Possibility of your child getting infested by worms is high after the age of 1 year as children start exploring the surroundings more and likelihood of getting worms increases as habits of mouthing increase. Also, hand hygiene at times be a challenge despite our best efforts. Most commonly, kids would ingest the water while bathing , which in most homes is never filtered.
So one can consider using routine deworming every 6-12 months after the age of 1 year, though there are no strict guidelines to regularly deworm a child. This can vary as per habits and environment of every child.
Symptoms of Worm Infestations
Its a age old myth that if a child is grinding teeth in sleep, it means worms in tummy and IT IS A MYTH ONLY !
Suspect Worms when you notice symptoms like…
- A child has unexplained repeated episode of pain…
- Anal Itching at night
- Presence of worms in stools (seen very late)
- A good appetite but poor growth or looks very pale on a balanced diet.
Medicines for Deworming.
Various medicines like Albendazole, Mebendazole, Pyrantel, etc are available and Albendazole is most easy to use.
DOSE OF ALBENDAZOLE
- Age more than 2 years – 400 mg tablet or 10 ml of Suspension
- Age Less than 2 years- 200 mg (half tablet) or 5 ml of Suspension
SINGLE DOSE IS NOT ENOUGH..
It is important to understand that all available medicines for deworming act only on live worms. No medicine will destroy the eggs already laid by worms. So a single dose will only kill the live worms and the eggs will produce more worms. So one has to repeat a second dose before these new worms from these eggs grow into adults and lay more eggs. This period which is called life cycle of a worm os 10-14 days for most of the types of worms.
Single dose schedule is used in Mass deworming or National Deworming programs to decrease the overall presence of worms community.
Parents should participate in National Deworming campaigns in which a Single dose of Albendazole tablet is given to all school children and remember to give the second dose after 10-14 days to get an absolute clearance.
Dr Shacchee Baweja & Dr Vipul Baweja 