“Can horsehair worms be killed or exterminated by spraying them with a vinegar mixture?” asks Tom in his submission. “Thank you.” Now, he does not send any photos of any worms, so we assume he is asking as he is generally curious. To answer his question, yes, it is possible to kill horsehair worm eggs with a vinegar mixture, though we do not know how effective it is against the adult worms. With that said, we do not recommend killing horsehair worms, as they are harmless to humans and pets.

Unfortunately, horsehair worms are deeply misunderstood and have received a reputation online that borders on myth: people claiming that horsehair worms have infected their bodies and ruined their lives. Such stories should be taken with a grain of salt. Horsehair worms are parasites, but they do not purposefully infect humans. There have been cases of humans coughing up or excreting horsehair worms, but the worms have only gotten in their bodies because those people ingested insects which were infected with horsehair worms, thus releasing the worm inside the body of a human, where a horsehair worm does not want to be. It does not want to be there because they can not feed off a human. As such, they just want to get out so that they can go find a mate, as that is naturally the next step in their life cycle after they come out of the insect they were originally infecting.

Of course, if horsehair worms are infesting your home (which is unlikely, considering that this behavior is not typical of them), we understand that one would want to exterminate them. We do not know if this is what is happening with Tom, but if it is, then we recommend that he move any adult worms outside, and then spray a vinegar mixture inside his toilet and drains, to kill any horsehair worm eggs that might have been laid there. It should be noted though, that horsehair worms typically do not invade homes on purpose. When people find them, it is usually because an infected insect has made its way into the home, and the worm has burst forth from their bodies.

To conclude, horsehair worm eggs can be eliminated using a vinegar mixture, though we are not certain about the adult worms. But like we said, we do not recommend killing horsehair worms to begin with. We hope this answers Tom’s question, and we wish him the very best!