Helminthiasis
Helminthiasis, also known as worm infection, is any macroparasitic disease of humans and other animals in which a part of the body is infected with parasitic worms, known as helminths. There are numerous species of these parasites, which are broadly classified into tapeworms, flukes, and roundworms. They often live in the gastrointestinal tract of their hosts, but they may also burrow into other organs, where they induce physiological damage.
| Helminthiasis | |
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| Other names | Worm infection, helminthosis, helminthiases, helminth infection |
| Ascaris worms (one type of helminth) in the small bowel of an infected person (X-ray image with barium as contrast medium) | |
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| Specialty | Infectious diseases |
Soil-transmitted helminthiasis and schistosomiasis are the most important helminthiases, and are among the neglected tropical diseases. These group of helminthiases have been targeted under the joint action of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies and non-governmental organizations through a project launched in 2012 called the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, which aimed to control or eradicate certain neglected tropical diseases by 2020.
Helminthiasis has been found to result in poor birth outcome, poor cognitive development, poor school and work performance, poor socioeconomic development, and poverty. Chronic illness, malnutrition, and anemia are further examples of secondary effects.
Soil-transmitted helminthiases are responsible for parasitic infections in as much as a quarter of the human population worldwide. One well-known example of soil-transmitted helminthiases is ascariasis.