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Causes of Hookworms

Hookworms are one of a number of parasites that are able to use mammals -- most commonly dogs, cats or humans -- as their host. Hookworm infection can be an extremely serious condition in humans, particularly in children. A hookworm infection can be caused by a number of specific factors, but, fortunately, can be effectively treated shortly after diagnosis.

  1. Definition

    • A hookworm is a parasite--an organism that lives in or on another organism (known as the host), often causing physical harm to the host. Hookworms are small, thin worms that, in a mammalian host, attach themselves to the wall of the intestinal tract and survive by consuming blood. While many types of hookworms only infect and proliferate within a nonhuman host, there are several types that commonly infect humans: recent CDC studies indicate that over a billion people worldwide are infected by hookworms.

    Causes

    • Hookworm eggs are often defecated out of infected individuals and animals onto the ground, where they hatch into larvae that are capable of penetrating the skin. Because of this, the most common cause of hookworm infection is through contact with soil contaminated with hookworm eggs and larvae.This contact can include walking barefoot in contaminated dirt or inadvertently consuming infected dirt on soiled hands, such as by children putting dirt-covered hands in their mouths.

    Function

    • A female hookworm can lay thousands of eggs a day in the intestinal tract of a single host. These eggs leave this host in stool. Once the eggs hatch and reach the larval stage, they can penetrate the skin of a new, separate host and travel through the bloodstream to the lungs. Within the lungs, they enter the alveoli where this new host then coughs them up and swallows them, and delivers them directly through the digestive tract to the intestine where they attach and grow to maturity.

    Significance

    • Hookworm infection can be a serious problem for young children, pregnant women and people who are malnourished or are suffering from a compromised immune system. Because hookworms live off of the host's blood, an infection often causes severe blood loss, resulting in anemia and serious malnutrition. Individuals, especially children, with a hookworm infection can suffer from weakness and major developmental retardation.

    Symptoms

    • Hookworm symptoms can vary depending on the severity of the infection. While the individual will develop a rash at the site where the hookworm larvae penetrated the skin, people with only a small number of hookworms in their system may not experience any symptoms for some time. However, if the infection continues unabated, the individual will suffer from diarrhea, decreased appetite, severe weight loss and anemia.

    Treatment

    • There are two medications commonly prescribed for treating hookworm infection in humans; these are albendazole and mebendazole. Both are benzimidazoles, drugs that work by stopping the hookworm from functioning properly internally. If the infected individual is suffering from anemia, they may also need to take ferrous sulfate tablets for at least three months.

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