![]() Other symptoms include mild diarrhea and stomach cramps. However, especially when the infection is long term, it can cause iron deficiency and anemia (low red blood cells) because of bleeding from the bowel wall where the worm is attached. ![]() ![]() Most children with hookworm infections have no signs or symptoms. Adult hookworms live in the bowel and lay eggs that pass out of the child with the stool. The worm holds onto the bowel wall with hooks, which cause minor bleeding. The larvae pass through the stomach and mature into adult worms in the bowel. The hookworms then crawl up the breathing tubes to the throat, where they are swallowed. The blood carries the larvae to the lungs, where they enter into the air sacs. In soil, hookworm eggs hatch and form larvae, which then burrow through the skin of a person’s foot and crawl into the blood. Children are at high risk because they often play barefoot in areas with contaminated soil. These infections develop after a person has contact with soil contaminated with human feces. Hookworm diseases are most common in tropical and subtropical climates. They get their name from the teeth (“hooks”) or cutting plates in their mouths by which they attach themselves to the intestinal wall. The major species of hookworms associated with infections in humans are Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus. ![]() Hookworms are small (less than 0.5 inches long) parasitic worms that can cause infections in the small intestines. ![]()
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