20 cliniciansbrief.com February 2018
TALKING POINTS
Can Children Get Pinworms
from a Pet Dog or Cat?
Casey Barton Behravesh, MS, DVM, DrPH, DACVPM
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia
– Worms can sometimes be seen on
the skin near the anus or on under-
garments, pajamas, or bed sheets.
Client Communication
h Pet owners should be advised that,
because pinworms are host-specific,
dogs, cats, and other pets do not play a
role in the spread of human pinworms.
h Owners with questions or concerns
about human pinworms should be
referred to their healthcare provider.
h Owners should be advised that strict
observance of good hand hygiene—
including proper handwashing, main-
taining clean and short fingernails,
avoiding nail-biting, and avoiding
scratching the perianal area—is the
most eective means of preventing
human pinworm infection and/or
reinfection.
h Careful handling and frequent chang-
ing of underclothing, night clothes,
towels, and bedding can also help
reduce infection, reinfection, and
environmental contamination. These
items should be laundered in hot
water, especially aer each treatment
of the infected individual and aer
each use of washcloths until the
infection is cleared.
n
References
1. American Academy of Pediatrics. Pinworm
infection (Enterobius vermicularis). In:
American Academy of Pediatrics, ed. Red
Book: 2015 Report of the Committee on
Infectious Diseases. 30th ed. Elk Grove
Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics;
2015:621-622.
2. Heymann DL. Enterobiasis. In: Heymann DL,
ed. Control of Communicable Diseases Manual.
20th ed. Washington, DC: American Public
Health Association Press; 2015:187-189.
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Parasites—Enterobiasis (also known as
Pinworm Infection). CDC website. https://
www.cdc.gov/parasites/pinworm/index.html.
Accessed December 7, 2017.
Human pinworms (ie, Enterobius
vermicularis) are nonzoonotic intestinal
parasitic worms of human hosts.
Humans are considered to be the only
hosts of E vermicularis; therefore,
human pinworms cannot originate from
pets or other animals and vice versa.
Like human pinworms, pinworms found
in animals such as horses (ie, Oxyuris
equi) or rabbits (ie, Passalurus
ambiguus) are host-specific.
-
In General
-
h Human pinworm infection is spread
via the fecal–oral route.
h Symptoms of human pinworm infec-
tion include itching around the anus,
which can cause diiculty sleeping
and restlessness; however, some
infected humans may not experience
any symptoms.
h Diagnosis is made by identifying the
worm or its eggs.
