Pinworms: What Increases Your Risk

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What Increases Your Risk

Factors that increase the risk of being infected by pinworms include:

• Age. Pinworm infections are most common in preschool and school-age children.¹
• Household contact. If one child in a home gets a pinworm infection, it is likely that other children in the home will have the infection. Parents are also more likely to get the infection.
• Attending day care centers, schools, and summer camps. Pinworms are easily transmitted and spread among groups of children.
• Living in an institution. Up to 50% of people living in an institution are infected by pinworms.¹

Factors that increase the risk of spreading pinworm infections include:

• Living in an institution. Pinworms are easily transmitted and spread where people are living in close conditions (such as institutions).
• Poor hygiene practices, especially poor hand-washing. An infected person can spread pinworms to others if he or she does not wash his or her hands well.
• Sharing bedding. Also, fanning the bedding of an infected person can release pinworm eggs into the air.

Last updated:	September 11, 2008
Author:	Debby Golonka, MPH
Reviewed By:	Michael J. Sexton, MD - Pediatrics, Donald Sproule, MD, CM, CCFP, FCFP - Family Medicine
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Pat Truman, MATC