How important is deworming

We have seen briefly about the human parasites viz., hookworm, pinworm, roundworm, tapeworm and whipworm and their life cycle, their entry points, preventing them from getting contracted etc. Still, the world is full of parasites that there are chances of acquiring them howsoever clean you are.

For instance, a simple lick from your pet, a barefoot walk on your lawn, a swim in a reservoir or a pool with untreated water, negligence on your part to wash hands thoroughly before eating/preparing food after gardening, unwashed salad, untreated drinking water/milk/fluids, under cooked meat, or school going children in your family can get you the eggs/larvae of these parasites.

UNICEF report of “The state of the world’s children 1998” says that about 1.5 billion people have roundworms, making it the third most common human infection in the world, whipworm infects 1 billion people, including nearly one third of all children in Africa and more than 1.3 billion people carry hookworm in their gut. Hence the picture is very clear; the chances of these parasites creeping inside ourselves are very high.

Worm infestations often cause serious health problems and impact a child’s ability to attend and perform well in school, and another UNICEF report says researches have shown that regular deworming can substantially increase school attendance and significantly improve a child’s ability to learn in school. Eventually the growth rate and weight gain of children who are regularly de-wormed is pretty higher than who those who aren’t. Hence regular deworming is the best solution for many of the childhood illnesses.
Now the pertinent question arises; how often should I deworm myself and my family? Especially you should have a fair knowledge on deworming frequencies when there are school going kids or thumb sucking toddlers at home. A quick or thorough search on the Internet for “How often should you deworm?” may not bring you the answer to your question.

There are thousands of sites which may guide you through deworming schedules of horses and pets, but you won’t be able to find a definite answer for the deworming interval or schedule to be adopted for human being. I too was in such a fix while searching information for the deworming frequency for my son and that is the cause of writing the series about parasites beginning from hookworm.

Now, the answer to our pertinent questions “How often should you deworm?” “What should be the deworming interval for children?” “What is the deworming frequency for adults?” etc.
Based on World Health Organization’s recommendations, to combat with the health and nutritional impact of helminth infections,Treatment should be given once a year when the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infections in the community is over 20%, and twice a year when the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infections in the community exceeds 50%.

So based on their observations, WHO’s strategy is to deworm twice a year at the most to eliminate morbidity due to soil-transmitted helminthiases in children. Hence in most cases, deworming once every six months is sufficient. But, if you suspect/notice that your child is getting worms more frequently, then deworming your child/whole family more frequently as deemed appropriate by your primary physician may be necessary.

Except tapeworms (as in the case of pinworm or whipworm infection), a second dewormer dose may be necessary after two weeks or 73-75 days after the first dose to break the life cycle/to kill the migrating larval forms of these parasites. In any case, deworming the whole family twice a year is necessary.

Mebendazole/albendazole in suspension or chewable tablet form is the conventional drug of choice and the side effects too are few and those side effects that there are, are usually caused by dead worms being expelled from the body, rather than by the drug itself.

For more accurate information, consult with your primary physician to know the prevalence of the parasites in your area, the deworming interval that should be adopted, the deworming medicine that should be taken and its dosage needed to keep the parasites at bay.

Inform the physician about the allergies and existing diseases/pregnancy that you have, before your physician charts down the prescription. For further information, read the complete discussion in the comments section below to clear your simple doubts regarding eliminating parasites from your body.