What is the treatment for threadworms?
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The common treatment is to take a medicine to kill the worms in your gut AND hygiene measures to clear eggs which may be around your anus or in your home.
Medication
You can buy the following medicines from pharmacies. You can also get them on prescription. (The medicines below are not recommended if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Hygiene measures alone may be sufficient.)
- Mebendazole is the usual treatment for people aged over two years. All household members, including adults and those without symptoms, should take a dose at the same time. This is because it is common to have worms in the gut with little or no symptoms. Just one dose kills the worms. A second dose two weeks after the first is sometimes needed if the infection has not cleared (which may occur if you swallow some eggs after taking the medication).
- Piperazine is an alternative medicine, and can be used in children under two years (but over three months). You need to take two doses, 14 days apart.
- Hygiene measures Medicine will kill the worms in the gut, but not the eggs that have been laid around the anus. These can survive for up to two weeks outside the body on underwear, bedding, in the dust, etc (as described above).
So, hygiene measures aim to clear any eggs from the body and the home, and to prevent any eggs from being swallowed. This will then break the cycle of 're-infection'. Every member of the household should do the following for two weeks after the first dose of medicine.
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