A SHENZHEN mother found a 10-centimeter white worm in her 2-year-old son’s diaper a few days ago. A laboratory test at Shenzhen Children’s Hospital showed that the worm was a roundworm, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Friday.

According to doctors from the hospital’s laboratory medicine department, roundworms usually live in people’s intestines and many patients get infected after accidentally consuming food or water containing roundworm eggs. Symptoms of roundworm infection include malnutrition, hypersensitivity and bowel dysfunction.

People are advised to maintain good dietetic hygiene and pay attention to what they eat and drink to avoid getting parasitic roundworm diseases.

A 3-year-old child was brought to the hospital by his parents a few days ago as he couldn’t sleep due to itching in his anal area. Later he was diagnosed with pinworm infection, a human parasitic disease caused by the pinworm, as pinworms were found in his anal area.

The disease is spread between people by pinworm eggs. The eggs initially occur around the anus and can survive for up to three weeks in the environment. They may be swallowed following contamination of the hands, food or other articles. The disease is diagnosed by finding the worms, which are about 1-centimeter long, or the eggs under a microscope.

The key measures for preventing an infection include keeping fingernails short and washing hands and fingers carefully, especially after defecation and before meals. Bed covers, sleeping garments and hand towels should be changed on a regular basis, while simply washing clothes could disinfect them.

The hospital also had a 9-year-old child diagnosed with a hookworm infection recently. The hookworm larvae are able to penetrate the skin of the foot, and once inside the body, they migrate through the vascular system to the lungs, and from there up the trachea. They then pass down the esophagus and enter the digestive system, finishing their journey in the intestines, where the larvae mature into adult worms.

Dermatitis and respiratory symptoms can occur following hookworm infection. Other signs of infection include coughing, asthma, anemia, cardiac failure and digestive symptoms.

Parents are also advised to be wary of other parasites such as Giardia lamblia, Trichomonas and Blastocystis hominis by paying close attention to their children’s personal hygiene, dietetic hygiene and the cleanliness of their living quarters. Patients who are diagnosed with parasitic infections should get timely treatment after diagnosis, according to the report.

(Zhang Yang)