T. trichiura

• Common name - whipworm
• parasitizes humans and monkeys
• spread requires poor sanitation and suitable environmental conditionas like warm, moist climate, low light, wet soil, and heavy rain
• found globally in temperate and tropical climates
• third most common roundworm
• estimated 800 million people are infected globally
• Whipworms are elongated anterior end with a mouth and esophagus, and a blunt posterior end with an anus and sex organs
• both male and females have a single gonad
• males have a spiracle surrounded by a sheath with an ejaculatory duct; females have a vulva near the esophagus and intestine connection
• females produce pheromone to attract males
• T. trichiura enters humans as an egg from ingested uncooked unwashed vegetables; infected soil
• Ova

  Shape - barrel-shaped

  color - light brown

  polar plugs - pair (opercula)
• Adult

  • Male - 30 - 45 millimeters long
  • Female - 35 - 50 millimeters longs

  Shape

  posterior end I thicker and blunt

  long, thin, whip-like anterior, which gives them their common name
• eggs become infective within 15 - 30 days
• adult worms live in the cecum and ascending colon
• female worms shed between 3,000 - 20,000 eggs per day, with a lifespan of about a year
• clinical presentation - often asymptomatic, can cause gastrointestinal problems and growth retardation in small children