(Thread-worm; Pin-worm)
This small parasite, commonly seen in children, is from three to five
millimeters long in the male and about twenty millimeters in the
female, is blunt at one end and sharp at the other, and occupies the
colon and rectum. They are probably introduced into the intestines in
the ova, by uncooked fruits and vegetables, or by the dirty hands of
mothers and nurses of the infants. They vary greatly in number; migrate
to the rectum where they deposit their eggs, and are often discharged
in the feces, where they appear like pieces of ordinary white thread.
=Symptoms.=—Loss of appetite, anemia, restlessness and irritability
are marked. The itching becomes intolerable when the worms come down
in the rectum to the anus and within the folds about the anal orifice.
In the female the worms may wander into the vagina where they become
particularly distressing, and thus may produce excessive sexual
excitement and cause nymphomania and masturbation.
=Treatment.=—Cleanliness of the most scrupulous kind should be demanded
in every instance. Injections of cold salt water (repeated for at least
ten days) and other agents within the rectum will destroy the eggs as
soon as they are deposited, besides relieving the terrible itching. In
obstinate cases use quassia decoction.
Attention to the general health of the patient and great care of the
intestines and other digestive organs are absolutely necessary. The
spinal treatment to the intestines and other digestive organs, as well
as thorough direct treatment over the abdomen, is indicated.