Enterobius vermicularis

Name

Greek: enteron = intestine; bios = life. Latin: vermicularis = wormlike. Greek: oxys = quick; ura = tail.

Geographic Distributions/Epidemiology

Worldwide, there are at least 1–5 billion humans infected – this so-called pinworm is besides Ascaris lumbricoides one of the most common worms infecting humans.

Morphology/Life Cycle

This worm belongs to the worm group of nematodes and got its trivial name pinworm, since the whitish, about 8–13 mm long, females possess a long, pin-like terminal end (Figs. 1, 2, and 3). The males are smaller, reach mostly a length of only 3–5 mm. Their hind end is curved and contains a single copulatory spicule (Fig. 1). They die just after copulation and thus can be seen in/on human stools. The adult worms live in the colon and the females leave at night the colon, pass the anus, and depone their typical eggs (Fig. 4) at the skin of the host’s perianal skin and thus are practically never found in the stool. Already 5 h later, the larvae are formed inside...