A gapeworm (Syngamus trachea) is a parasitic nematode worm infecting the tracheas of certain birds. The resulting disease, known as gape or the gapes, occurs when the worms clog and obstruct the airway. The worms are also known as red worms or forked worms due to their red color and the permanent procreative conjunction of males and females. Gapeworm is common in young, domesticated chickens and turkeys.

When the female gapeworm lays her eggs in the trachea of an infected bird, the eggs are coughed up, swallowed, then defecated. When birds consume the eggs found in the feces or an intermediate host such as earthworms, snails (Planorbarius corneus, Bithynia tentaculata, …), or slugs, they become infected with the parasite.

Ivermectin is a drug often used to control gapeworm infection in birds.

Males and females are joined together in a state of permanent copulation forming a Y shape “forked worm”. They are also known as the “red worm” because of their color. Females are much larger (up to 20mm long) than males (up to 6mm long). The life history of the gapeworm is peculiar in that transmission from bird to bird may be successfully accomplished either directly (by the feeding of embryonated eggs or infective larvae) or indirectly (by ingestion of earthworms containing free or encysted gapeworm larvae they had obtained by feeding on contaminated soil).

Ori Or (Hebrew: אורי אור‎, born 22 April 1939) is a former Israeli general and politician. During his service with the Israel Defence Forces he headed the Northern and Central Commands, and as a Member of Knesset for the Labor Party he chaired the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and was appointed Deputy Minister of Defence.

Or was born in Kfar Haim in 1939. He was drafted into the Israel Defence Forces in 1957, serving with the Armored Corps. During the Six-Day War he commanded 7th Brigade, which advanced through the northern shore of the Sinai Peninsula. In the War of Attrition he commanded an armored battalion in the Sinai and the Jordan Valley. He was made Lieutenant Colonel in August 1973, becoming the commander of the newly formed 679 (reserve) Brigade, which he led during the Yom Kippur War.

Following the Yom Kippur War, Or was assigned to command 7th Brigade. In 1976 he was made commander of an armored division on the Golan Heights, with the rank of Brigadier General, and later served as Chief of Staff of Central Command. In 1981 he was advanced to the rank of General, heading Central Command between 1981 and 1983 and Northern Command between 1983 and 1987, partly during the First Lebanon War.