How Often Should You Deworm? Children & Adults Deworming Schedule

By Raj | Nov 26, 2007

We have seen briefly about the human parasites viz., hookworm, pinworm, roundworm, tapeworm and whipworm and their life cycle, their entry points, preventing them from getting contracted etc. Still, the world is full of parasites that there are chances of acquiring them however clean you are. For instance, a simple lick from your pet, a barefoot walk on your lawn, a swim in a reservoir or a pool with untreated water or negligence on your part to wash hands thoroughly before eating/preparing food after gardening or unwashed salad or untreated drinking water/milk/fluids or under cooked meat or school going children in your family can get you the eggs/larvae of these parasites. UNICEF report of “The state of the world’s children 1998” says that about 1.5 billion people have roundworms, making it the third most common human infection in the world, whipworm infects 1 billion people, including nearly one third of all children in Africa and more than 1.3 billion people carry hookworm in their gut. Hence the picture is very clear; the chances of these parasites creeping inside ourselves are very high.

Worm infestations often cause serious health problems and impact a child’s ability to attend and perform well in school and another UNICEF report says researches have shown that regular deworming can substantially increase school attendance and significantly improve a child’s ability to learn in school. Eventually the growth rate and weight gain of children who are regularly de-wormed is pretty higher than who those who aren’t. Hence regular deworming is the best solution for many of the childhood illnesses.

Human deworming frequency, deworm interval, schedule of removing parasitic worms from inside human body. Other than washing hands thoroughly, how often children and adults be dewormed?

Now the pertinent question arises; how often should I deworm myself and my family? Especially you should have a fair knowledge on deworming frequencies when there are school going kids or thumb sucking toddlers at home. A quick or thorough search on the Internet may not bring you the answer to your question. There are thousands of sites which may guide you through deworming schedules of horses and pets, but you won’t be able to find a definite answer for the deworming interval or schedule to be adopted for human being and that is the cause of writing these series about parasites beginning from hookworm.

Now, the answer to the question is that in most cases, deworming once every six months is sufficient. But, if you suspect/notice that your child is getting worms more frequently, then deworming your child/whole family more frequently as deemed appropriate by your primary physician may be necessary. Except tapeworms (as in the case of pinworm or whipworm infection), a second dewormer dose may be necessary after two weeks or 73-75 days after the first dose to break the life cycle/to kill the migrating larval forms of these parasites. In any case, deworming the whole family twice a year is necessary. Mebendazole/albendazole in suspension or chewable tablet form is the conventional drug of choice and the side effects too are few and those side effects that there are, are usually caused by dead worms being expelled from the body, rather than by the drug itself.

For more accurate information, consult with your primary physician to know the prevalence of the parasites in your area, the deworming interval that should be adopted, the deworming medicine that should be taken and its dosage needed to keep the parasites at bay. Inform the physician about the allergies and existing diseases/pregnancy that you have, before your physician charts down the prescription.

Tags: deworming frequency, deworming interval, deworming schedules

8 Responses to “How Often Should You Deworm? Children & Adults Deworming Schedule”

Dee on May 21st, 2008, at 10:51 am said:

What type of broad spectrum dewormer do you recommend for human use? Our pharmacist and physician said “it’s not a problem in this day and age” and if “I’m not seeing symptoms, don’t deworm.” They basically laughed at me. I’m a vet tech and I know the prevalence of worm infestations in animals. I also know that often it goes undetected without studying their feces. How often do humans have their feces tested? I believe it’s a huge problem world wide; however, modern medicine doesn’t recognize it because it’s going undected. When my parents were young, they were routinely dewormed by their doctor. What has changed in the past 50 years? Not much. . .except for the fact that routine deworming is no longer practiced in the United States. Please tell me what products you would recommend for deworming my entire family on a broad spectrum basis. We have pets who like to lick us and we know this is a catalyst in the spread of parasites among other factors. There are 2 adults in my family, a 5 year old and a 7 month old (having a hard time finding anything at all for the 7 month old). Please advise at your earliest convenience and provide places these products can be purchased. Many thanks.

Raj on May 22nd, 2008, at 2:42 pm said:

Dee,

Even I was dewormed regularly during my childhood days but that practice is getting dropped nowadays.

Any benzimidazole derivative will do. (albendazole, mebendazole or febendazole). Check for the appropriate dosages according to body weight.

Donna on April 20th, 2009, at 5:58 pm said:

Read this article about why you shouldn’t de-worm….

Raj on April 21st, 2009, at 1:30 am said:

Thank you. That is a nice piece of information. Excessive hygiene makes immune system lazy, underequipped and inexperienced to fight diseases. And after reading that article, one will be in a dilemma whether to deworm or not to deworm! Read the last para what I said, do it all in consultation with your family physician because the prevalence of parasitic worms vary from place to place and the intensity of their action/impact on human bodies too vary from person to person that your physician will be able to decide better. Furthermore, World Health Organization (WHO) still recommends school deworming twice a year in low-income countries of Africa, South America and Asia.

Kathleen on April 23rd, 2009, at 7:47 am said:

With regards to deworming, my 16month old daughter’s pediatrician doesn’t want my kid to be dewormed just yet because “she’s too young”. However, I’m a bit worried because I noticed that my child would seemingly scratch her bottom by rocking back and forth on her bath tub, and her stomach has grown quite big enough to be noticed. She also has scratch marks on her bottom. She’s not really a thumb sucker but she would frequently put her hand in her mouth. And now that she’s confidently walking on her own, she has easy access to dirty things. We have a dog but she’s doesn’t live inside the house with us.

My question is, is my child manifesting symptoms of worm infestation? If so, I will insist a prescription for my daughter. However, is it advisable to deworm a 10-kilogram baby?

Raj on April 23rd, 2009, at 8:02 am said:

You can take all the medical information that you find on the web just for informational purposes only. Your physician will be the best person to come to a conclusion as he/she has access for physically examining a patient.

The symptoms that you reproduce here can be of parasites as there is a pet/child puts hand in mouth/has access to dirt or fungal infection because of wet diapers. So the best person would be your doctor itself to suggest you any other alternative for a complete cure.

Michael on August 8th, 2010, at 1:40 pm said:

Raj I think that you are giving too much to doctors. Medical practitioners should be placed correctly; they are only there to advise the public on the available treatments for diseases and the safety of those treatments. The final choice of any treatment should be the prerogative of the patient. For God’s sake doctors are not gods and do not know everything. Their knowledge is limited as well and people should not rely on them so defenselessly.