iron eaters.
Hookworms Gobble blood and nutrients, making hundreds of millions of people with anemia.
Richard Bungiro
How do you treat an infection that robs the body of iron? The simplest answer - with more iron - may not be the best, according to a new study. hookworm infected animals fed moderate amounts of iron became sicker and more anemic than those who eat very little iron. The results may have implications for how doctors treat these infections in humans.
740 million people are estimated to be infected with hookworm, mainly in tropical regions of the developing world. The worms usually enter the body through the skin (often burrowing through the bare feet of children playing in the dirt) and wriggle their way to the intestines. There they hang and begin to suck blood and nutrients. Untreated infections can lead to growth retardation, learning difficulties, malnutrition and severe anemia. Many victims have already anemia to begin with, however, because of low levels of iron in their diet or other infections such as malaria.
To see if being anemic increases the severity of hookworm infections, researchers at Yale School of Medicine hamsters infected with hookworms. During the infection, the animals were placed on diets containing standard iron or low levels. To the surprise of researchers, after 20 days the standard diet hamsters were nearly 10 times more worms in their intestines that hamsters low iron content. Hamsters on a diet with intermediate levels of iron were even worse, reports the team in the January issue of Infection and Immunity .
iron supplements People with hookworm infections are often given to deal with their anemia, but this could be a mistake, says study author and specialist Michael Cappello disease . He said the relationship between the levels of iron and hookworm infection intensity resembles a bell curve: At levels of very low and very high iron, the parasite is not great, but he raged at levels intermediaries. Cappello suspects that high iron levels can poison hookworm, and a low level of iron prevents worms to develop into their adult form of sucking blood. Stimulate people infected with moderate iron levels with supplements could put them in the ideal range for hungry hookworms, he said.
Parasitologist and pediatrician Peter Hotez of George Washington University in Washington, DC, warns against taking too much of the results in hamsters severely restricted iron, noting that low iron content in the blood is associated with devastating problems for children and pregnant women. But he notes the study is in line with results in humans that suggest iron balance is essential to ward off the worst effects of hookworm infection.
Related Sites
- WHO info on hookworm infection
- Plans for a vaccine against hookworm
- More information about iron deficiency anemia
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