Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T13:02:56.028Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hookworm infections and human iron metabolism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

D. W. T. Crompton  and
R. R. Whitehead
D. W. T. Crompton
Affiliation:
WHO Collaborating Centre for Soil-transmitted Helminthiases, Department of Zoology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK
R. R. Whitehead
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus are extremely common species of soil-transmitted helminth which flourish where poverty and malnutrition prevail. Hookworms contribute significantly to iron-deficiency anaemia, which remains one of the world's major nutritional problems, through the feeding activities of intestinal stages leading to chronic blood loss into the gut. In this article, a mathematical model is proposed to explain how human iron metabolism may respond to hookworm infection of varying intensity. The model draws attention to the importance of the regulation of stored iron levels in the process. The results from the model are presented for the effects of hookworm infection on the iron metabolism of a healthy adult male. Calculations are also presented in which the effects of hookworms on the iron metabolism of a non-pregnant woman are compared with those of a pregnant woman. Use of the model may help develop a better understanding of the pathology of hookworm disease.

Keywords

Hookworm diseaseiron-deficiency anaemiapregnancymathematical model
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 107 , supplement S1: Human nutrition and parasitic infection , January 1993 , pp. S137 - S145
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anderson, R. M. (1982). The population dynamics and control of hookworm and roundworm infections. In Population Dynamics of Infectious Diseases (ed. Anderson, R. M.), pp. 67–108. London: Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, R. M. (1986). The population dynamics and epidemiology of intestinal nematode infections. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 80, 686–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beaver, P. C. & Jung, R. C. (1985). Animal Agents and Vectors of Human Disease, 5th edn.Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger.Google Scholar
Bundy, D. A. P. (1990). Is hookworm just another geohelminth? In Hookworm Disease (ed. Schad, G. A. & Warren, K. S.), pp. 147–64. London and Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis Ltd.Google Scholar
Coombs, I. & Crompton, D. W. T. (1991). A Guide to Human Helminths. London and Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis Ltd.Google Scholar
Crompton, D. W. T. & Stephenson, L. S. (1990). Hookworm infection, nutritional status and productivity. In Hookworm Disease (ed. Schad, G. A. & Warren, K. S.), pp. 231–64. London and Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis Ltd.Google Scholar
Dacie, J. V. & Lewis, S. M. (1984). Practical Haematology, 6th edn.Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Ettling, J. (1990). The role of the Rockefeller Foundation in hookworm research and control. In Hookworm Disease (ed. Schad, G. A. & Warren, K. S.), pp. 3–14. London and Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis Ltd.Google Scholar
Haldane, J. B. (1903). Ankylostomiasis in Westphalian Collieries. A report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Hegner, R., Root, F. M., Augustine, D. L. & Huff, C. G. (1938). Parasitology. New York: Appleton Century Crofts Inc.Google Scholar
Hill, A. W. & Andrews, J. (1942). Relation of hookworm burden to physical status in Georgia. American Journal of Tropical Medicine 22, 499–506.Google Scholar
Hoagland, K. E. & Schad, G. A. (1978). Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale: life history parameters and epidemiological implications of two sympatric species. Experimental Parasitology 44, 36–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hotez, P. J. & Cerami, A. (1983). Secretion of a proteolytic anticoagulant by Ancylostoma duodenale hookworms. Journal of Experimental Medicine 157, 1594–603.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jacobs, A. & Worwood, M. (1982). Iron metabolism, iron deficiency and overload. In Blood and its Disorders, 2nd edition (ed. Hardisty, R. M. & Weatherall, D. J.), pp. 149–97. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google ScholarPubMed
Keymer, A. & Pagel, M. (1990). Predisposition to helminth infection. In Hookworm Disease (ed. Schad, G. A. & Warren, K. S.), pp. 177–209. London and Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis Ltd.Google Scholar
Lewis, S. M. (1982). The constituents of normal blood and bone marrow. In Blood and its Disorders, 2nd edn (ed. Hardisty, R. M. & Weatherall, D. J.), pp. 3–56. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Lynch, S. R. (1984). Iron. In Absorption and Malabsorption of Mineral Nutrients (ed. Solomons, N. W. & Rosenberg, I. H.), pp. 89–124. New York: Alan R. Liss Inc.Google Scholar
Mansour, M. M., Francis, W. M. & Farid, Z. (1985). Prevalence of latent iron deficiency in patients with chronic S. mansoni infection. Tropical and Geographical Medicine 37, 124–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Martinez-Torres, C., Ojeda, A., Roche, M. & Layrisse, M. (1967). Hookworm infection and intestinal blood loss. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 61, 373–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, G. C. (1981). Helminths and the transmammary route of infection. Parasitology 82, 335–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pawlowski, Z. S., Schad, G. A. & Stott, G. J. (1991). Hookworm Infection and Anaemia. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Savioli, L., Bundy, D. & Tomkins, A. (1992). Intestinal parasitic infections: a soluble public health problem. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 86, 353–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schad, G. A. (1991). Hooked on hookworms. Journal of Parasitology 77, 179–86.Google Scholar
Schad, G. A. & Anderson, R. (1985). Predisposition to hookworm infection in humans. Science 228, 1537–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schad, G. A. & Banwell, J. G. (1984). Hookworms. In Tropical and Geographical Medicine (ed. Warren, K. G. & Mahmoud, A. A. F.), pp. 359–72. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.Google Scholar
Schad, G. A., Chowdhury, A. B., Dean, C. G., Kochar, V. K., Nawalinski, T. A., Thomas, J. & Tonascia, J. A. (1973). Arrested development in human hookworm infections. Science 180, 502–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schad, G. A., Nawalinski, T. A. & Kochar, V. (1983). Human ecology and the distribution and abundance oi hookworm populations. In Human Ecology and Infectious Disease (ed. Cross, J. H.), pp. 188–223. London and New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Schad, G. A. & Warren, K. S. (eds). (1990). Hookworm Disease. London and Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis Ltd.Google Scholar
Sen-Hai, Y. & Wei-Xia, S. (1990). Hookworm infection and disease in China. In Hookworm Disease (ed. Schad, G. A. & Warren, K. S.), pp. 44–54. London and Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis Ltd.Google Scholar
Tasker, P. W. G. (1961). Blood loss from hookworm infection. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 55, 36–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, Z. Y., Wang, X. Z., Peng, Y. F., Hu, X. S., Feng, R. y., Wang, H. T. & Lin, F. W. (1983). Blood sucking activities of hookworms. Chinese Medical Journal 96, 281–86.Google ScholarPubMed
Weatherall, D. J. & Wasi, P. (1984). Anemia. In Tropical and Geographical Medicine (ed. Warren, K. S. & Mahmoud, A. A. F), pp. 61–9. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.Google Scholar
WHO (1972). Nutritional anaemias. Technical Report Series, no. 503. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
WHO (1975). Control of nutritional anaemia with special reference to iron deficiency. Technical Report Series, no. 580. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
WHO (1987). Prevention and control of intestinal parasitic infections. Technical Report Series, no. 749. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
WHO (1992). Bench Aids for the Diagnosis of Intestinal Helminths. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar