Reproduction- the life cycle

    The hookworm life cycle has many stages and is dependent on a human host. Most of the life of the hookworm is spent attached to the intestinal wall of the host. However, at one point the male worm leaves and goes in search of a mate. The females produces hormones that lead the males to find them. Once a male has found its mate, coils around her and covers her genital pore. Then the males gubernaculum guides spicules which extend into the females cloaca and anus. This allows the male to keep attached to the female during mating. The male then releases the sperm onto the genital pore of the female. During her life span of about one year, a female hookworm will lay about 10,000-30,000 eggs a day during her adult life. Once these eggs are released, they travel with the stool and hatch after a couple days of incubation (under ideal conditions, warm and moist) , the eggs hatch and the larval hookworms continue their development in the soil. Once fully developed, larval hookworms penetrate the skin of the human host and travel through either the blood stream of the lymphatic system to the lungs. Here the hookworm works its way up the respiratory tract where it eventually gets swallowed by the human host and gets into the intestinal tract. Once in the intestine, the larva will develop into an adult and attach themselves to the lining, where it all begins again.