Hookworm

Hookworms are intestinal, blood-feeding, parasitic roundworms that cause types of infection known as helminthiases.

Hookworm infection is found in many parts of the world,[1] and is common in areas with poor access to adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene.

In humans, infections are caused by two main species of roundworm, belonging to the genera Ancylostoma and Necator.

[2] It is the leading cause of anemia and undernutrition in developing countries, while being one of the most commonly occurring diseases among poor people.

The two most common types of hookworm that infect humans are Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus.

[citation needed] In Asia, Ancylostoma ceylanicum is endemic among dogs and cats and infects humans.

They are extremely motile and will move onto higher ground to improve their chances of finding a host.

However, larvae can remain dormant in tissue stores and be recruited over many years to replace the worms that die.

Large training efforts funded by the Rockefeller Foundation showed state health departments how to eradicate the disease in the American South during the 1910s.

[11][14][page needed] While thought to be eradicated around the 1960s, hookworm can still be found in certain areas in the United States.

Catherine Coleman Flowers is the figure most closely associated with these studies and efforts to raise awareness of the sanitation problems that face Lowndes.

The study led by The Baylor College of Medicine noted that roughly three-fourths of the study participants had reported raw sewage flowing back into their homes, increasing the likelihood of their home becoming contaminated.

The results from the screening of Hookworm found that over one-third, 19 out of 55 people testing positive, demonstrating a stronger correlation to poverty than to the tropics.

[17] An important organization involved is The Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise (ACRE), which works to address poverty and economic development, and has stated that there continues to be a lack of adequate sewage systems, and this increases exposure to open sewage.

[15] Surveys conducted before the testing identified subjects that had traveled abroad to exclude them from the study, making the infection site more likely to be Alabama.