Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-02-07
MORTALITY IN PORTO RICO.
Much Light on the Poor Hygienic
State of the Island.

Much Light on the Poor Hysienic
State of the Island.
AS the United States has only re-
Gently acquired Porto Rico, the health
reports from that island have special
interest for American physicians. DR..
w. w. King of the United States
marine hospital service, has just sub
mitted a report on the high mortality
of Ponce and throws much light on
the hygienic state of the island. The
lower classes of Ponce are a mixture
of Spanish, italian and negro blood,
the latter predominant. Generations
of underfeeding, ignorance and immor-
ality, amid unsanitary conditions, have
produced a race short-statured, fiat
chested and physically weak. These
people are shiftless, improyident and
doleless, and become, in the face Of
disease or misfortune, passive and
apathetic. the city of Ponce Is I'M
hygienic. 1t is situated on low-lying
plain, with inadequate surface drain
age, and its population is supplied
with water from a river that is pol
luted from numerous sources The
soil is a loose, porous gravel, and is,
of course, thoroughly infected.
Among the immediate causes of the
recent high mortality was the hur-
ricane. The banana and plantain crops,
the mainstay of the people. were al
most entirely destroyed. The people
ate whatever they could get, and this
consisted largely of sugar cane, I'M
ripe fruit and decayed fish, and this
unwholesome food was rendered worse
by bad cooking.
which shows that the fatal diseases
may be grouped largely under three
main headings anaemia, dysentery
and digestive disorders. The UNI
wholesome diet is evidently largely
responsible for the disorders of diges,
ton, and these disorders are not
specially interesting. Malaria seems,
however, to be an occasional cause.
The most important subject in DR..
Kings paper is the role played by
ankylostomum duodenale. Cases of
a pernicious type of anaemia seem to
be common in Porto Rico, and the
evidence goes to support the belief
that they are largely due to this
parasite. Malaria also may be a
causative factor, but DR.. King thinks
it is not universally so, because ma
laria prevails most along the coast,
while this pernicious anaemia prevails
extensively in the high interior.
wide difference of opinion exists as to
the relative part played by the anky-
lostomum and simple starvation.
Both occur frequently in the same
patient. and the microscope is not
often used to detect the ova of the
parasite. The anaemia Is extreme,
but DR.. King does not report the re-
suits of any blood examinations.
This is to be regretted. The mucous
membranes become colorless, and a
marked oedema occurs. The cases
thus present some resemblance to
beriberi but DR.. King thinks that true
beriberi has never yet been observed
in Porto Rico. The cases can hardly
be called truly pernicious, because
generous diet often effects a cure; ex-
ceptions occur in cases infested with
the ankylostomum. Tetanus is also
unusually prevalent in the island DIR.
Kings paper may serve to remind us
that in Porto Rico We have acquired
an interesting field for scientific re-
search.-Philadelph Medical Journal