Stomach worms are infecting children in UK schools, here’s how to stay safe

As the stormy weather continues, Brits are having to think more about keeping healthy in the cold. On top of the recent surge of scabies reported in the UK, new figures show that we have another health issue to be worried about.

One school in England has seen an outbreak of threadworm, which can have some nasty symptoms. If a child catches threadworm, it can easily spread at school or in the house. Thankfully, the infection - also known as pinworm - is easy to treat.

Symptoms of threadworm

Threadworm is common in children but can also affect adults, and is spread very easily. To put it simply, this infection involves tiny worms that lay eggs in the stomach. Once inside the body, they migrate down to the anus where they hatch. Once the infection gets to this point, an affected person’s faeces will have threadworms in it. These look like white pieces of thread and are visible to the human eye. If you are the parent of an infected child, you might also see the worms around your child’s anus. They tend to come out at night while your child is sleeping.

According to the NHS, other symptoms might include extreme itching around the anus or vagina, especially at night, and irritability or waking up during these hours. Less common signs are weight loss, wetting the bed, or irritated skin around the anus.

How to treat threadworm

Threadworm is easily spread through human contact, which is why schools present the perfect conditions. The eggs can be ingested when a child chews on a toy or doesn’t wash their hands properly then puts their fingers in their mouth.

Thankfully, the infection is easily treatable with over the counter medication from a pharmacy. However, as the worms spread so easily, if a child is infected the whole house should undergo treatment - regardless of whether or not they have symptoms.

The infected person must also follow some strict rules. Expert pharmacist, Karen Baker said:

Any bad habits such as thumb sucking, or nail biting, should be discouraged. Wearing underwear to bed and washing each morning, with separate towels for each member of the family will stop the eggs being passed on.

The standard medication will normally get rid of the infection for you, and you’ll only need to visit a GP if the problem persists after treatment.

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Sources used:

Express: Schools on alert as egg-laying stomach worms cause chaos in classrooms

NHS: Threadworms