[coolwhip]

We went to the Dr for kindergarten shots and she ran several tests just to make sure everything was ok. It turns out he has parisites and lots of them. I found out about 11:00 am. that he has Giardia and then while I was at the pharmacy getting his prescription. The Dr. called on my cell to say that he also has a type of hook worm which is either called whip or witt worm.

She told me twice that it was witt but when I called the County Health nurse she was unable to find a witt worm in the CDC litterature only the whip worm. Do any of you have any experience with these.

We are on two diffrent Rx for this, one for three days and one for 10 days. I was told that I would not need to keep him out of school but the thoughts of giving this to someone else is horrible. All the rest of our family is fine.

The are still running one other test for some other form of pariste but the results are not back yet. The one they are still running causes growth problems. He is very very small. He turns seven next week and he is only 38 inches tall and only weighs 41 pounds. Help this is really icky. Thanks for listening, sorry this is so long. Vicki

[mildredjohn]

are you sure about the name? i googled it and nothing comes out and that's very weird from google.

no answers, just good wishes for a quick recovery.

[kzwief]

Whip worm sounds right to me. Good luck!

[bogeydog]

Whipworms. It is a common parasite to animals especially dogs. It can be caught from eating contaminated feces or soil. Kids that play in contaminated soil and sand get are likely to catch them by simply transferring the eggs from the hands to their mouths. I would suspect that he has had them for sometime as the loss or lack of weight is a symptom. If let untreated, they can cause more issues.

[foxey13]

Don't worry about him giving it to anyone else. All parasites that he has come from direct fecal contact. Just make sure he's washing his hands. Going to school would be just fine.

Hang in there, if he's had giardia this long and you haven't seen horrible side effects, he'll come thorough that quickly.

s.

[hbrown22]

I'm sorry you have to go through this. Not fun! Does the doc know how he got the parasites? Is it unusual that he has so many or is that common?

[annaguat]

With our fist adoption our DS and DD came home at 4 and 5 yrs old. They had all these parasites too. Is his belly kind of rounded especially in comparison to the rest of him? He'll feel better better soon and will probably take off in growth. If there are that many parasites they will take his nutrition. Anna

[nannyisme2004]

I know how you feel - it sounds so icky. When my daughter came home she came home with lots of stuff. Giardia and whip worm were two of them. Thank goodness you found out now. They can be very hard to detect. My daughter came home at 11 months and she has always been in the 1 to 3% percentile for weight and height and didn't gain much weight the first year and a half after she came home. At 4.5 she is now about your son's height and weight. 38 inches tall and 38 pounds. Her stomach was always big and on top of the parasites she had a milk allergy. Before we got rid of the bugs she hardly ate anything and the doc thought that was because her stomach always felt yucky and bloated so she did wanted to add to that full feeling. We did the meds (just one and as I recall it was for three days?)and also used oil of oregano (it is super spicy and it was very difficult on her). I think you will be amazed at what happens to your son's growth once the bugs are gone. In my opinion you shouldn't worry about sending him to school. He probably isn't the only one in his class that has worms. From my understanding it is pretty common in children.

[MamaS]

My daughter came home at age three and she was the size of a 2 year old. She also had giardia, whip worms, and headlice. The only thing contagious is the headlice.
Once she was treated, she grew like a sunflower -- straight up! By the time she entered kindergarten, she was average size for her age.
Don't buy your son a lot of clothes right now. Once the parasites are gone he will probably grow in such a spurt that he will grow out of them before the "new" wears off!

[connorsmommy1999]

I came him from my visit trip last month with giardia. NOT FUN! he is going to feel SOOO much better really soon!

I agree with the above post: dont buy him a lot of clothes! I'm losing weight like crazy -I'm allergic to the antibiotic that can help giardia so we're having to treat it with 'natural' stuff which takes 6-8 weeks.

I wouldnt worry about him giving it to someone else. Be sure to stress to him the importance of hand washing after going to the bathroom.

I'm sooo curious though: when did you bring him home? and how is it going so far???
our DD is almost 6 so we're bringing home an older child too

[lmvsmom]

Just curious, is this your child you just brought home from Guatemala? Did he have any symptoms of the giardia or whip worms? How do they test for this, through a stool sample?

[sak9645]

Welcome to the world of international adoption! AND into the world of pet ownership!

Intestinal parasites are very common in internationally adopted children. They are also common in household pets, for different reasons.

Most of the parasites that adopted children bring to their new homes are transmitted by the "fecal-oral" route. Basically, gross as it may sound, tiny amounts of infected human waste get introduced into the body via the mouth.

One of the key ways that internationally adopted children -- and the parents who adopt them -- get human waste into their system is by drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated food. In most of the countries from which Americans adopt, the water system is antiquated and contaminated with sewage. Unboiled tap water, or ice made from unboiled tap water, should NEVER be consumed in those countries.

It is also important to avoid eating inadequately cooked foods, cooked foods that have been left out on tables at room temperature for long periods, and foods served by street vendors and in small local restaurants, where food safety regulation tends to be minimal. In any of these situations, it is easy to introduce parasites into the digestive system.

Children in orphanages, hogars, or foster homes may also acquire parasites by mouthing toys handled by an infected child who has recently touched his own bottom. Caregivers in such settings may also infect their children by failing to wash their hands thoroughly after changing diapers and before preparing food.

Household pets also tend to get parasites by the fecal-oral route. As an example, at a dog park, dogs may step in dirt contaminated with infected feces, then lick their paws. They may also drink from a water bowl into which infected dogs have put their paws. While many of the parasites that affect dogs cannot be transmitted to humans, a few can infect people as well as dogs.

The most common parasites in internationally adopted children are Giardia and Ascaris. You are actually lucky that Giardia showed up on your child's parasite tests on the first go-round. Often, an internationally adopted child has Giardia, but it doesn't show up on the first few tests that are done, if those tests are the standard "O & P" (ova and parasites). There is an antigen test that can be done, instead, if the doctor suspects Giardia but it doesn't show up on the O & P, but not all doctors order it.

I am still convinced that one of the causes of my daughter's failure to grow well when she first came home was Giardia. She was turned off easily by certain foods, she complained of stomachaches, she had messy orange poop, she vomited frequently, and she just didn't gain weight. She never tested positive for Giardia, but the tests that were done were all the standard O & P.

Giardia isn't life threatening, and some doctors don't treat it in adults unless there are symptoms like long-lasting diarrhea. But it is important to treat Giardia in children, especially already malnourished children, since it can rob the body of important nutrients and stunt growth.

The treatment for Giardia in kids is usually a rather nasty-tasting liquid medicine called metronidazole or Flagyl. You may want to check to see if your pharmacist can add a flavoring, to make it more palatable. There may be some other medicines that your doctor can prescribe, if your child totally refuses Flagyl.

Giardia is VERY contagious, so it is important to practice extremely good hygiene when a child has it. Always wash hands very well after changing a diaper and before serving food, for example. Disinfect surfaces like bathroom and kitchen counters and sinks frequently. Wash the child's clothes and bed linens separately from those of the rest of the family, and in hot water. And so on. Ask your doctor how long your child will need to stay out of school or day care.

Animals also get Giardia. Dogs most commonly get it from drinking out of other dogs' bowls. The usual symptom in dogs is severe diarrhea. Flagyl is the drug of choice for dogs, as well. My Airedale terrier has had several courses of Flagyl over the five years of her life. She has a low resistance to gastrointestinal problems, and has caught just about every parasite known to man.

Ascaris is a roundworm, and the parents of an internationally adopted child often discover that their child has it because a long, wiggly critter appears in their child's diaper. While it is much more gross than Giardia, which cannot be seen with the unaided eye, it is actually easier to diagnose and treat.

If the parent hasn't actually seen and collected a roundworm, a stool test for ova and parasites will usually show up roundworm eggs, if present, the first time. A doctor will prescribe an anti-worm medicine that will kill the offending parasites rather quickly. While parents should always practice extra good hygiene in the presence of intestinal parasites, Giardia is easier to transmit from person to person than Ascaris.

Dogs can get Ascaris, too. One day, my daughter, Rebecca, came in from the yard, after taking our Airedale out, and said, "There's moving spaghetti in Kelly's poop." The moving spaghetti was, of course, Ascaris. Ascaris is pretty easy to cure. The doctor will prescribe a strong worm medicine. One dose may well be enough.

What your doctor said that your child has is another worm. As you suspected, it is called a whipworm. Both dogs and people can get whipworms, and they can be nasty. If you can't find anything on line with regard to whipworms in people, look at the veterinary literature. Whipworms are very common in dogs, and can cause things like bloody diarrhea and bad tummyaches.

Whipworms are not as easy to detect as roundworms, in part because they are smaller, but mainly because they or their eggs don't show up every time you test. Once a whipworm is in a person's or dog's intestines, it will start shedding eggs at very irregular intervals. As a result, if you test for whipworms one day, there may be no eggs in it, and you may assume that the parasite is not present in the dog or person. In fact, it may be present, and may be irritating the intestines to the point where bleeding occurs.

My dog, Kelly, had about a two year running battle with whipworms. She would get frequent -- every month or two -- bouts of such severe diarrhea that she became dehydrated and needed the administration of fluids by the emergency vet clinic. After several bouts of diarrhea, she would also pass blood, since her intestines were so irritated.

Kelly's whipworms were misdiagnosed as Giardia most of the time. Unfortunately, Flagyl doesn't kill whipworms. It wasn't until she was properly diagnosed that she was started on a medication that was effective against whipworms. Since taking some courses of that medication, my poor doggy has not had any further trouble with parasites.

Thus, it's a good thing that your doctor was able to identify whipworms the first time that your child was tested. They don't always show up. And it's a good thing that your child wasn't really sick with the whipworms. They can really, really irritate the intestines. It is also a good thing that worm medicine exists to kill the whipworms. As long as there is no source of reinfection, you should be free of them once you treat your child.

I know that all kinds of parasites are gross, and that the testing for parasites, which involves collecting stool samples, is also gross. Believe me, I'm the parasite testing queen, having had to make repeated collections of poop from BOTH my daughter and my Airedale, and I don't really like that distinction.

But it's important for you to remember that intestinal parasites are among the least serious problems that your internationally adopted children can have. All internationally adopted kids should be tested for parasites when they first come home, and again if symptoms such as chronic loose stools occur. As I said earlier, it is important to treat parasites aggressively in kids, because they steal a body's nutrients. But once they are treated, they should cause no more problems, unless there is a recurring source of infection. And it's much easier to prevent reinfection in a child than in a household pet.

Sharon

[KJones5]

Well, that stinks! The good news is you FINALLY got him home and are able to make sure he gets treated and good medical care!

Hang in there! This is nothing compared to what you've been through!

[dspakowsky]

How old is your son? How long has he been home? I hope he feels better soon!

[cbmstephanie]

Oh my!! Well at least you know he has them now and can get rid of them...poor little guy. I hope this issue will be resolved and your guy is parasite free quickly!!