Summertime is berry time – everyone looks forward to fresh strawberries and currants. But dangers invisible to the naked eye in the form of eggs of the fox tapeworm can cloud the enjoyment of fresh fruit. And dog and cat owners should be especially careful when it comes to worm diseases.
Worms as parasites
Helminths, that’s the technical term for worms. Roundworms, tapeworms, hookworms, pinworms, they and many others live in their own world – mostly as parasites in the intestines of other creatures such as dogs and cats – and in humans, there in very different organs such as lungs or liver. Two billion people worldwide are infested with hookworms, whipworms and roundworms. The most common intestinal worm, the roundworm, is found all over the world. It is estimated that about one in four people worldwide have roundworms.
Infection occurs through worm eggs or their larvae, the maggots. They can develop in the human organism into reproductive parasites, which in turn lay eggs and multiply. Worms, worm parts or eggs are excreted with the stool. In our northern latitudes, the pinworm plays a particularly important role.
Pinworms common in children
The relatively harmless pinworm infections mostly affect young children, because they touch everything possible and rarely wash their hands voluntarily. The white pinworms, which can be up to one centimeter long, colonize the small intestine and parts of the large intestine. At night, the females leave the intestine to lay eggs, which causes itching at the anus, associated with reddening of the skin and scratch marks. After scratching, the eggs may re-enter the mouth and intestine. Occasionally, intestinal inflammation occurs, after some time the child appears pale and has less appetite.
If a worm infection is suspected – for example, if white threads are discovered in the excrement – the child should be taken to the doctor, who will determine the type of worm by taking a fecal sample. In most cases, a single dose of medication is sufficient, which is repeated after one to two weeks to be on the safe side. Family members are usually treated prophylactically.
In addition, hygiene is particularly important: daily showering, regular hand washing, short fingernails and fresh bed linen during therapy.
Worm infection protects against atopic dermatitis
In this context, another interesting fact is a statement by the Robert Koch Institute: too much hygiene in children weakens the immune system: if children have undergone a worm infection, for example, there is an increase in immunoglobulin E (IgE), which can be determined from the blood, similar to many neurodermatitis patients. It is assumed that the IgE could now – after improvement of the hygienic conditions in the western countries – be quasi “misdirected”.
The “hygiene hypothesis” is further supported by the fact that children who live on farms suffer less frequently from neurodermatitis. In fact, worm infections are found more frequently in these children, causing elevated IgE. In a recent study of African children, children who had passed through a worm infection were much less likely to have atopic dermatitis than children who showed no signs of worm infection.
