Don’t Let The Parasites Harm Your Children!

Parents of the age of 30’s and 40’s might remember those days when we walked around on the soil of mother earth barefooted when we were young. We also remember those days when we were studying in school, there were nurses came to our schools to feed us some sweet medicine and told us that our stomach were full of “cacing”.

Nowadays, our children were no longer allowed to walk barefoot on the soil, we even insist them to wash their hands and foot clean each time they enter the house from outside. However, when we thought we have protected them well from the nasty parasites, we did not.

Soil Transmitted Helminthes (STH) are commonly known as worm infections affect a large part of the world population. This is especially true in areas with warm and humid climate just like where we are staying here, in Malaysia. There are 7 common types of parasites found in our intestine, there are pinworm, roundworm, tapeworm, threadworm, whipworm, hookworm and Trichinella. Some of them are soil borne, while some are water borne parasites.

How to know if my kid is infected with STH?

Common symptoms that young parents should look out at your children are:

• Always complain of gastro-intestinal discomfort (diarrhea, abdominal pain etc)

• General malaise and weakness

• Anemia

• Complain of itchy bottom which may become red and inflamed from scratching

• Difficulty in sleeping

If your children have more than 3 of the symptoms described above, you should first try to deworm your children and all your family members including yourself to prevent future cross infection among family members.

What should I do?

1. Perform de-worm with albendazole or mebendazole at least twice a year for every members of your family. Remember, as an adult, you may not suffer much from the signs and symptoms of parasites infection. However, the parasites may infect your young children and cause serious problems to them.

2. Wash your hands frequently, if clean water is not available at times, use hand sanitizer or disinfectants containing silver (Argentum).

3. Avoid drinking unboiled water.

4. Wash bedding regularly.

5. Wash children’s toys with disinfectant.

6. Change underwear regularly.

7. Try not to swallow water while swimming in pools, lakes, or streams.

8. Since pinworm eggs are sensitive to light, open blinds or curtains in bedrooms during the day.

By just simple action of deworming, you can prevent many potential harmful diseases from infecting your children. Let’s start protecting ourselves and our love ones today.