The soil-transmitted helminths (also called geohelminths) are a group of intestinal parasites belonging to the phylum Nematoda that are transmitted primarily through contaminated soil. They are so called because they have a direct life cycle which requires no intermediate hosts or vectors, and the parasitic infection occurs through faecal contamination of soil, foodstuffs and water supplies. The adult forms are essentially parasites of humans, causing soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH), but also infect domesticated mammals. The juveniles are the infective forms and they undergo tissue-migratory stages during which they invade vital organs such as lungs and liver. Thus the disease manifestations can be both local and systemic. The geohelminths together present an enormous infection burden on humanity, amounting to 135,000 deaths every year, and persistent infection of more than two billion people.
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👉 Geohelminth in the context of Soil-transmitted helminthiasis
Soil-transmitted helminthiasis is a type of worm infection (helminthiasis) caused by different species of roundworms. It is caused specifically by worms transmitted through soil contaminated with faecal matter and are known as soil-transmitted helminths. Three types of soil-transmitted helminthiasis can be distinguished: ascariasis, hookworm infection and whipworm infection. These three types of infection are therefore caused by the large roundworm A. lumbricoides, the hookworms Necator americanus or Ancylostoma duodenale and by the whipworm Trichuris trichiura.
It has become the most common parasitic disease of humans worldwide. Approximately two billion people (about a fourth of global population) are infected as of the latest estimate, and four billion at risk, surpassing even the all-time most prevalent parasitic disease, malaria. The largest numbers of cases occur in impoverished rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and China. Its main cause, like for many types of helminth infections, is lack of sanitation, such as the practice of open defecation, lack of hygiene such as hand washing and walking barefoot on contaminated soil. It is regarded as one of the world's most important causes of intellectual and physical retardation.