1. HOOKWORM

The hookworm is a parasitic nematode that lives in the small intestine of its host, which may be a mammal such as a dog, cat, or human. Two species of hookworms commonly infect humans, Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus. A. duodenale predominates in the Middle East, North Africa, India and (formerly) in southern Europe, while N. americanus predominates in the Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, China, and Indonesia. Hookworms are thought to infect more than 600 million people worldwide. The A. braziliense and A. tubaeforme species infect cats, while A. caninum infects canines. Uncinaria stenocephala infects both dogs and cats. Ancylostoma caninum has infected humans, with 150 cases reported in Brisbane, Australia from 1988-1992.

Hookworm

2. ASCARIS

Ascaris is a genus of parasitic nematode worms known as the "Small intestinal roundworms". One species, A. suum, typically infects pigs, while another, A. lumbricoides, affects humans, typically people living in sub-tropical and tropical areas with poor sanitation. Their eggs are deposited in feces and soil. Plants with the eggs on them will infect any organism that consumes them. A. lumbricoides is the largest intestinal roundworm and is the most common helminth infection of humans worldwide, a disease known as ascariasis. Infestation can cause morbidity by compromising nutritional status, affecting cognitive processes, inducing tissue reactions such as granuloma to larval stages, and by causing intestinal obstruction, which can be fatal.

Ascaris Worm

3. GUINEA

Dracunculiasis, also called guinea worm disease (GWD), is a nodular dermatosis produced by the development of Dracunculus parasite in the subcutaneous tissue of mammals. Dracunculus medinensis has been reported in humans, dogs, cats, horses, cattle, and other animals in Africa and Asia. A similar species of the Dracunculus genus, D. insignis, is a parasite which causes dracunculiasis in dogs, raccoons, minks, foxes, otters, and skunks of North America. Dracunculus medinensis is a long and very thin nematode (roundworm). The parasite enters a host by way of host ingestion of stagnant water contaminated with copepods (water fleas) infested with guinea worm larvae. Approximately one year later, the disease presents with a painful, burning sensation as the female worm forms a blister, usually on the lower limb.

Guinea Worm

4. TAPEWORM

Cestoda (Cestoidea) is the name given to a class of parasitic flatworms, commonly called tapeworms, of the phylum Platyhelminthes. Its members live in the digestive tract of vertebrates as adults, and often in the bodies of various animals as juveniles. Over a thousand species have been described, and all vertebrate species can be parasitised by at least one species of tapeworm. Several species parasitise humans after being consumed in underprepared meat such as pork (Taenia solium), beef (T. saginata), and fish (Diphyllobothrium spp.), or in food prepared in conditions of poor hygiene (Hymenolepis spp. or Echinococcus spp.).

Tape Worm

5. FILARIAL WORM

Filariasis (philariasis) is a parasitic disease (usually an infectious tropical disease) that is caused by thread-like nematodes (roundworms) belonging to the superfamily Filarioidea, also known as "filariae". These are transmitted from host to host by blood-feeding arthropods, mainly black flies and mosquitoes.

Filarial Worm

6. LUMBRICUS WORM

Lumbricus terrestris is a large, reddish worm species native to Europe[citation needed], but now also widely distributed elsewhere around the world (along with several other lumbricids) due to human introductions. In some areas where it has been introduced, some people consider it to be a serious pest species since it is outcompeting native worms.

Lumbricus Worm

7. PHERETIMA WORM

Pheretima is a genus of earthworms found mostly in New Guinea and parts of Southeast Asia. The clitellum is a band of grandular tissue present on segments 14 to 16. Individuals are hermaphroditic and reproduction can be either sexual or parthenogenetic. Female genital pores lie on the ventral surface of segment 14. A pair of male gential pores is situated ventrally on segment 18. Genital papiliae may also be present ventrally. As with all earthworms, development of young is without a larval stage and takes place in cocoons.

Pheretima Worm

8. PERIONYX WORM

Perionyx excavatus is a commercially produced Earthworm. They are also known as "blues" or "Indian blues". They belong to the Perionyx genus. Their origins may be the Himalayan mountains. This species is particularly good for vermicomposting in tropical and subtropical regions.

Perionyx Worm

9. ANNELID

The annelids (also called "ringed worms"), formally called Annelida (from Latin anellus "little ring"[2]), are a large phylum of segmented worms, with over 22,000 modern species including ragworms, earthworms and leeches. They are found in marine environments from tidal zones to hydrothermal vents, in freshwater, and in moist terrestrial environments.They are bilaterally symmetrical, triploblastic, coelomate organisms.They have parapodia for locomotion. Although most textbooks still use the traditional division into polychaetes (almost all marine), oligochaetes (which include earthworms) and leech-like species, research since 1997 has radically changed this scheme, viewing leeches as a sub-group of oligochaetes and oligochaetes as a sub-group of polychaetes.

Annelid Worm

10. PINWORM

The pinworm (genus Enterobius), also known as threadworm (in the United Kingdom and Australia) or seatworm, is a nematode (roundworm) and a common intestinal parasite, especially in humans. The medical condition associated with pinworm infestation is known as enterobiasis, or less precisely as oxyuriasis in reference to the family Oxyuridae.Throughout this article the word Pinworm refers to Enterobius. In British usage, however, pinworm refers to Strongyloides while Enterobius is called threadworm.

Pinworm