The parasites live in the intestines of dogs, cats, and wild animals; they should not be confused with other members of the hookworm family for which humans are definitive hosts, namely Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus.

Colloquially called creeping eruption[1][2] due to its presentation, the disease is also somewhat ambiguously known as "ground itch" or (in some parts of the southern United States) "sandworms", as the larvae like to live in sandy soil.

[4] Hookworm eggs are shed in infected dog (or other animal) feces and are transferred to the ground and to beach sand, where they develop over a period of 1–2 weeks into an infectious larval form (filariform larvae).

Although they are able to infect the deeper tissues of other animals (through to the lungs and then the intestinal tract), humans are incidental hosts and the larvae are only able to penetrate the epidermis of the skin.

Therefore, careful observation of the serpiginous lesions, which progressively increase in length, as well as a history of contact with sandy soil contaminated with dog or cat feces, mainly on beaches, is considered sufficient for a correct diagnosis.