February 5, 2009 | 24 comments

Worms "N" Us: A look at 8 parasitic worms that live in humans

Take a trip through Scientific American's Worm Gallery and meet the charming, slinky creatures that turn your innards into their home sweet home

By Coco Ballantyne

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CLICK TO ENLARGE + Photo by D. Scharf, Courtesy of Parasitic Diseases, 5th Ed., Apple Trees Productions, LLC

HOOKWORM HEAD SHOT

Unlike most parasitic worms, which invade the body through the stomach, hookworm larvae can wiggle in through sweat glands or hair follicles in the skin. This typically happens when people walk, sit or lie on dirt containing human feces contaminated by hookworm larvae. Through the skin and into the blood vessels, the larvae make their way to the lungs, causing coughing and shortness of breath; they then migrate to the throat, where they are swallowed and delivered to the small intestine. They mature into adults measuring about 0.4 inch (10 millimeters) long, causing symptoms such as abdominal pain and anemia—a result of the worm sucking blood out of the intestinal walls. Some 740 million people, mostly those living in the warm, moist climates of Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and China, suffer from hookworm infections, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

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