Interesting facts about

Ascaris lumbricoides
About 1 billion people worldwide are infected with Ascaris worms.
An adult Ascaris worm is 20 to 40 cm long.
But females can reach up to 3 feet or almost a meter. Females are
usually longer than males
A female Ascarisworm can produce 240,000 eggs a day.
Ascaris eggs last much longer when they nestled in warm feces
Often times an Ascaris outbreak will resolve itself, and this only happens
if luckily there are no male Ascaris to mate with the females.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Infection is relatively easily diagnosed by examining the stool sample
from the patient using a microscope to identify Ascaris
lumbricoides eggs.
Mebendazole is the drug of choice, with pyrantel pamoate as an
alternative. Mebendazole binds to tubulin in the worms intestinal
cells and body wall muscles.
Nitazoxamide and ivermectin is also effective against it.
If the intestine is blocked, surgery may be necessary. If the
pulmonary stage is severe, corticosteroids may be prescribed to
lessen the symptoms.
Facts about Enterobius vermicularis
Adults are less likely to get infected but mothers of infected children as
well as adult sexual partners may also get infected by passing the
parasites eggs from one another.
Females lay up to 15,000 eggs
It has also been recently speculated that pinworms themselves may
serve as an intermediate host to Dientamoeba fragilis, a relatively
mysterious protozoa that is still struggling to gain recognition as a
human pathogen in certain countries.
Diagnosis and Treatment
The most common symptom of this irritating, but not particularly
dangerous, disease is itching around the anal area.
either mebendazole (Vermox) or pyrantel pamoate (Pin-X) will be
given in two oral doses spaced two weeks apart.
Because the infection is easily spread through contact with
contaminated clothing or surfaces, it is recommended that all family
members receive the therapeutic dose.
Sometimes a series of six treatments are given, each spaced two
weeks apart. If family members continue to be infected, a source
outside the house may be responsible.