INTRODUCTION

1.0     DEFINITION OF ENTERIC WORM

Enteric worm are define as organisms that live in the intestine of humans or animals and invest their food from the intestine to grow.  The most common of the parasitic-worms that infect the human intestine are viz.:

Reound Worms   (-Asearis spp)

Hook Worms       (Ancycostoma duodenate and Necator spp).

Whip worms        (Irichuris trichiura)

Pin Worms           (Enterobius Vermicularis)

The presence of these various types of worms in large numbers coupled with the poor living habits of large segments of the world population has made the control of these worms difficulty and their eradication nearly impossible.  That human life and the worms have been in separately interrelated is quite a challenge to mouth transmission dynamics and also that man cannot control the entry into his mouth of materials that pass through his anus is a puzzle.  Here, helminthiasis (literally means infections and parasites caused by worms) is the worst culprite.

1.1     SOURCES OF INFECTION

The primary source of worm infestation is the food or water contaminated with infected faeces.  When these parasites are passed out through the anus, some of them find their way to food used by man and get it contaminated.  Examples are Ascaris eggs on vegetables such as Solanium, lettuce, Cabbage and other vegetables eaten raw or poorly washed.  So when men feed on such contaminated foods they get infected.  Another source is the soil, that is the soil borne infections stage.  Here the eggs of these wormshatch in the soil and the third stage larva (Lz) find its way into the host by actively boring into the skin.  Examples are the hookworms (Necator, strongy bodies, Ancylostoma etc.).  Some soil-borne infective larval stage exploits human behavioural pattern for its entry.  The soil transmitted intestinal nematodes – round worms Ascaris Lumbricoides, ancylostoms duodenele and Nectator americanus rank highest among all the helminthes and their prevalence in different communities serves as an index of socio-economic status.  Ascaris and Trichuris affect the health of children especially, the former being a frequent cause of complications and death in many parts of the world, the later causing severe and stubborn – dysentery.  The hookworms are recognized as important causes of anaemia particularly in older children and young adults.  The obvious high rank of hookworm infection as a cause of debilating disease placed it first among helminthiasis to be attacked on a wide scale.