Enterobiasis risk factors

Template:PinwormEditor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

Children are at increased risk of having pinworm infection. Because it spreads from host to host through contamination, pinworms are common among people living in close contact, and tends to occur in all people within a household. Finger sucking has been shown to increase both incidence and relapse rates, and nail biting has been similarly associated.

Risk Factors

Pinworm infection occurs most commonly among

• School-aged and preschool-aged children,
• Institutionalized persons, and
• Household members and caretakers of persons with pinworm infection.

Pinworm infection often occurs in more than one person in household and institutional settings. Child care centers often are the site of cases of pinworm infection.

Swimming Pools and Pinworm infection

Pinworm infections are rarely spread through the use of swimming pools. Pinworm infections occur when a person swallows pinworm eggs picked up from contaminated surfaces or fingers. Although chlorine levels found in pools are not high enough to kill pinworm eggs, the presence of a small number of pinworm eggs in thousands of gallons of water (the amount typically found in pools) makes the chance of infection unlikely.