How is hookworm spread? Hookworm eggs are passed in the feces of an infected person. If an infected person defecates outside (near bushes, in a garden, or field) or if the feces from an infected person are used as fertilizer, eggs are deposited on soil. They can then mature and hatch, releasing larvae (immature worms).
How long do hookworm eggs live outside the body?
Under optimum conditions, infective larvae may remain viable in the soil for several months or longer, but under natural conditions in the tropics the majority rarely survive longer than five or six weeks.
How do you get rid of hookworm eggs?
Common drugs for intestinal hookworm include albendazole, mebendazole, and pyrantel pamoate. To treat infection by hookworm larvae, you can put the drug thiabendazole on your skin or take a medicine like albendazole or ivermectin by mouth. Supplements. Iron supplements can treat anemia from the infection.
What is the route of transmission for hookworms?
Hookworm infection is mainly acquired by walking barefoot on contaminated soil. One kind of hookworm can also be transmitted through the ingestion of larvae. Most people infected with hookworms have no symptoms. Some have gastrointestinal symptoms, especially persons who are infected for the first time.
How do hookworms reproduce?
Adult hookworms in the intestines lay eggs that are passed out of the body through feces. Once in the environment, the eggs hatch into larvae. Larvae enter a new host's body by penetrating the skin.
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