Enterobiosis in children is intestinal helminthiasis, which is caused by small nematodes belonging to the class Enterobius vermicularis. It is characterized by an erased and unexpressed clinical course, a symptom of the disease is perianal itching, which occurs at the site of egg laying by mature females.
Enterobiosis in children begins with swallowing invasive eggs, which in the duodenum turn into larvae. They reach their puberty in the lower parts of the small intestine. This happens 15 days after it enters the human body. Males usually die after fertilization, and females are quietly held on the mucous membrane of the colon and are able to move along it. They crawl out of the anus at night, as all sphincters are relaxed at this time, and lay their eggs on the anal folds, after which they die. The life span of pinworms in the human body is one hundred and eleven days. The length of stay can be lengthened due to repeated infections.
Clinical picture
Enterobiosis in children is characterized by perianal itching, which usually manifests itself in the evening, at night. General irritability, decreased ability to work, memory, headaches, decreased appetite, abdominal pain, lack of body weight, unstable stool, and sleep disturbances are also characteristic. Sometimes complications arise, represented by vulvovaginitis, anogenital pruritis, local inflammation of the anus, which is accompanied by local pain.
Diagnosis
Scraping for enterobiosis in children is the main way of making a diagnosis. In laboratories, the intensity of the lesion is noted, which is determined by the number of eggs found. This allows you to assess the degree of danger of infection to others and take appropriate preventive measures at the source of infection. In a rare case, pinworm eggs are found in urine, which was taken according to other clinical indications. The causative agent of the disease is often detected during colonoscopy.
Treatment
Often there are cases in which non-infected people are treated for enterobiosis. Detection of pinworm eggs in scrapings is not an indicator of the presence of sexually mature individuals in the body, since females die when they exit the anus.
The most effective and often used drugs for the treatment of this disease are carbamatebenzimidazole derivatives. They act on sexually mature forms of parasites. They are also characterized by the presence of ovicidal and larvicidal activity. In this case, glucose transport to the helminth organism is disrupted, so egg laying and larval development are inhibited.
Enterobiosis in children can be accompanied by the development of complications, which are sometimes caused by anthelmintic drugs. They lead to allergic reactions, atopic dermatitis, impaired liver function, biliary dyskinesia.
At present, various biological additives are often used that help to effectively cope with the disease and do not cause complications. Local agents are used to treat the latter, with the penetration of parasites into the tissues of the anal area, surgery is used.
If there is a disease called enterobiosis, treatment with folk remedies can be a good alternative to medicines: infusions and decoctions of elecampane, St. John's wort, grated carrots, carrot juice, pomegranate juice, walnuts, lovage, garlic, wild strawberries.
For the prevention of enterobiasis, it is necessary to observe the rules of hygiene, with immediate suspicion of invasion, treatment should be started immediately.