Online CPR Certification Blog

It takes about a month from when adult female pinworms lay eggs for them to enter into your body. These eggs laid by a pinworm usually enter into a human’s body through the mouth after which they move to settle into the lower part of the digestive system where they develop into worms. To start with, these eggs will grow in your small intestine first after which they slowly move into larger intestines. Here, they will grow and develop to become adult worms. These worms survive in the human by consumption of nutrients that are found in the digested food that is ingested.
During the night, the female pinworms tend to craw and move out of the body on the skin surrounding the anus and they lay eggs. The wiggling motion of the female worms as they lay the eggs is believed to be the main cause of skin irritation and itching. These eggs usually have a sticky, damp covering and as kids scratch their anus area, the eggs have a tendency of sticking onto their fingers. They will then get stuck under the fingernails and are then transferred onto various objects like food and faucets and then into their mouth. In addition to this, there is still a high tendency of the eggs sticking onto clothing, furniture and bedding. These eggs are capable of living for a period of between 2 and 3 weeks when outside the body.

The spreading actions of pinworms

Generally speaking, pinworms get spread after a person having them scratches the area around their anus and gets the eggs on their hands or they get stuck in their fingernails. Then, the person touches an object or another spread and the pinworms are thus spread from the infected person and one who isn’t infected. An infection occurs when:

• Upon being touched by a person who is infected, the uninfected person their puts their hands containing the eggs into their mouth.
• The uninfected person touches an object like dishes, toys, bedding and clothes or a pet carrying the eggs and puts the hand into their mouth.
• The clothes or bedding of a person having the pinworms get fanned in the air. There is a tendency of the eggs floating on the air and another person swallowing them.

Minimizing pinworm infection and available treatments

A person having pinworms can also get re-infected by any of these means or after the eggs hatch on anus skin and the larvae crawl into the body. Provided the living pinworm eggs get swallowed by another person or are spread to other people, pinworm infection can be contagious. Medicine available for treating pinworm infection doesn’t kill pinworm eggs but rather the adult worms. It is thus possible even for a person who has been treated to still be able to spread the infection. It is thus very important that you often wash your hands to avoid infection after getting into contact with other people.