<unk>  is generally considered to be asymptomatic, but as Norman Stoll described in 1962, it is an extremely dangerous<unk>  because its damage is “silent and insidious.” An individual may experience general symptoms soon after<unk> . Ground-itch, which is an allergic reaction at the site of parasitic penetration and entry, is common in patients infected with N. americanus. Additionally, cough and pneumonitis may result as the larvae begin to break into the alveoli and travel up the trachea. Then once the larvae reach the small intestine of the host and begin to mature, the infected individual will suffer from diarrhea and other gastrointestinal discomfort. However, the “silent and insidious” symptoms referred to by Stoll are related to chronic, heavy-intensity<unk> s. Major morbidity associated with<unk>  is caused by intestinal blood loss, iron deficiency anemia, and protein malnutrition. They result mainly from adult<unk> s in the small intestine ingesting blood, rupturing erythrocytes, and degrading hemoglobin in the host. This long-term blood loss can manifest itself physically through facial and peripheral edema; eosinophilia and pica caused by iron deficiency anemia are also experienced by some<unk> -infected patients. Recently, more attention has been given to other important outcomes of<unk>  that play a large role in public health. It is now widely accepted that children who suffer from chronic<unk>  can suffer from growth retardation as well as intellectual and cognitive impairments. Additionally, recent research has focused on the potential of adverse maternal-fetal outcomes when the mother is infected with<unk>  during pregnancy. The disease was linked to nematode worms (Ankylostoma duodenalis) from one-third to half an inch long in the intestine chiefly through the labours of Theodor Bilharz and Griesinger in Egypt (1854). The symptoms can be linked to inflammation in the gut stimulated by feeding<unk> s, such as nausea, abdominal pain and intermittent diarrhea, and to progressive anemia in prolonged disease: capricious appetite, pica (or dirt-eating), obstinate constipation followed by diarrhea, palpitations, thready pulse, coldness of the skin, pallor of the mucous membranes, fatigue and weakness, shortness of breath and in cases running a fatal course, dysentery, hemorrhages and edema. The worms suck blood and damage the mucosa. However, the blood loss in the stools is not visibly apparent. Blood tests in early<unk>  often show a rise in numbers of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell that is preferentially stimulated by worm<unk> s in tissues (large numbers of eosinophils are also present in the local inflammatory response). Falling blood hemoglobin levels will be seen in cases of prolonged<unk>  with anemia. In contrast to most intestinal helminthiases, where the heaviest parasitic loads tend to occur in children,<unk>  prevalence and intensity can be higher among adult males. The explanation for this is that<unk>  tends to be occupational, so that coworkers and other close groups maintain a high prevalence of<unk>  among themselves by contaminating their work environment. However, in most endemic areas, adult women are the most severely affected by anemia, mainly because they have much higher physiological needs for iron (menstruation, repeated pregnancy).An interesting consequence of this in the case of Ancylostoma duodenale<unk>  is translactational transmission of<unk> : the skin-invasive larvae of this species do not all immediately pass through the lungs and on into the gut, but spread around the body via the circulation, to become dormant inside muscle fibers. In a pregnant woman, after childbirth some or all of these larvae are stimulated to re-enter the circulation (presumably by sudden hormonal changes), then to pass into the mammary glands, so that the newborn baby can receive a large dose of infective larvae through its mother's milk. This accounts for otherwise inexplicable cases of very heavy, even fatal,<unk> s in children a month or so of age, in places such as China, India and northern Australia. An identical phenomenon is much more commonly seen with Ancylostoma caninum<unk> s in dogs, where the newborn pups can even die of hemorrhaging from their intestines caused by massive numbers of feeding<unk> s. This also reflects the close evolutionary link between the human and canine parasites, which probably have a common ancestor dating back to when humans and dogs first started living closely together. Filariform larvae is the infective stage of the parasite:<unk>  occurs when larvae in soil penetrate the skin, or when they are ingested through contaminated food and water following skin penetration.
Hookworm infection
Pinworm infection
Soil-transmitted helminthiasis
Intestinal parasite infection
Strongyloidiasis
Tick infestation
Acariasis
Myiasis