Live Hookworms Discovered in Woman's Intestine During Scan

Mar. 15, 2025

Doctors discovered live hookworms in a woman’s stomach.Photo:Journal of Medical Case Reports

Journal of Medical Case Reports

A medical scan showed livehookwormsin a woman’s stomach, shocking doctors who said she didn’t have the telltale gastrointestinal symptoms of theparasitic infection.

The Chinese farmer, 75, first went to the doctor while struggling with dizziness, lack of appetite, trouble sleeping, and weakness “without any obvious cause,” according to an article on the case in theJournal of Medical Case Reports.

The woman, from China’s Yongzhou City, was diagnosed with anemia and stomach inflammation, and tested positive for a bacterial stomach infection. But treatment, the study says, didn’t improve her symptoms — prompting doctors to prescribe anendoscopy.

A live hookworm was discovered in a woman’s intestine.Journal of Medical Case Reports

An endoscopy involves a long thin tube being inserted in the mouth to examine organs up close, theCleveland Clinicexplains.

In the woman’s case, the endoscopy showed “the presence of live nematodes [worms] in the descending portion of the patient’s duodenum,” which is the beginning of the small intestine.

Researchers then examined her stool, which revealed the presence of hookworm eggs.

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It generally causes diarrhea and abdominal pain, which the woman didn’t experience, but can also cause the symptoms she did exhibit, which were anemia, loss of appetite and fatigue. The Hunan Province, where the woman lives, “has also made significant progress in controlling hookworms,” the study notes, saying the rate of infection decreased from 22.86% in 1994 to 0.43% in 2020. Still, while “the rate of hookworm infection remains low, the risk [of infection] remains.”

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source: people.com