Ancylostoma

Ancylostoma is a genus of parasitic nematodes whose adults attach to the small intestine of mammals. Several species infect humans and cause hookworm disease.

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Ancylostoma duodenale: A human-infecting hookworm species that lives in the small intestine and feeds on blood. This species exemplifies the genus’s human intestinal parasites and can infect through skin or ingestion.
Nematode: A roundworm belonging to the phylum Nematoda, a group of unsegmented, cylindrical animals. Ancylostoma species are nematodes with the body plan characteristic of the phylum.
Stool test: A laboratory examination of feces for parasites, their eggs, or other signs of disease. Microscopy of stool can detect eggs from intestinal Ancylostoma infections.
Necator americanus: A human hookworm species that attaches to the small intestine and causes blood loss. It is the other major human hookworm genus, distinct from Ancylostoma.
Ancylostoma ceylanicum: A hookworm of dogs and cats that can also cause intestinal infection in humans. Its animal reservoirs show how Ancylostoma infections cross between mammals.
Hookworm: A parasitic nematode that attaches to an animal’s intestine, often feeding on blood. Ancylostoma is one of the principal genera of hookworms.
Kato-Katz technique: A thick-smear microscopy method used to identify and quantify intestinal parasite eggs in stool. It can estimate Ancylostoma egg counts in epidemiological surveys.
Ancylostoma braziliense: A hookworm of dogs and cats whose larvae can cause cutaneous larva migrans in humans. Unlike human-adapted Ancylostoma, it usually remains in human skin rather than maturing in the intestine.
Hookworm infection: A parasitic disease caused by intestinal nematodes that attach to the gut and feed on blood. This disease category includes infections caused by human-infecting Ancylostoma species.
Small intestine: The section of the digestive tract between the stomach and large intestine, where most nutrient absorption occurs. Adult Ancylostoma attach to the small-intestinal lining of their hosts.