I live with amazing technology all around me, and I often take it for granted. But whenever I take mebendazol (against e.g. pinworm) I think about my ancestors, and how they just had to live with it!
Pinworms are particularly common in children, with prevalence rates in this age group having been reported as high as 61% in India, 50% in England, 39% in Thailand, 37% in Sweden, and 29% in Denmark. [1]
prevalence is the proportion of a particular population found to be affected by a medical condition (typically a disease or a risk factor such as smoking or seatbelt use) at a specific time.
And yes, kids. Pinworm is literally called 'children worm' here.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinworm_(parasite)#burkhart200...
Things like rules for handwashing and standards for things like residential plumbing improved hygiene and reduced ringworms. Many urban and rural households didn’t have things we take for granted like hot water!
> ringworms
Typo? Ringworm is fungal despite the name.
NICE estimate 20-30% of kids 4-11 have an infestation. I have three kids in this bracket and yeh this tracks
That said, I also had a kid in the 00s and my friends have kids now, and nobody has mentioned getting worms.
It’s not super common (if you live in Europe) but it happens.
Meanwhile my friends who grew up in a tropical country they had to take anti-worm meds regularly.
It depends a lot on your circumstances
With those rates, my guess is that you probably had it several times, but just thought your bum was itching for no reason (or you were one of the asymptomatic cases). I think the awareness of it has gone up, now it's common to let the kindergarten know if you suspect it in your child, and they send a message to the other parents.
If you don’t think it’s super commen in Europe it’s generally a lack of diagnoses. Literally 1/5th Of British kids have it at any given time (and I imagine that tracks across Europe and USA at least)
For example if you know anyone who raised early concerns about antivaxxers causing short supply of ivermectin formulations for human use during the pandemic. More or less anyone who knew what ivermectin was at that point in time was either a farmer, a vetinarian, a doctor… or a patient with a condition.
Many parasites are endemic to the southern USA. As a child I was checked for parasites every year. Most modern doctors I've met are negligent in this regard. Under questioning several have stated that it is unimportant. Some doctors assert incorrectly that blood tests would reveal any significant parasitic infestation. I always correct them but I also change doctors b/c medical school seems to "harden" the brain - nothing new can be learned once they have graduated.
Ever walk barefoot across the lawn?
Ever eat uncooked fish/flesh/sushi?
Ever own/pet a cat?
If so, you might want to get tested!8-))
Neglected Parasitic Infections: What Family Physicians Need to Know—A CDC Update:
But if you're slicing up something you just caught that could be an issue. It's a concern with hunting/game as well. Most people who get trichinosis in the US get it from eating bear apparently.
As far as i know, current medical advice is not to treat toxoplasmosis (except in exceptional situations like if you have AIDs) so im not sure what the benefit of getting tested would be.
Unless you mean other parasites.
In my case it was getting mud into my mud boot from interacting with an aggressive horse. It took me a while to figure out the thing on my foot was not fungal but a parasite. Ivermectin horse paste cleared it up but I also have FenBen just in case I missed one. Most of them exited on their own after applying acetic acid.