection with worms through food … Fish and meat are especially dangerous. Semi-finished products based on them must undergo heat treatment in strict accordance with the recommended rules. The risk of infection also arises when eating poorly processed fruits, berries, vegetables. Even if they have a domestic one, washing the fruits is required because they came into contact with the soil into which the animals defecated.
4. Insects as an intermediate host of helminth larvae. The living quarters should be free of flies, fleas, mosquitoes. The former often come into contact with feces and, at the same time, human food. Mosquitoes and fleas infect humans with helminths through their bites.

Various helminthiasis

The famous pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky identifies several types of helminthiasis in children according to the degree of prevalence and different symptoms:

• ascariasis;
• enterobiasis;
• whipworm infection.

Each type has its own clinical picture.

Ascariasis

This condition occurs when roundworms - roundworms, belonging to the genus Ascaris lumbricoides, enter the intestines of the child and begin to parasitize. They are rather large - the length of an adult female is about 0.4 m, males are twice as short. The main habitat is the small intestine.

The peculiarity of roundworms is that they are not attached to the walls of the organ, but move freely in the direction opposite to the movement of food. Treatment should be carried out as soon as possible.

Symptoms of ascariasis in a child include:

• frequent diarrhea;
• pain syndrome localized in the epigastric region;
• allergic nature of skin rashes;
• headache;
• nervousness, general weakness;
• vomit.

It should also be noted that the clinical picture that a child has worms from the Ascaris family is largely determined by the phase of migration of the helminth.

For example, if the larva migrates through the respiratory tract, the child has a cough in the absence of other signs of a cold. If adults inhabit the intestine, it will complain of pain in the pancreas, stomach.

Enterobiasis

Quite often, when examining the feces of children attending a preschool, pinworms or their eggs are sown. The danger of enterobiasis is that even after the correct treatment, the likelihood of re-infection remains. A characteristic sign of the disease is severe itching in the anal area.

This condition is due to the release of adult female pinworms to lay eggs.

Most often, females leave the human body at night. A child who has worms combs the area around the anus in a dream, without controlling his actions. As a result, helminth eggs fall under the nails. During the morning meal, they get back into the body. Attentive parents in case of helminthic invasion may notice changes in the child's behavior. If he often scratches the buttocks and perineum, it is recommended to pass a scraping for enterobiasis. However, having received a negative result in your hands, you should not rejoice.

Doctor Komarovsky in numerous interviews, books, television programs has repeatedly noted that the analysis for enterobiasis must be taken at least three times. And if the diagnosis is confirmed, the whole family should undergo treatment.

It is important to remember that the life cycle of pinworms is about 30 days. In order to prevent re-infection, prevention should come first. First of all, it is recommended to change your bed linen frequently. Dirty sheets, pillowcases, duvet cover are pre-boiled, then washed. Ironing is obligatory. It is also imperative to douse underwear with boiling water and iron it before putting it on.

So that the child does not have worms, washing hands should become the norm after each contact with pets or street animals. Regular disinfection of premises is a guarantee that the likelihood of pinworm infection will be reduced to zero.

Trichocephalosis

The diagnosis of "trichocephalosis" means that the child has a whipworm. This worm can live in the body for up to 7 years, which makes it possible to classify the disease as chronic. Anatomically, the parasite has a narrow front part, which it uses to penetrate into the mucous membrane of the cecum.

If the degree of infection is insignificant, the reaction of the body is also insignificant and the symptoms of worms in the child are not particularly manifested. In cases where the invasion is strong, the child may complain of persistent diarrhea. Rectal prolapse is a dangerous complication. In addition, growth retardation is often observed in children infected with the parasite.

Treatment - advice from Dr. Komarovsky

Most parents are afraid to treat a child for worms with potent pharmaceutical preparations. Komarovsky is not recommended to be limited in the treatment of invasion (worms) with folk remedies. For example, treatment with pumpkin seeds is actively promoted on the network. However, the dose that can have an effect is 300 g. For children with worms, this amount is significant.

The course of treatment itself is divided into three stages:

1. Preparatory - consists in taking antihistamines, enterosorbents, agents for cleaning the gallbladder and pathways, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory drugs. You will also need a course of enzymes to improve the quality of digestion.
2. Deworming - taking drugs to cleanse the gallbladder, taking the actual antiparasitic drugs.
3. Recovery - taking a course of vitamins, enzymes, hepatoprotectors.
4. After a course of treatment for worms in a child, repeat tests are required. They should not be single-dose, as in the case of suspected invasion.

The therapeutic program should take into account the age of the child who has been infected with worms. For example, in the treatment of children from worms from the first year of life, only mild drugs should be used. In addition, it is important not to miss the first symptoms of infection!