# Enterobiasis (pinworm infection)

- Category: infectious
- Review status: reviewed (every claim checked against a document named on this page)
- Sources: Egyptian National Drug Formulary - Antimicrobial 2023 · CDC Yellow Book 2024
- Verified date: 2026-08

## Verified against

- Egyptian National Drug Formulary - Antimicrobial 2023

## Treatment metadata

- Mebendazole — 100 mg — oral.solid

## Complete treatment card

```text
ENTEROBIASIS (PINWORM INFECTION)
Sources: Egyptian National Drug Formulary - Antimicrobial 2023 · CDC Yellow Book 2024
Review status: REVIEWED against the source listed above  (2026-08)

IS IT THIS? - reference only, to read alongside your own examination
  SYMPTOMS - what the patient reports (6)
    - About a third of those infected have no symptoms at all
    - Itch around the anus is the usual complaint  [itching]
    - The itch breaks up sleep and can become real insomnia  [insomnia · itching]
    - Girls may present instead with a urinary or genital infection
    - Watery stool is reported by some
    - Belly pain can occur, and worms blocking the appendix can set off appendicitis  [abdominal
      pain]
  SIGNS - what you find (3)
    - Redness around the anus from the scratching  [itching · redness]
    - Scratched skin can pick up a surface bacterial infection, leaving it red and warm
    - Small thread-like worms are sometimes visible by eye around the anus
  TESTS (6)
    - The test is sticky tape or a pinworm paddle pressed to the skin around the anus, then read
      under the microscope
    - Look for eggs 50 by 30 microns with one flattened side, or the worms themselves
    - Female worms measure 8 to 13 mm, males 2 to 5 mm
    - Sample first thing in the morning, when the yield is best
    - Five negative morning samples in a row rule the diagnosis out
    - A stool sample does not make this diagnosis, since the worms are only now and then passed in
      stool; it is for excluding other causes
  IF NOT THIS - what else fits (5)
    - Itchy anus from another cause
    - Itchy vulva from another cause
    - Eczema of the skin
    - An abscess beside the rectum
    - Cellulitis of the skin
  Source  StatPearls "Enterobius Vermicularis" - disease-level clinical article
  Status  traced to the source above

1. MEBENDAZOLE                                            [1st line]
   Adult    100 mg single dose orally - repeat after 14 days
   Peds     3 years and over: 100 mg single dose, repeat in 2 weeks
            (Children > 2 years: 100 mg single dose, repeat in 2 weeks. Experience in children < 2
            years is limited.)
   Source   Egyptian National Drug Formulary - Antimicrobial 2023
   Why      Mebendazole is an anthelmintic that blocks glucose uptake in the pinworm by inhibiting
            microtubule formation, killing the parasite; treating the whole household at the same
            time is needed because reinfection is otherwise near-universal.
   Caution  TREAT ENTIRE HOUSEHOLD simultaneously to prevent reinfection.
            Wash bed linen and clothes at high temperature; enforce hand hygiene.
   Egypt    MEBAMOX 100MG 6 TAB.             EL NASR              3.25 EGP (0.54/unit)
            PENTALMIN 100MG 6 TAB.           PHAROPHARMA          3.50 EGP (0.58/unit)
            VERMIN 100MG 6 TAB.              MEMPHIS              8.00 EGP (1.33/unit)
            ANTIVER 100MG 20*6 TABS.         ALEXANDRIA         200.00 EGP (33.33/unit)
            ANTHELMIN 100MG/5ML SUSP. 30ML   PHARCO               3.50 EGP
                -> ? strength differs, ? different route - not oral solid
            PERMAX 100MG/5ML SUSP. 30ML      EIPICO              10.00 EGP
                -> ? strength differs, ? different route - not oral solid

Prices are indicative (dataset snapshot 2026-06); verify with the pharmacy.
```

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Dawaa Reference is a reference for prescribers, not a medical device, and does not replace clinical judgement.

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