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Can Zentel Be Given For A Child?

Posted on Wed, 8 Jun 2016

Question: My son is 9 months 20days old and today he woke up in the middle of night crying. When I checked is bottom I saw 3 pin worms. Last week his stool had a few pin worms. Is it safe to give zentel to a baby below 1 years? If not what else can I do?

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (46 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Safe to be given

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on Health care magic.

Zentel (albendazole) is safe to be given to a child of less than a year. The dose is 5ml or 200mg once and to be repeated after a fortnight.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Naveen Kumar

Follow up: Dr. Diptanshu Das (28 minutes later)

We did a routine analysis on his stool and the results came clean, neither ova nor cyst.Will the worms eventually die out if I choose not to medicate my baby? Also can it cause failure to gain weight? My baby is 8 kg and he just gained half a kilo in past 3 months.

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (16 hours later)

Brief Answer:
I would suggest deworming the child.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for writing back. Sorry for not being able to respond faster.

If you have definitely seen worms in the stool it is advisable to give him medication rather than assuming that the worms would clear on their own. The worms can be a likely cause of the child not gaining weight.

The birth weight of a child is supposed to triple by 10 to 12 months of age. Unless that is the case, you need to increase the number of feeds you are giving to the child.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Deepak