![]() While hookworm infection is rarely fatal, anemia can be significant. The farmers in Brazil call the illness caused by hookworms, "Big Yellow", presumably because they turn pale and sallow from the blood loss. The poor farmers and people like Sipha probably would not even know what hit them, when they do get hookworms. At that time, I did not even think of hookworms, just of infections, should she have a cut and pick up something nasty from the disgusting grounds of the wet markets, strewn with rotting vegetables and meat. She never listened and her mother too, was not bothered. I always used to tell Sipha's youngest daughter to put on her shoes when she joined us at the market. I am sure the situation is similar in Cambodia, where children routinely walk barefoot, even in the cities. It can also cause anemia, and for the farmers in Brazil, infection means they feel tired and will not be able to work on their farms. The worms enter through the skin and stunts physical and mental growth. On the BBC this morning, I watched a program on hookworms and how they infect farmers and children, who go around barefoot, in small villages in Brazil. Hookworms are endemic in Cambodia with a prevalence 20 -30%, according to this 2007 report. This is the Hookworm, so called because of its teeth, which hooks onto intestines, sucking out blood. ![]()
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