No treatment is necessary in asymptomatic patients, but there is no antiparasitic chemotherapy or medical treatment available for pentastomiasis. Surgery may be needed for infection by many parasites. Infection can be prevented by washing the hands after touching snake secretions or meat and cooking snake meat thoroughly prior to consumption.

There is antibiotic therapy for secondary infections caused by the parasite. However, surgical removal is usually the only way to get rid of the parasites.

It is prevalent in parts of Africa and Asia where eating snake meat is common. In Africa it has also been associated with groups who use the snake as a totem. Unlike linguatuliasis, humans are only ever an accidental intermediate host for "Armillifer", i.e. the larvae establish themselves in the visceral organs causing human visceral pentastomiasis, but adults do not occur in the human respiratory system. After a while the larvae die within the host and sometimes calcify, leaving characteristic crescent-shaped structures seen in X-ray. In extreme cases a heavy parasite burden can have serious medical consequences and can even be fatal.

Linguatulosis is a condition associated with the organism "Linguatula serrata".

The usual final host for "Linguatula serrata" is a carnivore, like a dog or jackal, and the species is sometimes known as the dog tongueworm for this reason.

More generally, linguatulosis can be considered a form of "pentastomiasis", which refers to all diseases caused by pentastomids, including porocephaliasis.

This disease is often accidentally identified during autopsy because of its asymptomatic effect on the body.

Human infestation by "Linguatula" was historically more commonplace than is sometimes realised. Human liver autopsies in Berlin from the early part of the 20th century revealed an infection rate of nearly 12%.

In general, the term "infestation" refers to parasitic diseases caused by animals such as arthropods (i.e. mites, ticks, and lice) and worms, but excluding conditions caused by protozoa, fungi, bacteria, and viruses, which are called infections.

Infestations can be classified as either external or internal with regards to the parasites' location in relation to the host.

External or ectoparasitic infestation is a condition in which organisms live primarily on the surface of the host (though porocephaliasis can penetrate viscerally) and includes those involving mites, ticks, head lice and bed bugs.

An internal (or endoparasitic) infestation is a condition in which organisms live within the host and includes those involving worms (though swimmer's itch stays near the surface).

Medically, the term "infestation" is often reserved only for external ectoparasitic infestations while the term "infection" refers to internal endoparasitic conditions.