Story of Paco

This is the story of Paco. How does Paco look to you? (sick, weak, tired…)

Yes. That is just how he is. See, Paco has been quite sick for awhile. He has diarrhea, and a dry cough that he cannot get rid of. He has difficulty getting up to go to school and on the days he goes, he is too tired to think.

He is not doing well in school.

Paco also has a very bad habit. Even though he has shoes, he does not like to wear them. He lives in a village where not everyone has latrines and there are many animals that are not corralled. Hookworm eggs are passed in the

stools of infected humans and animals.

They can live for a very long time in the dirt, and hatch into worms. When someone steps, plays or sits in the dirt

that has hookworms in it, the worms, which are too small to see or feel, bite the person and make way into their body. That is what happened to Paco.

Once in the body, they make their way to the bloodstream, where they are carried to the lungs, and cause the person to cough, taking the worms up with the cough and the person then swallows them and they go to the stomach.

Once they get to the stomach, they decide to stay, and they set up house!!

The person has become their host!

There they breed and lay eggs, constantly feeding on the blood they suck from the lining of the stomach.

They move into the intestines, where they continue to feed and breed and soon fill the intestines, too. As they continue to feed on the blood of their host, the person gets weaker and weaker with anemia and can even die.

Every time the person has a loose stool, the eggs are passed, and if they are not using a latrine or covering the stool, the cycle continues.

That is why everyone should wear their shoes all the time.