BioSample

Hookworm diseases are extremely common in the tropics and sub-tropics, with a disease burden comparable to Measles and exceeding that of diabetes and lung cancer. Ancylostoma caninum causes disease in dogs resulting often in severe anemia and death. This species, which belongs to the group of parasites most closely related to C. elegans, is a widely used model for hookworm infection in humans. The sequenced strain (Baltimore) was collected near Baltimore in between 1960-1969 by Dr. Gerhard Schad, and has been maintained in dogs (Canis familiaris) continuously since. Material for sequencing was obtained from Dr. John M. Hawdon of George Washington University, who has been maintaining it there since 2001. Worm isolation and extraction of nucleic acids was performed by Dr. Verena Gelmedin and others in the Hawdon lab, or the Genome Institute production team. Voucher specimens are on deposit in the U.S. National Parasite Collection (accession number 100655).