Contagious: Pinworm

About contagion: Contagion and contagiousness refers to how easily the spread of Pinworm is possible from one person to another. Other words for contagion include "infection", "infectiousness", "transmission" or "transmissability". Contagiousness has nothing to do with genetics or inheriting diseases from parents. For an overview of contagion, see Introduction to Contagion.

Contagion summary: Pinworm eggs are spread typically from the anus to fingers to another person's mouth.

Contagiousness properties of Pinworm:
  Contagious overall?: Yes
  Contagious from feces?: Yes
  Contagious from by fecal-oral route?: Yes

Contagion summary: Pinworm eggs are infective within a few hours after being deposited on the skin. They can survive up to 2 weeks on clothing, bedding, or other objects. You or your children can become infected after accidentally ingesting (swallowing) infective pinworm eggs from contaminated surfaces or fingers. ¹

Footnotes:
1. excerpt from Pinworm Infection: DPD

Last revision: April 9, 2003

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