page_title: Helminthiasis
section_title: Signs and symptoms
hierarchical_section_title: Helminthiasis / Signs and symptoms
caption_attribution_description: English: This bowel is tightly packed with ascaris. It is so tightly packed that it is semi-rigid and inflexible and the outer layers of the bowel wall, the muscle layers, have started to split under the tension. Photo by Larry Hadley, South Africa &lt;a href="http://paedsurg.ukzn.ac.za/Staff/ProfLarryHadley.aspx" rel="nofollow"&gt;paedsurg.ukzn.ac.za/Staff/ProfLarryHadley.aspx&lt;/a&gt; This photo was also used in an article here: South African Journal of Surgery 1996;34(1):33-36
context_page_description: 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.
  Soil-transmitted helminthiasis and schistosomiasis are the most important helminthiases, and are among the neglected tropical diseases. This group of helmianthiases 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 aims 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.
context_section_description: The signs and symptoms of helminthiasis depend on a number of factors including: the site of the infestation within the body; the type of worm involved; the number of worms and their volume; the type of damage the infesting worms cause; and, the immunological response of the body. Where the burden of parasites in the body is light, there may be no symptoms.
  Certain worms may cause particular constellations of symptoms. For instance, taeniasis can lead to seizures due to neurocysticercosis.
caption: Ascaris infection: Antimesenteric splitting of the outer layers of the bowel wall due to a large amount of ascaris (South Africa)
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