Pinworm Medication

  • Author: Sun Huh, MD, PhD; Chief Editor: Burke A Cunha, MD   more...
 
Updated: Jan 7, 2010
 

Medication Summary

The goals of pharmacotherapy are to eradicate the infestation, to reduce morbidity, and to prevent complications.

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Anthelmintics

Class Summary

Parasite biochemical pathways are sufficiently different from the human host to allow selective interference by chemotherapeutic agents in relatively small doses.

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Mebendazole (Vermox)

 

Causes worm death by selectively and irreversibly blocking uptake of glucose and other nutrients in susceptible adult intestine where helminths dwell.

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Pyrantel pamoate (Pin-Rid, Pin-X)

 

Depolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent. Inhibits cholinesterases, resulting in spastic paralysis of the worm.

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Albendazole (Albenza)

 

Decreases ATP production in worm causing energy depletion, immobilization, and, finally, death. To avoid inflammatory response in CNS, patient must also be started on anticonvulsants and high-dose glucocorticoids.

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Contributor Information and Disclosures
Author

Sun Huh, MD, PhD  Chairman, Professor, Department of Parasitology, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Korea

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

Sooung Lee, PhD  Team Manager, Research and Development, Chuncheon Bioindustry Foundation, Chuncheon-do, Korea

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Specialty Editor Board

Mary D Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP  Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine

Mary D Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Physicians, Association of Professors of Medicine, Central Society for Clinical Research, Infectious Diseases Society of America, and Society of General Internal Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD  Senior Pharmacy Editor, eMedicine

Disclosure: eMedicine Salary Employment

Gordon L Woods, MD  Consulting Staff, Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center

Gordon L Woods, MD is a member of the following medical societies: Society of General Internal Medicine

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Eleftherios Mylonakis, MD  Clinical and Research Fellow, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital

Eleftherios Mylonakis, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Association for the Advancement of Science, American College of Physicians, American Society for Microbiology, and Infectious Diseases Society of America

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

Burke A Cunha, MD  Professor of Medicine, State University of New York School of Medicine at Stony Brook; Chief, Infectious Disease Division, Winthrop-University Hospital

Burke A Cunha, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Physicians, and Infectious Diseases Society of America

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

References

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  17. Tornieporth NG, Disko R, Brandis A, et al. Ectopic enterobiasis: a case report and review. J Infect. Jan 1992;24(1):87-90. [Medline].

  18. Welch NM. Recent insights into the childhood "social diseases"--gonorrhea, scabies, pediculosis, pinworms. Clin Pediatr (Phila). Apr 1978;17(4):318-22. [Medline].

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  21. Zahariou A, Karamouti M, Papaioannou P. Enterobius vermicularis in the male urinary tract: a case report. J Med Case Reports. Nov 14 2007;1:137. [Medline].

 
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Pinworm. Adult female worms of Enterobius vermicularis collected from a 2-year-old girl in a Korean orphanage after treatment with pyrantel pamoate 10 mg/kg, November 24, 1975.
Pinworm. Microscopic view of Enterobius vermiculariseggs attached to cellophane tape after a perianal swab from a child in kindergarten in Seoul, Korea, February 1999. Egg size was 50-60 μm X 20-30 μm. The eggs are elongated and ovoid, distinctly compressed laterally, and flattened on one side.
 
 
 
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