Strongyloides stercoralis might be described as ‘the military worm’. It was first described by a military physician in soldiers returning from war and in recent times much work on diagnosis, immunology and epidemiology has been con- ducted on veterans of World War II and Vietnam.

“Strongy” worms are very thin and slender, which has led to them being called “threadworm”.

Note that pinworm (which is often called threadworm on the Internet and even by doctors) is NOT the same worm. In fact, they are completely different.

What symptoms can Strongyloides infestations cause?

Skin

Because larvae can enter the body via skin, all kinds of weird skin symptoms can develop.

The migrating larvae may cause a lesion that advances along the course of larval migration. In other words, as the larvae move under the skin, they leave a rash-like trail.

The eruption tends to affect the buttocks, groins and trunk and occasionally the neck and thighs. The rash may migrate several centimetres per hour for up to 1-2 days.

There may also be an urticarial rash (hives) in which wheals appear, especially around the wrist, lower abdomen and on the buttocks.

It’s amazing – I’ve consulted several clients who had been struggling with unexplained symptoms for 15 or more years, and when we traced back all the health issues they’d experienced, say, on holiday, most of them could distinctly remember a couple of days when they may have been holidaying or living in Africa or Central America, for example, during which time they recalled having skin rashes like the ones described here.

Digestive symptoms

Adult Strongy worms burrow into the gut lining and may cause abdominal pain that is usually made worse by eating.

These symptoms mimic peptic ulcer disease, which is often caused by H. pylori (not a parasite, but a bacterium). This is one main reason why you MUST get tested to why symptoms are occurring!

Nausea, vomiting, bloating and abdominal distention, where your gut looks like an inflatable ball, may be additional features.

If you palpate or massage the abdomen, you may feel tenderness.

You may also get abdominal cramps and diarrhea as a result of Strongy infection.

Symptoms in the other five areas of health

Malabsorption, where nutrients are not absorbed from food, can result from the infection, and this can lead to many symptoms.

Of course, if you’re not digesting your food or absorbing your nutrients, you can feel tired, depressed, struggle to sleep, experience aches and pain, and just feel generally “yukky”.

How is Strongyloides transmitted?

Strongy is more complex than most of the other parasitic worms that can get into the human intestine. The complexity comes from its lifecycle.

Let’s keep it simple:

Strongy larvae can either burrow into the skin on your feet and legs (they live in the soil waiting for a nice foot to come along to break into!) or they can be swallowed on poorly washed food or in dirty water.

They enter the general circulation and travel to the lungs, a little like hookworm does.

They are coughed up from the lungs and then swallowed, which allows them to enter the intestine.

Strongy worms prefer to live in the uppe part of the small intestine.

This is where Strongy becomes unique.

Unlike other worms, it can either continue its lifecycle when females lay eggs and the eggs are passed out into the environment in bowel movements, or it can maintain an active lifecycle within its human host.

Strongyloides autoinfection

Strongy infections can last for more than four decades!

These long-lasting infections are due to something called “autoinfection”, where more larvae turn into what’s called infective L3 larvae while they are in the intestine.

These larvae will penetrate the wall of the intestine and establish as adults in the gut, rather than passing out of the gut as other larval forms.

In some cases, where people have suppressed immune systems due to diseases like cancer, or medications such as steroids, “hyper-infection” can occur.

Hyper-infection can be pretty severe and happens when there are too many Strongy worms for the immune system to deal with.

Worms can break through the intestine wall and infect other organs. They may carry small particles of fecal material with them, leading to septicemia.

Confusion over symptoms

As you’ve seen, Strongy can cause a lot of common, every day symptoms.

But so can other things, like the food you eat (e.g. gluten, soy, cow’s milk), and other bad bugs such as different parasites, bacteria and Candida.

In fact, H. pylori and peptic ulcer disease are often confused with Strongy infections.

Thus, you can’t possibly know what’s causing your individual symptoms unless you take action to change your diet and get a comprehensive digestive health work-up.

Of course, I’m biased, but I wouldn’t be here teaching you this information had I not gone through the Digestive MOT process myself way back in 2007 with my functional medicine doctor.

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If you or any member of your family happens to be struggling with digestive health, take action today.

Your digestive system is the gateway to the rest of your body and it’s going to be very tough for you to sustain an acceptable level of health (and quality of life) if your digestive system isn’t working properly.

Let me hold your hand through a simple but powerful program to help you restore proper digestion and all the benefits it brings.

Click here for details of my Digestive Health MOT programs.