A hookworm of the genus Ancylostoma, a parasitic roundworm that infects the intestines.
Alternative or anglicized form of 'ancylostoma,' using the same Greek roots 'ankylos' (hooked) and 'stoma' (mouth).
In the early 1900s, hookworm was so common in the American South that it was called 'the disease of laziness'—but it wasn't laziness, it was parasites draining people's iron and energy!
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