Does anyone worm their family as a precaution?

[FragileTitanium]

Hi
I've just been reading about how easy it is to be infected with worms from your pet despite regular deworming of your pet. You can get worming medication over the counter from Boots. I was wondering whether anyone deworms their family on a regular basis as a precaution or whether anyone has advice on this issue.

The drug of choice seems to be mebendazole - but the dose recommended on the boots pack only seems to treat threadworm rather than the more dangerous types....

I really think if you observe basic hygiene procedures such as hand washing and keeping pets regularly wormed then the risks are genuinely very low.

The ascarids, which are the family of worms which pose the most widespread threat to human health in the UK, are actually a very rare cause of illness in humans and there is no evidence that I am aware of which suggests we should treat humans prophylactically.

I once meet a very eminent pathologist who firmly believed that we should worm the human population regularly for threadworm as this was a far more widespread population than anyone is prepared to admit.

I have never found evidence of worms from my dc but as soon as one complains of an itchy bum, I treat us all and hit wash the towels/bedding. It probably works out at 2-3 times a year,

Many thanks.

Could I ask you what you use to worm your family and do you get it from Boots? Has your family had any side effects from the worming medication?

Sorry for the questions but am still a beginner when it comes to this sort of thing....

It's important to make it clear that threadworms are not contracted from pets.

I get the Boots own tablets and have not noticed any side effects. But they soon stop complaining of itchy bums. I may have a rather slapdash attitude to parenting though

Different worms I think

But when my kids were younger I did worm us all regularly, seemed sensible all the other animals get wormed. You can buy wormer on line, much less embarrassing than going to chemist.

You don't catch threadworm from pets. DS1 was a thumbsucker and also keen on sticking his fingers in our mouths when younger (boak), so we did used to worm ourselves pretty regularly. Used Ovex. Not had to do it for a while, thankfully. Think DS2 has only ever had them once but he has better hygiene aged 3 than DS1 aged 7.7!

I've had dogs, children and lax hygiene altogether for 10 years and no cases of worms at all.