The hookworm is transmitted through fecal matter. The eggs will hatch within about a week and grow into larvae that can live for close to a month within the soil of the earth or the feces that bore them. Upon contact with humans, usually through the foot, the worm will work its way through the host’s veins, into the heart and eventually the lungs. After entering the lungs they are sometimes expelled through mucus during a cough or simply swallowed by themselves. This gives the worm a one-way ticket into the small intestine.