Help, I've got worms!

@Iloveeverycat and @productofhertime just the same as not everyone will have the flu in their lifetime. You might have exposure to it, or you might not and be lucky.

3 of ours never did.

One was constantly infested.

I'm 60 also never had them neither did my 4 children.

Well, no, it is STILL about handwashing. The eggs live under the nails (of unwashed hands) and will be transferred onto anything that those hands touch, like the TV remote etc. You then pick up the TV remote, sit down with tea and a biscuit to watch TV and, well, you get the gist...
So, yes, worms start and stop with poor hand hygiene. I appreciate this might be a little tricky with a child with special needs - so it may mean you have to be extra vigilant around surfaces and high touch points to avoid cross-contamination.

so in fact, it ISN'T a simple matter of washing your hands after you go to the toilet, as you pointed out to me earlier? Unfortunately, the eggs are apparently light enough to travel in dust in the air, and if any one person in the household slips up, they're out there. This is hard with very young children - or, as is the case in our own wormy household, children with learning disabilities.

Then you'll be picking them up on other surfaces that your child might be touching, TV remote, door handles etc.

Worms and their eggs are transmitted via the fecal-oral route, meaning you physically have to put them in your mouth!! These eggs hatch in your digestive system and the resultant worms appear in your poo!

Steam cleaner will kill the eggs I believe! Should be ok for the toys?

Had worms a few times as a kid for the simple fact that I didn't wash my hands after using the toilet.
A few doses of Pripsen - aka the drink of death! -was enough to encourage me to practise better hand hygiene and I never caught the little buggers again.

That you know of..

This is what I said until last year😆since having a toddler I've now had them twice (months apart so did successfully get rid of them the first time!)

Wrap them in plastic and freeze them for a few days, that kills everything.

Argh, I've had them twice since I've had a toddler! Strangely I never found evidence on him, only me though. I do bite my nails so it has shown me how disgusting the habit is!

I found them easy to get rid of (a gap of 7 or so months before getting them a second time). The Ovex is really all I did, and to make sure to always wear underwear in bed.

Oh, I didn't think it was judgy. I mean, I aspire to live in a house totally devoid of things that collect dust...

What I think I was trying to get at is that for most of us fallible mortals, those of us who don't spend hours every day swabbing down surfaces and vacuuming and dabbing at door handles, the chances of totally eradicating this very common (and ultimately harmless) parasite are low. Of course, we also share body space with loads of other parasites that tend not to make the MN threads because they're far less obvious.

Anyway, primary school-aged children tend to be very common vectors for threadworms. If you've escaped this, then genuinely - kudos to you! I am happy for you.

Kids pick them up at school very easily, my daughter did after coving when it became acceptable to use hand sanitizer instead of washing hands before lunch

I dunno, I suspect if you're sitting on the ground on damp, sandy soil theres a much higher chance you also have your hands on that ground and hands to face/mouth is (certainly for kids) inevitable!

But tell me you sat on a wet sandy beach and NOT got sand up yer crack?!

Eh, really. Never had them!

Am I unusual then? I am 55, never had worms or nits and neither did any of my 3 kids🤔

'NHS advice to sterilise everything, wash all bedding and towels after every use and damp-dust your house daily for 2 weeks seems to have been formulated for people who live in sterile, featureless cubes with no stuff and flat empty horizontal surfaces everywhere'.

Judgey much? Their homes may indeed be as you describe. However, your home currently has worms. I know which living situation I'd rather... 🤷‍♀️

Sitting on the ground😩😩

Do they wriggle up your bum? I feel ill

Caligirl80 are you in the US by any chance? or here in the UK? I ask, because a lot of what you're saying is rather geography-specific. Hookworms are really NOT an issue with humans in the UK and children ought to be able to run around barefoot outside without contracting anything like that! I mean, I suppose ticks are a potential risk in certain parts of the UK but even then ... I just hate to think that people reading your post might stop healthy outdoor barefoot play because they think they might pick up parasites. Not a thing in the UK.

The OP is obviously talking about threadworms (called pinworms in the US) which only live in humans and are evolved to do so. You cannot catch them from pets. Tapeworms can be contracted from cats and dogs but that's a very different thing with very different symptoms, and all pets should be routinely wormed anyway.

I had a South African friend who was used to routinely (monthly) having a worm pill when she lived there as a child, and got some real Looks from her GP in the UK when she asked where she could get monthly worming pills for her kids.

Having said that, it's so hard to get rid of threadworms that I'm beginning to think that dosing everyone up on Ovex once a month is not a bad idea, if you have young school-goers. Many people are asymptomatic so probably a lot more of us have these in our guts than we realise.

I joined this thread(worm) because my younger son seems to have brought them home again and now I have them. :-( The standard NHS advise to sterilise everything, wash all bedding and towels after every use and damp-dust your house daily for 2 weeks seems to have been formulated for people who live in sterile, featureless cubes with no Stuff and flat empty horizontal surfaces everywhere. We will try. In the meantime, I'm actually very concerned that I have them in my urethra because it's really irritated there. Any idea if Ovex actually KILLS the buggers if they migrate into your bladder, given that it's on an entirely different system to your gut? And if not, what can I drink to flush them out?

The most common vector for threadworms in the UK is going to be your own kids.

Worms from animals are highly unlikely - ie, hookworms are rare in the UK, but not uncommon in tropical, humid climates where you might holiday, walking around barefoot, sitting on the ground etc.

The most likely worm from animals is the tapeworm - there are two species that infect cattle and pigs, that can also use humans as a host, but you'll pick those up by eating undercooked meat (from the worm cysts). For the most part, the worms you'll most commonly come across won't do that -ie the tape worm your dog gets can't survive in your body.

You're really not to get any kind of worms in the UK from either walking around barefoot or wearing shoes in the house.

If you make a habit of eating undercooked meat, particularly from dodgy sources, feed your dog wild caught meat or dodgy meat and don't bother worming your dog and then eat dog poo... yes, you're at risk.

I've found it pretty easy to avoid doing those things though.

A lot of this is incorrect, you don't get worms from your dog or cat lol... threadworms are a human condition, threadworm eggs can be in your pets fur, but only if you've put them there by stroking then! Living near a farm has nothing to do with threadworms....Jesus.

We really don’t!

If they are wriggling, try getting a big blob of vaseline or sudocrem and putting it in there blocking their 'exit'. A big blob!
It stops them wriggling outside, which is when it is sore and itchy.

The medicine is usually quite quick - hopefully you will feel it has worked by the morning.