PINWORM INFECTION AND CHILDHOOD BEHAVIOR

PINWORM infection has long been regarded with suspicion by physicians and parents alike so far as its effect on the behavior of children is concerned. The variety of symptoms described in standard texts¹ and current literature² emphasizes the lack of specificity of findings. The majority of recent studies, however, intimate that oxyuriasis is generally an innocuous infection, but that when a high degree of parasitism exists, in some children certain nonspecific gastrointestinal, perianal or behavioral complaints become manifest.

The observation of a high incidence of pinworm infection in children who were resident patients of a children's psychiatric hospital prompted an evaluation in this type of child of the symptoms ascribed to infection with that parasite. It was believed that this study might help clarify the significance of the multiplicity of complaints ascribed to pinworm infection. Although the number of children would be small, this would be compensated for