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Medical treatment
As mentioned above, treating Enterobius vermicularis infections with medication is effective when we use anthelmintics. The goal of medical therapy would be to eliminate pinworms from the organism and reduce the burden of the disease on people around the patient and reduce the rate of complications. For this reason, covering everyone in the same house simultaneously is a crucial step we should take if we really want to get rid of pinworms.
The most commonly used anthelmintic treatments include albendazole, mebendazole, and pyrantel pamoate. These drugs are effective against pinworms but may not help control the symptoms immediately. Instead, it takes some time before itching and irritation go away.
As a part of the treatment, your doctor may recommend the following drugs:
- Mebendazole: This is an effective drug against different types of worms. What it does is block pinworms from absorbing glucose from the gastrointestinal tract. The helminths no longer receive nutrients and die.
- Albendazole: This drug is also effective and commonly used as the first line of treatment in many worm infections. Despite having a similar name, it has a different action potential than mebendazole. It reduces the production of ATP, which is the energy molecule of the cell. With no energy, pinworms are then immobilized and end up dying.
- Pyrantel pamoate: This drug has an entirely different mode of action in worms. Instead of blocking nutrient uptake and conversion, it works in the neuromuscular function of the pinworm. It blocks the depolarization of the neuromuscular junction. In other words, the muscle receives a constant stimulus, and the worm suffers from spasms. This causes paralysis as the cholinesterases are inhibited, and the worm dies after a while.
