What is a pinworm (Enterobius vermicularis)?
Pinworms (Enterobius vermicularis from the species of nematodes) are parasites that exclusively infest humans. They live and reproduce in the human colon and lay their eggs on the skin around the anus. Nematodes grow to between 2 mm (males) and about 10 mm (females), are thread-like and characteristically white. The size of the eggs is in the micrometer range and can hardly be seen with the human eye. The clinical picture of pinworm infestation is called enterobiosis.
What is the transmission path?
The life cycle of the pinworm takes place within the human digestive system. After mating, the females migrate to the anus at night and lay their eggs on the anal skin. The eggs stick to the anal skin and cause severe itching.
By scratching, the eggs reach the hands of the infected person and can be distributed. There is either a repeated infection by leading the hands to the own mouth or a transmission to other persons by leaving the eggs on objects, door handles etc. when touched (so-called fecal-oral infection path). Occasionally, an infection by inhalation of egg-containing dust has been described, as the eggs can survive for up to two weeks.
Causes of a disease
There is no concrete cause for the infection with pinworms. It is one of the most frequent parasitic diseases of humans. According to the doctrine, 50% of all people fall ill with enterobiosis once in their life, the number of infected persons is over one billion.
An infection with pinworms says nothing about a person’s immune system, anyone can fall ill with it. In general, the spread is much more frequent among children than among adults (see below). The only cause for the spread of pinworms is a lack of hand hygiene. The hands are the carrier from the place where the eggs are deposited to the entry port into the body. Thorough hand washing after going to the toilet can interrupt this infection cycle and prevent further infection of other people.
