Should people that handle cats get worm treatment?

[Dawn F]

its true then!  I thought they were fobbing me off!

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

When I had mine, the nurse said I wouldn't need another.  It was the second one I'd had in my lifetime though, the one before that was done in school, I'm a total wuss when it comes to needles and would much prefer a cat bite 

[Dawn F]

I asked the doctor about getting a tetanus after being bitten on the nose (long story!!) by a birman at the blue cross he say they don't give them every 10 years anymore and once you've had two in your life you never need another

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

I was thinking more paws down the trousers 

     I've had a tetanus jab but that was a few years ago and dealing with ferals, it's something my doc insisted on, as for worming   

[purrlover]

I am going to put my nurse head on now. It sounds like what most of you are talking about (I might be wrong) having as children are thread worms not round worms. Most common worm in a child and can be treated via a tablet now from the chemist and then repeated 7 - 14 days later.

Whereas roundworms or Ascarids in people can cause   
    *  Diarrhea
    * Nausea/Vomiting
    * Skin Irritation and Rashes
    * Neurological Disease
    * Blindness
    * Liver and Lung Damage
    * Death


This is not meant to scare anyone most infections come from exposure to contaminated environments, not from everyday activities with pets.

[Desley (booktigger)]

i think all rescue people should have a tetanus, just in case, cat bites can be very serious. I am "lucky" that I had a nasty infected bite just before I started fostering, so was covered. Not been wormed since my sis got them at school, and we all had to have a tablet.

[Den]

Animals dont give you tetanus do they, more likely a nail when gardening for example?

I think they can. I've had to sign forms saying I'm up to date on my tetanus jabs in order to work with animals.

[Millys Mum]

My friends uncle got an exotic worm from a trip to Chile and got a tube of what we treated the horses with 

Animals dont give you tetanus do they, more likely a nail when gardening for example?

[fluffybunny]

I had them as a child too, I suspect that a healthy adult immune system and stomach acid would deal with any attempted wormies fairly swiftly, it's probably only really children, sick adults or pregnant adults who would have a problem.  I remember the medicine to this day, it was supposed to be raspberry flavoured but it was    And yes - incredibly itchy, you'd certainly know if you had them 

[blackcat]

anyone who handles animals regularly should have up to date tetanus jabs and regularly worm themselves. Having said that I never do either 

I am fairly sure I don't have worms, or if I do they aren't eating enough!

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

My Son had thread worms as a child.

You can buy a tablet over the counter at a chemist

[Yvonne]

A friend of mine had worms whilst she was pregnant and therefore was not allowed to take anything even though the rest of the family could be treated.  I mentioned her situation to my Vet as she was very unhappy about it understandably and he told me that garlic will kill worms.  Either garlic capsules or just ordinary garlic will do the trick and the Vet said that she would need to do something as it would not be good for the baby.  So maybe that is the way forward to get rid of your worms - have a good dose of garlic.  Might not do much for your love life though.

[Den]

I've wormed myself before  Was dealing with so many animals that had worms that I became paranoid even though I took care. You just get a powdery substance which you mix into a glass of milk, drink it and two weeks later drink another one.

Luckily for me I've never had any.

[Mark]

I think you used to be able to buy tapeworm through ads in the "News of the world" etc

http://politedissent.com/archives/1570

http://politedissent.com/archives/1570 

I vaguely remember a joke from school about a fisherman proposing to his girlfriend when he found out she had worms 

[Angiew]

I had a dose of worms as a young lass caught off a boyfriends carpet (enough said ) chemist sorted it out

Anyway, madly itchy.

as for tapeworm - I'm still trying , thinkof all that choccy you could eat!

[Garfield&Gypsy]

yes, I have been treated before had them once as a child and once as an adult
not a nice thing to have  you will know about it if you do get them. if you'd like further info pm me i don't really want to post that kind of thing on here.

sometime no matter how careful you are (constant hand washing) it does tend to be minor contact (ie scooping litter) that can transfer the eggs.
Bare in mind also when a cat grooms it groom everywhere there's nothing to prevent the eggs being spread on their coat and aborbs by us when we stroke them but i reckon you would need to  be in frequent contact with the cat.

you can get the treatment from a pharmacy - if treatment is required everyone in the household needs treating and it's second treatment is done again in two weeks.

[Tiggy's Mum]

I was thinking more paws down the trousers 

[Mark]

Would we be dragging our backside across the carpet? 

I was just thinking, as careful as we are, I suppose it is possible to touch somewhere a cat has sat and then put your hand near your mouth ? - I'm just curious and trying not to get overly paranoid about it 

[Tiggy's Mum]

Wouldn't you know if you had worms? I wouldn't have thought regular worming was the way to go for humans but I guess if you realised you had worms you'd have to take something - do they do worming tablets for people? 

[Mark]

I know it sounds disgusting but I was reading up a bit on worms and it says roundworms can be passed onto humans. I just wondered if anyone has heard of people getting treated?