You can make the diagnosis by the characteristic appearance of the adult female with its protruding proboscis containing spiral rows of spines (the 'thorns') and the relatively large eggs with in internal larva (called an acanthor). By focusing up and down, you can often make out rostellar hooks.
Acanthocephaliasis can be very painful in humans as the worm embeds its spiny proboscis into the wall of the intestine - ouch!
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