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Candida and parasitic infection: Helminths, trichomoniasis, lice, scabies, and malaria
Published in Hung N. Winn, Frank A. Chervenak, Roberto Romero, Clinical Maternal-Fetal Medicine Online, 2021
Hookworm infection is common throughout Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific. Adult worms are small (7–11mm in length), with females being larger than males. Hookworm eggs are thin shelled and colorless (32). Adult hookworms may live in the human intestine for 5 to 15 years, with the eggs being passed in feces. The eggs enter soil, hatch, and mature to third-stage (infective) larvae (Fig. 9). Infective larvae directly penetrate human skin and migrate, via the lungs, to the small intestine, where they mature to adulthood (41). Hookworm infection is diagnosed by finding eggs in feces (32).
Control of Human Intestinal Nematode Infections
Published in Max J. Miller, E. J. Love, Parasitic Diseases: Treatment and Control, 2020
This is a major cause of anemia in tropical countries. The infection is soil-transmitted by infective larvae of Ancylostoma duodenale (“Old World hookworm” or Necator americanus (“New World hookworm”) penetrating the human skin. The adult nematodes are firmly attached to the mucosal wall of the upper jejunum on which they “graze.” Proper disposal of infectious human feces, the wearing of shoes, and other hygienic measures designed to prevent infection have been shown to be capable of eradicating this infection wherever they have been systematically implemented, e.g., in European mines. The deplorable fact that a considerable part of the world population is still suffering from hookworm infection illustrates again how difficult it is to implement this prophylactic strategy on a large scale in tropical developing countries. As with ascariasis, one practical way to control ankylostomiasis and necatoriasis in these countries is chemotherapy. In view of the fact that most patients are likely to also carry several ascaris worms in their gut, this type of periodical mass treatment in endemic tropical areas should be done with a broad-spectrum drug. The beneficial effects of this type of chemotherapy on the growth, morbidity, and mortality of children in particular and on the socio-economic development of large tropical developing areas in general would be enormous.
Commonly encountered medical problems
Published in Partha Ghosh, Shahid Anis Khan, Transcultural Geriatrics, 2018
Partha Ghosh, Shahid Anis Khan
Iron deficiency anaemia is common but its prevalence in Indo-Asian elders is not known. Vegetarian diet or poor diet for economic reasons may contribute to this pathology. Hookworm infection is very common in the Indian subcontinent and should always be considered as a possibility in Indo-Asian elders, particularly when they have been visiting friends and family from their country of origin. These possibilities should be excluded by baseline tests before more invasive investigations are contemplated to exclude bowel malignancy. Mildly low haemoglobin with low mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is seen in patients with beta thalassaemia trait and can be confused with iron deficiency anaemia. These patients may have higher iron reserves and prescribing iron replacement will be futile. Beta thalassaemia is commonly seen in patients from the Indian subcontinent and the trait is not uncommon in the elderly of Indo-Asian origin.
High burden of soil-transmitted helminth infections, schistosomiasis, undernutrition, and poor sanitation in two Typhoon Haiyan-stricken provinces in Eastern Philippines
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2021
Vicente Belizario, John Paul Caesar Robles Delos Trinos, Olivia Sison, Esther Miranda, Victorio Molina, Agnes Cuayzon, Maria Epifania Isiderio, Rodel Delgado
Ascariasis and trichuriasis prevalence was not significantly different in PSAC (p-value = 0.19). Among SAC, however, trichuriasis prevalence was significantly higher than ascariasis prevalence (p-value = <0.001). This may be due to the lower efficacy against trichuriasis of albendazole, which is the drug used in school-based targeted PC[1]. The low hookworm infection prevalence may reflect the limitation of Kato–Katz technique, wherein hookworm ova disintegrate hours after smear preparation [26], as well as the difference in transmission. Hookworm infection is transmitted through larval skin penetration and may be more common in adults in certain occupations such as farming, compared with ascariasis and trichuriasis, which are transmitted through ingestion of ova and are more common in children [13,32].
Dynamics of the bacterial gut microbiota during controlled human infection with Necator americanus larvae
Published in Gut Microbes, 2020
Q. R. Ducarmon, M. A. Hoogerwerf, J. J. Janse, A. R. Geelen, J. P. R. Koopman, R. D. Zwittink, J. J. Goeman, E. J. Kuijper, M. Roestenberg
Helminths such as hookworms can have beneficial effects on auto-immune diseases1,2 such as celiac disease,3,4 but also cause eosinophilic gastroenteritis, anemia and protein loss and are therefore responsible for a high burden of disease in low- and middle-income countries.5 As a part of the human gut microbiome in developing countries with a high rate of hookworm infections, hookworms can exert evolutionary pressure on the bacterial gut ecosystem through intestinal motility, mucin glycosylation, mucus secretion, epithelial damage and worm products.6 For example, several helminths and their products have been shown to increase permeability of monolayers in cell culture.7,8 In addition, worm products can have direct antibacterial activity, thereby having the potential to directly alter the bacterial gut microbiota.9,10 However, the complex interplay between hookworms such as Necator americanus and the bacterial microbiota is largely unknown.
A holistic approach is needed to control the perpetual burden of soil-transmitted helminth infections among indigenous schoolchildren in Malaysia
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2020
Nabil A. Nasr, Hesham M. Al-Mekhlafi, Yvonne A. L. Lim, Fatin Nur Elyana, Hany Sady, Wahib M. Atroosh, Salwa Dawaki, Ahmed K. Al-Delaimy, Mona A. Al-Areeqi, Abkar A. Wehaish, Tengku Shahrul Anuar, Rohela Mahmud
On the other hand, many previous studies have documented the association of STH infections with using unimproved water sources for drinking or domestic water and with the lack of functional toilets in houses. [24,32,64] In the Orang Asli communities, children were commonly observed defecating in rivers, which are considered the main water source for these people, as well as around houses, in playgrounds and at roadsides [65]. Indiscriminate defecation increases the contamination of the Orang Asli environment with STH, thereby increasing the transmission and burden of STH infections. Thus, this might explain the finding of the present study that not wearing shoes outdoors was a significant risk factors of hookworm infection.