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Helminth Infections
Ascariasis
Ascariasis is a disease caused by infection with the large human roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides. This is the most prevalent parasitic worms worldwide, infecting one in every four people (almost 1.5 billion people). Each year between 60,000 and 100,000 people, mostly children die as a result of infection with Ascaris lumbricoides. This nematode has a direct life cycle in which the definitive host becomes infected by ingesting the eggs in fecally contaminated food or water. Adult worms live in the small intestine where they feed on digested food material and epithelial cells.
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