<Tr> <Th> Frequency </Th> <Td> 762 million (2015) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Deaths </Th> <Td> 2,700 (2015) </Td> </Tr> <P> Ascariasis is a disease caused by the parasitic roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides . Infections have no symptoms in more than 85% of cases, especially if the number of worms is small . Symptoms increase with the number of worms present and may include shortness of breath and fever in the beginning of the disease . These may be followed by symptoms of abdominal swelling, abdominal pain, and diarrhea . Children are most commonly affected, and in this age group the infection may also cause poor weight gain, malnutrition, and learning problems . </P> <P> Infection occurs by eating food or drink contaminated with Ascaris eggs from feces . The eggs hatch in the intestines, burrow through the gut wall, and migrate to the lungs via the blood . There they break into the alveoli and pass up the trachea, where they are coughed up and may be swallowed . The larvae then pass through the stomach for a second time into the intestine, where they become adult worms . It is a type of soil - transmitted helminthiasis and part of a group of diseases called helminthiases . </P>

A lung infection caused by the inactive stage of a worm