THREAD WORM OR PIN WORM

Categories: Animal Parasites

(Oxyuris Vermicularis.)--This common worm
occupies the rectum and colon. They produce great irritation and itching,

particularly at night, symptoms which become intensely aggravated by the

nightly migration (traveling) of the parasite. They sometimes in their

travels enter the vagina. Occasionally abscesses are formed around the

bowel (rectum) containing numbers of worms. The patient becomes extremely

restless and irritable, or the sleep is very often disturbed, and there

may be loss of appetite and also anemia. These worms are most common in

children, but they can occur in all ages. The worms can easily be seen in

the feces. The infection takes place through the drinking of water and

possibly through salads, such as lettuce and cresses, and various other

means. A person who is the subject of worms passes ova (eggs) in large

numbers in the feces, and the possibility of reinfection must be guarded

against very scrupulously.



MOTHERS' REMEDIES. 1. Pin worms, Aloes treatment for. "Pin worms or seat

worms are usually found in children and sometime cause a great deal of

annoyance to the child. They are usually very restless at night and pull

at the rectum both day and night. This condition may be relieved by an

injection, of powdered aloes,--five grains; hot water one-half pint." This

is sufficient for two injections and should be used at about blood heat.







2. Pin worms, Pink Root for. "Take one ounce pink root, and one pint of

water. Make a decoction of this by boiling the above to half a pint. Give

a teaspoonful three times a day for two days, following this up by a good

dose of castor oil or cream of tartar to thoroughly cleanse the system."



3. Pin worms, Quassia chips for. "I knew of a child who had not slept

three hours a night for several months, and several doctors had been

called and none of them seemed to get down to the real trouble. Finally

the mother tried an injection made by steeping quassia chips for two or

three hours slowly, then straining it and injecting about one pint (luke

warm) once a day. This gave the child immediate relief and improvement

could be seen within a week."



4. Pin worms, Lime-water injection for. "A very simple remedy is an

injection of a teacupful of lime water once a day, preferably in the

morning, as the worms are usually lodged in the rectum and this injection

will bring them away, giving the child relief at once."



5. Worms-Stomach, Salt Remedy for. "Encourage the child to eat as much

salt as possible and give an injection of salt and water, about one

teaspoonful of salt to two quarts of water, once a day."



PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT. 1. Santonin in small doses and mild purgatives

like rhubarb. Santonin in doses of one-tenth of a grain can be given for

two days, three or four times a day, preceded by spiced syrup of rhubarb,

one dram dose, and also followed by the rhubarb. In children the cold

injections of strong salt and water is effective. They should be repeated

for ten days. The hips should be well elevated so that the injection can

be retained for some time.



2. Quassia chips 1 ounce

Common salt 1/2 ounce

Water 1 pint



Soak over night and inject slowly all the bowels will hold. Repeat once

each week till all are removed.



3. Dr. Tooker of Chicago, Illinois, recommends the following:--Give an

injection of an infusion of fresh garlic for two or three nights in

succession, using, to make the infusion, a small bunch of garlic in a pint

of water, steeped down to one-quarter pint.



4. Dr. Tooker gives another method which is often successful. Anoint the

anus for several nights in succession with sweet oil, using the little

finger to insert the oil as far into the rectum as the fingers will reach.





5. Another Remedy. Inject cod-liver oil (pure) into the bowel or make into

an emulsion with the yolk of an egg and then inject.



[48 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]



6. Spearmint Remedy. Make an infusion of the common spearmint and inject

some in the bowel every night for one week. Some can be taken internally

at the same time.



Oil of Wormseed 1/2 ounce

Oil of Turpentine 1-1/2 dram

Castor Oil 2 ounces

Fluid extract of Pink Root 3 drams

Hydrastin 10 grains

Syrup of Peppermint 4 drams



One teaspoonful three times a day one hour before meals to a child ten

years old. If it physics to much give less often. Good for both kinds of

worms.



8. Tincture of Cina; to accompany any injection. I give the Tincture of

Cina (Homeopathic preparation) in from one-quarter to two or three drop

doses, three or four times a day, always after I have given the other worm

remedies. It can be given for weeks without producing bad effects. The

dose can be made less for weakly children; or greater in grown people. It

is good to give in small doses in pin worms when injections are used. It

seems to prevent their formation. It is also a good remedy for the worms

puppies are troubled with. I have saved the lives of a good many little

fellows with this remedy.





TAPE WORM, PORK.-(Taenia Solium). It is six to twelve feet long, but it is

not a common form in this country. The head is small, round, not so large

as the head of a pin and provided with four sucking ducts and a double row

of hooklets. By these hooklets and disks, the parasite attaches itself to

the mucous membrane of the small intestine in man. Below the head is a

constricted neck, which is followed by a large number of segments,

increasing in size from the neck onward. Each segment contains the

generative organs of both sexes. The parasite (worm) becomes fully grown

in three to three and one-half months. Segments then continually break off

and are discharged at stool. Each ovum (egg) contains a single embryo,

armed with six hooklets and contained in a thick shell. When swallowed by

a pig or man these shells are digested and the embryos migrate (travel) to

various parts of the body, where they change to Cysticerci or "Measles."

Each contains a scolex or tape-worm. When meat, improperly cooked and

containing "measles," is eaten, the cyst is dissolved in the human stomach

and the free scolex or head attaches itself to the intestinal mucous

membrane and grows into a tapeworm.