How to get tested for enterobiasis in adults and children
Enterobiasis is a parasitic infection caused by small worms and pinworms. This is a very common and contagious disease, most often found in young children. What symptoms help to recognize it? How to take an analysis on enterobiosis?
Ways of Enterobiasis
The habitat of adult pinworms is intestines. When mating occurs, females lay eggs with embryos in the perianal region, about 10,000 pieces per day. They are also carriers of infection.
When a child scratches his bottom to reduce the itching caused by parasites, he collects eggs under his fingernails and on his fingers, spreading them to surrounding objects. These infectious forms of the parasite are also deposited on the skin, bedding and clothing. They survive in the dust for three weeks.
Eggs are ingested through food, hands, or contaminated objects, as well as by inhalation of contaminated dust. After hatching in the stomach, the parasites release the larvae, which migrate to the large intestine, where they become adults.
Symptoms of infection
Most often, the child has no complaints nachto-any. However, some signs may indicate infection with pinworms. Specific are the following symptoms:
- anal itching, especially during sleep;
- occasional diarrhea;
- abdominal pain of unknown nature;
- irritability, insomnia or nightmares.
Small girls may appear signs of inflammation of the vulva and vulvitis due to intense scratching. Often they are accompanied by difficulty urinating or incontinence.
How can pinworms be detected?
If, by external signs, there is a suspicion that your child is infected with pinworms, to confirm it, follow these steps:
- Carefully examine the edge of the baby's anus for red scraper damage.
- You may find small white worms moving in his chair or on the edge of his anus, as well as in his underwear or bed.
If you are not sure about the presence of pinworms, consult a doctor for examination. When there are doubts about the diagnosis, the doctor may recommend an adhesive tape test or a so-called perianal scraping.
Methods for diagnosing enterobiasis
Although perianal pruritus is a characteristic feature of pinworm invasion, it can only be an assumption of the diagnosis of enterobiosis. It is important to remember that other diseases, including such serious ones as diabetes, colorectal cancer, hemorrhoids, and liver diseases, are also found with similar complaints of rectal itching. That is why you need to conduct an objective study for final confirmation of the diagnosis.
The most reliable evidence of pinworm infection is the physical identification of adults and their submission to the clinical laboratory for macroscopic examination. If it is not possible to visually detect pinworms, then enterobiosis can be confirmed by identifying eggs left in the skin folds of the perianal area.
Typically, the detection of helminth eggs is carried out according to the results of scatological diagnostics - laboratory examination of feces. However, the problem lies in the fact that, unlike other helminths, pinworms do not lay eggs in the digestive tract and intestines, therefore, using the coprological method of research, it is rarely possible to detect them.
Previously, pinworm eggs were used to find a laboratory method developed by Gimmelfarb. Its essence lies in the fact that in the evening the patient is placed in the anus with a sterile cotton swab, where he is until the morning. At the end of the sampling, the tampon is removed with forceps and rinsed in a centrifuge tube, and then the washout is microscopically examined.
Today, the most informative diagnostics is considered to be the scotch test or scraping for enterobiasis, it is also called the imprint method. Let us dwell on it in more detail.
How to pass an analysis on enterobiosis?
Many parents wonder how children are scraped for enterobiasis. In order to obtain an objective result, the selection of biomaterial from the perianal zone should be carried out early in the morning, before the child goes to the toilet and the procedures for washing under the genital area are performed. Some doctors recommend avoiding water treatments in the evening before the day of the test. The only contraindication to the sampling of the biomaterial is skin lesions in the area of the anus edge.
You can easily carry out the scraping by the print method at home:
- To do this, remove the panties from the child, lay it on its side, spread the buttocks with the fingers of one hand, thereby opening access to the anus.
- With a second hand, apply adhesive tape to the perianal area and hold it for a few seconds.
- Then gently stick the adhesive tape to the laboratory glass.
- The glass must be delivered to the laboratory using a sterile container. The procedure should be carried out in sterile medical gloves.
How to take an adult Enterobiosis test? In this case, the scraping method is also used, it is only carried out with a special glass spatula or a cotton swab dipped in distilled water or glycerin.
A sample of biomaterial from a child can also be taken using a cotton swab. These special sticks are sold in pharmacies along with a sterile plastic container in the form of a test tube with a sealed stopper. Scraping is taken as follows:
- Lay the child in the same way as in the previous case.
- Spread the buttocks, previously soaked with distilled water or glycerin with a sterile cotton wool stick, lightly pressing, on the skin at the edge of the anus.
- Place a cotton swab with a sample of biomaterial into a sterile tube, tightly closing the cap.
Collected samples of scrapings should be delivered to the laboratory no later than two hours, otherwise the procedure will have to be repeated the next morning. If, according to the results of the analysis, pinworm eggs are detected, the final diagnosis of enterobiasis is made.