 Thereafter, he studied at the University of Leipzig, where he received a doctorate for his study of trematodes.Looss was sent by Rudolf Leuckart to Egypt to study the transmission of bilharzia, where he became accidentally infected with hookworm, and in so doing discovered the method by which the larvae penetrate the skin.He spilt some larval culture onto his hand in 1896, while dropping it into the mouths of guinea pigs; observing the irritation this caused to his skin, he hypothesised that infection pass through the skin.