What are the symptoms of backworms in children?

Ascaris is the most common intestinal parasitic disease, which has a great impact on children's physical health. If parents can understand some of the symptoms of ascariasis, it will be very helpful for the prevention of children. Generally, the main symptoms of ascariasis in children are weight loss, indigestion, and may also have paroxysmal abdominal pain or teeth grinding during sleep. The following is a detailed introduction to the symptoms of ascariasis in children.

What are the symptoms of backworms in children?

1. When the ascarid larvae are migrating in the body, the skin may itch and hives may occur, and there may be fever, cough, and inflammation in the lungs; there may also be loss of appetite, indigestion, right upper abdominal pain, liver enlargement, and abnormal liver function; bacteria brought in by the larvae may cause multiple liver abscesses and liver tenderness; the total white blood cell count and eosinophilia may increase, etc. In some children, convulsions or meningitis may occur due to the larvae migrating to the brain.

2. Adult Ascaris lumbricoides can stimulate the intestinal wall, secrete toxins, excrete waste and absorb nutrients from children in the small intestine. Common symptoms are paroxysmal abdominal pain around the navel, soft abdomen, a preference for rubbing and not aversion to pressure; poor appetite, and some people like to eat things that should not be eaten, such as slag, clods of earth, plastic bags, etc. We call this phenomenon "pica". Since the normal digestion and absorption functions are affected, malnutrition, anemia, etc. may occur. It can also cause lack of energy, irritability, and teeth grinding at night.

3. Normally the adult worms live in the small intestine, but when the environment is not suitable they will run around, causing a series of serious symptoms and even endangering life. For example, when a child has a fever, roundworms may run around and cause severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and spitting out of roundworms. When the worms are entangled into balls, they block the intestines and cause roundworm obstruction. Roundworms can drill into any hole they see and can drill into the bile duct, causing biliary ascariasis. In serious cases, children will roll around and cry due to abdominal pain and break out in cold sweats. If roundworms drill into the appendix, it can cause ascariasis appendicitis, with severe pain in the lower right abdomen. Re-emergence from the appendix can cause dangerous conditions such as peritonitis.

How to detect ascariasis in children?

1. Frequent unexplained diarrhea, constipation or abdominal pain (mostly pain around the navel).

2. Poor appetite, not wanting to eat but often wanting to eat sweet snacks, or having a good appetite but losing weight

3. Sometimes headaches, excitement, poor spirits, lack of concentration, and slow reactions.

4. Often drooling or grinding teeth when sleeping at night.

5. Quick temper.

6. There are generally five types of "worm spots" that appear on children:

(1) Red spots appear on the tongue, which are characterized by neat and round edges that often protrude from the tongue. The location and number of red spots are irregular.

(2) Granules appear on the lower lip mucosa, mostly grayish-white needle-sized papules of varying numbers.

(3) Blue spots appear on the sclera, which are triangular, circular or crescent-shaped.

(4) White spots appear on the face, which are usually round in shape, with neat edges and pale white in the middle.

(5) "White clouds" appear on the nails.

These worm spots can appear alone or in combination.

7. Like to pick nose.

Children with roundworms may not show all of the above symptoms, but they will have at least 2-3 of them. If you find your child has the above symptoms, you should suspect that he or she has this disease and go to the hospital for a stool examination.

How to prevent and treat ascariasis in children?

To prevent this disease, children should be educated to develop clean and hygienic habits, wash their hands before and after meals, chew their nails frequently, do not bite their nails, do not suck their fingers, do not drink raw water, and do not eat raw, cold, or unclean food. In addition, attention should be paid to environmental hygiene and proper feces disposal. If you have ascariasis, you can take Ascaris Ling, about one tablet per year, divided into two nights; or take two Pagoda Candies per year, for two consecutive nights. Deworming once may not achieve the goal of eradication. If the stool is positive again after one month of treatment, take deworming medicine again. At present, enteric worm clearing is widely used and has certain therapeutic effects.