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Preparing for your appointment
By Mayo Clinic staff
What you can do
You may want to prepare a list of answers to the following questions:
- When did the itching start?
- Does it occur mostly at night?
- Is there anything that makes the symptoms better or worse?
- Are other family members having similar symptoms?
- Do you know if you or your child has had contact with someone who has pinworms?
- Have you found any dead worms in bedclothes, underwear or in the toilet?
You may also want use clear cellophane tape to take samples from the anal area as soon as the infected person wakes up — before any trips to the bathroom. Your doctor can look at the tape under a microscope to see if there are any pinworm eggs.
What to expect from your doctor
During the exam, your doctor may also perform the cellophane tape test to check for pinworm eggs under a microscope.
- Parasites and Health: Enterobiasis. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/DPDx/html/Enterobiasis.htm. Accessed Dec. 4, 2009.
- Dent AE, et al. Enterobiasis. In: Kliegman RM, et al. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/174305878-6/925552497/1608/740.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2450-7..50293-0_6143. Accessed Dec. 4, 2009.
- Craig SA, et al. Enterobiasis. In: Marx JA, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05472-0..00092-X--s0845&uniq=174305878&isbn=978-0-323-05472-0&sid=925552497#lpState=opened&lpTab=contentsTab&content=4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05472-0..00092-X--s0845%3Bfrom%3Dtoc%3Btype%3DbookPage%3Bisbn%3D978-0-323-05472-0. Accessed Dec. 4, 2009.
- Pinworm infection. American Academy of Family Physicians. http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/children/parents/common/stomach/139.html. Accessed Dec. 4, 2009.
- Fact sheet: Pinworm infection. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/pinworm/factsht_pinworm.htm. Accessed Dec. 7, 2009.
- Leder K, et al. Enterobiasis and trichuriasis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 7, 2009.
- Ferri FF. Pinworms. In: Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2010. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/174689871-3/926963641/2088/500.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05609-0..00025-3--sc0155_10293. Accessed Dec. 8, 2009.
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