[1] Symptoms increase with the number of worms present and may include shortness of breath and fever at the beginning of the disease.

[1] Children are most commonly affected, and in this age group the infection may also cause poor weight gain, malnutrition, and learning problems.

[2] The eggs hatch in the intestines, the larvae burrow through the gut wall, and migrate to the lungs via the blood.

[2] Treatments recommended by the World Health Organization are the medications albendazole, mebendazole, levamisole, or pyrantel pamoate.

[2] About 0.8 to 1.2 billion people globally have ascariasis, with the most heavily affected populations being in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

[17] More than 796 A. lumbricoides worms weighing up to 550 g (19 oz) were recovered at autopsy from a two-year-old South African girl.

[19][citation needed] Ascariasis may result in allergies to shrimp and dustmites due to the shared antigen, tropomyosin; this has not been confirmed in the laboratory.

[22] The malabsorption may be due to a loss of brush border enzymes, erosion and flattening of the villi, and inflammation of the lamina propria.

This is quite common in emerging industrial economies and poses serious risks for local crop sales and exports of contaminated vegetables.

A 1986 outbreak of ascariasis in Italy was traced to irresponsible wastewater recycling used to grow Balkan vegetable exports.

The final symptoms are gastrointestinal discomfort, colic and vomiting, fever, and observation of live worms in stools.

Due to the large quantity of eggs laid, diagnosis can generally be made using only one or two fecal smears.

The eggs have a characteristic shape: they are oval with a thick, mamillated shell (covered with rounded mounds or lumps), measuring 35–50 micrometer in diameter and 40–70 in length.

White blood cell counts may demonstrate peripheral eosinophilia; this is common in many parasitic infections and is not specific to ascariasis.

[citation needed] Prevention is by improved access to sanitation which includes the use of properly functioning and clean toilets by all community members as one important aspect.

Those recommended by the World Health Organization for ascariasis are: albendazole, mebendazole, levamisole and pyrantel pamoate.

[citation needed] Piperazine is a flaccid paralyzing agent that blocks the response of Ascaris muscle to acetylcholine, which immobilizes the worm.

[citation needed] In some cases with severe infestation, the worms may cause bowel obstruction, requiring emergency surgery.

[40][41] Ascariasis is more common in young animals than mature ones, with signs including unthriftiness, potbelly, rough hair coat, and slow growth.

[citation needed] Kings of England Richard III[43] and Henry VIII[44] both had ascariasis.