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Human Hookworm Description

Hookworm infections occur most commonly outside the U.S., but the small parasites do live in North America. People with advanced hookworms infections can experience serious gastrointestinal problems and anemia. Hookworm infections respond well to medication therapy, however. Also, preventing infections is relatively simple.

  1. Physical Description

    • There are several species of of hookworm. Two infect humans: Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale. N. americanus is found most frequently in the U.S. Each species of the parasite has a body formed into a slight crescent and measures between 5 mm and 13 mm when fully grown.

    Who Gets Infected

    • Anyone can become infected with hookworms. A Medline Plus factsheet states that more than 1 billion people around the world have active hookworm infections. Thanks primarily to advanced hygiene, Americans suffer from hookworms less often than do people in developing nations.

    Infection Prevention

    • Hookworm eggs hatch in cool, wet soil, and the worms can live outside of an animal host for up to a month. The worms enter the human body primarily through the soles of the feet, so preventing infection is usually as simple as never walking barefoot on a lawn. The palms of the hands can also provide points of entry for the parasites, so wearing gloves while gardening can prevent hookworm infection. Ensuring the sanitary removal and disposal of feces goes a long way toward breaking the cycle of hookworm infection.

    Hookworms in the Body

    • A National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Web site describes how hookworms travel through the body: "They enter your bloodstream and are carried to your lungs. ... The larvae migrate from your lungs to your windpipe, (where they are) then swallowed and carried back down to your small intestine." Once in the intestines, hookworms attach themselves to the wall and begin feeding of the blood of their host. Adult worms can live for as long as two years in a human's intestine. The eggs laid by attached worms exit the body in stool.

    Symptoms

    • Minor hookworm infections or infections of people whose diets provide large amounts of iron generally produce no infections. Some people will experience itching at the site where hookworms enter the body but then feel nothing else until large numbers of the parasites attach themselves to the intestinal walls. Major hookworm infection can cause people to experience diarrhea, bloody stools, flatulence, nausea and abdominal pain. Hookworms feeding off their host can also lead people to develop anemia, which is marked by pale skin, weakness and fatigue.

    Treatments

    • Asymptomatic or minor hookworm infections generally do not require treatment. When people do have serious infections, any of three medications quickly and thoroughly rid the body of hookworms. According to the Merck Manual, a single 400-mg dose of albenzadole (Albenza from GlaxoSmithKline) suffices for most people. A second option is twice-daily 100-mg doses of mebendazole from Teva for three days. The third choice is pyrantel pamoate (e.g., Pin-X from Penn Laboratories) dosed at 11-mg per kilogram of patient bodyweight and taken once each day for three days. Patients exhibiting signs of anemia may also receive a prescription-strength iron supplement and a recommendation to add protein to their diet.

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