When did you last deworm your child?

Worm infections can directly affect your child’s school performance and success.A child may have several infections at the same time. The most common infections include hookworms and roundworms. Worm infections can be difficult to diagnose. Most of the symptoms also occur in other illnesses. You can only be certain that a child has worm infection if he or she passes a worm, or if you can see eggs in the child’s feaces under a microscope. Both roundworm and hookworm infection may cause:- Poor appetite which can cause a certain level of malnutrition.- Poor digestion and absorption of nutrients such as fat, which in turn may result in poor absorption of vitamins that require fat in order to be absorbed and properly used in the body. Not only that, the brain requires certain fats from the food for proper function.- Because worms, especially hookworms feed on the food and blood in the child’s intestine, the resulting is loss of essential nutrients from the intestine, like protein and iron. Nearly all the tissues of our bodies are made of protein. therefore, loss of protein can cause serious health problems. Additionally, loss of iron causes anaemia (weak blood). In general a child who has anaemia has reduced energy, decreased ability to work, and is likely to perform poorly at school work.The only way to prevent worm infections is through improvement of sanitation and hygiene. This is necessary for because worm infections occur when an infected person passes eggs of worms in the feaces. These eggs stay a long time in the soil. In case of hookworms, they hatch in the soil and may enter their victim through the skin. Hookworms then attach themselves to the wall of the intestine and feed on your child’s blood.Since development of proper sanitation may take along time to achieve, the only solution meanwhile is regular deworming of your child.It is advisable to deworm your child every three months. This could be done at the beginning of the term. The child will remain worm free for the rest of the term. There are several drugs that are effective against intestinal worms. The drug of choice according to a pharmacist I interviewed, is Albendazole. But it is not necessarily the best, because it is specific for threadworms and whipworms. (Both worms are not common in Uganda). It is also effective after surgery to remove cysts of the worm “E.granulosus” from the intestine. (E.granulosus is not a common infection in Uganda. Because of its specificity, Albendazole may not be effective against hookworm, roundworm infections and others. Hence it would be advisable to use the drug Mebendazole, because it is effective for treatment of roundworms, hookworms and others. It is known as a broad spectrum drug.Write to: Grace Canada, c/o Education Vision, P.O. Box 9815, Kampala.Ends