![]() ![]() Most children with pinworms have no symptoms at all. Pinworms occur in all socioeconomic groups, but are more common wherever children are in close contact with each other and in caregivers of young children or in areas where many people live in close quarters. Pinworms are found worldwide and can affect people of all ages, although the great majority of cases occur before age 12. The vaginal pinworms usually die out with no outside help. This happens in up to 20% of girls with pinworms. Also, the eggs can hatch on the skin of girls and the larvae crawl into the vagina instead of the rectum. Every now and then the eggs will hatch on the skin of the buttocks, and the immature larvae will crawl back through the anus, up into the rectum, and eventually arrive in the colon. Sometimes a child will touch a pillow or bedsheets or a toilet seat that is contaminated with the eggs and then touch their mouth and become infected that way. Sometimes a child can inhale airborne eggs and become infected that way. Occasionally the story goes a little differently. The entire life cycle lasts four to six weeks. When they become adults, they move to the colon where they take up residence. They usually hatch within the small intestine and mature there. If the child sucks his or her thumb or otherwise brings his or her hand to the mouth (perhaps while eating breakfast), the pinworm eggs are swallowed. When the sleeping child scratches, the eggs often get on the fingers and under the fingernails. The adult worms and the eggs on the skin of the buttocks can cause intense itching in the child. They can survive in indoor environments for 2-3 weeks. The eggs mature within six hours of being laid. Some of the eggs become airborne and land elsewhere in the child’s room, but the great majority of the fertilized eggs stay on the skin of the child’s buttocks. There she violently expels all of her eggs and dies. At night, the pregnant female migrates from the colon, out through the child’s anus and onto the skin of the buttocks. When adult male and female worms copulate, each female pinworm produces about 10,000 fertilized eggs. The adult worms live in the colons (large intestines) of human children and apparently feed on human fecal matter. They eat, drink, pee, poop, and reproduce sexually. The males have a testicle, vas deferens, seminal vesicle, and ejaculatory duct. The females have a vagina, a uterus, and ovaries. Like us, they have mouths, throats, and gastrointestinal tracts. The adult pinworms are white and measure less than one-half inch long, with the diameter of a strand of thread. Somewhere between 10 percent and 40 percent of children have pinworms at any given time. The pinworm, or Enterobius vermicularis, is one of the most common parasitic infections of humans. In any case, pinworms are mostly harmless and inhabit people in every socioeconomic group and culture. Although adults often shudder at the thought of pinworms, most kids don’t have this same gut response. ![]()
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