Zoonotic Ancylostoma ceylanicum Hookworm Infections, Ecuador

Abstract

Ancylostoma ceylanicum hookworms are zoonotic parasites that can infect humans. To detect autochthonous transmission, we analyzed human fecal samples collected in 2000. Multiparallel quantitative PCR detected infection in persons who had never traveled outside Ecuador. These data indicate human transmission of A. ceylanicum in the Americas, although endemicity remains unknown.

Keywords

• Ancylostoma ceylanicum
• zoonoses
• hookworms
• soil-transmitted helminths
• epidemiology
• parasites