The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-07-29
THE HOOK WORM.
Plans to Exterminate the Germ OF
Laziness" Being Made.
THE SOUTHERN STATES ACTING
VIII Try to Eradicate the Disease
Which lis Thought to Have
Been One ofthe Plaques
Of Egypt.

Been One ofthe Plaques
Of Egypt.
Although it has been less than SIN
months since Dr. Charles Wardell
Stiles, chief OF the division Of zoology
of the public health and marine hos
pital service, officially announced the
discovery vf the hook worm, or germ
Of lazinesS," preparations are already
under way in several Southern States
to utilize the discovery in combating
the disease. The State board of health
of North Carolina, through its Secre-
tary, DR.. Lewis, OF Raleigh, has takel
the lead in the work, and it lis conf
dently expected by scientist in Wash
ington that the health officials of that
State soon will make an important an
nouncement as the result OF the eX-
pertinent they are now conducting.
For obvious reasons the experiments
are being carefully guarded from pub
licity by the officials both in Washing
ton and in North Carolina: but it is
given out that as soon as satisfactory
results have been obtained they will
be fully exploited in language that the
layman can easily understand.
The disease which results from the
rayages of the hookworm is called Uni
cinariais by the scientists. In common
parlance it is known as laziness. APP
parently ths disease mainl! is confined
to warm climates, for it is there that
the hookworm abouDdS in greatest
numbers. DR.. Stiles thinks it quite
probable that the ancient Egyptians.
nearly a,500 years ago, were acquaint-
ed with the parasites which he has
named as the hookworm, and whose
habits he is still studying with the en-
thusiasm of a novice.
The diseaseappear to have attained
it's most virulent form among the
Egyptians Of that period, and was
much more damaging to it's victims
than it is now, However, unless spe-
cific is found for it there is seemingly
no reason why in time it should not
have as ruinous effects in the United
States as it had in Egypt more than
), 500 years ago.
A study CT the conditions Of the
most widely infected regions of the
South, mainly in Florida, appears to
show that the parasite attacks chill
dren in the rural sections at very
early age. 1t has been satisfactorily
demonstrated that children who go
barefooted or permitted to loll around
freely On the ground in summer time
are the special victims Of the hook
worm. When the parasite thus gets
started it thriyes naarvelousely to the
injury Of it's victim, actually arreSting
the development of certain parts Of the
body and delaying the age of maturity
to a noticeable extent. When full
growth finally is attained the victim
is all through life indolent and shift
less. This accounts for the large num-
ber Of people in the South who are
considered lazy. In point of fact. they
are lazy, but their lazineSs is due to
the presence in the systems Of hook
worms and not to natural indisposi-
tion to work or exert themselves.
In a severe case Of the hookworm
disease the face is blotted, the shoul-
ders droop, the abdomen is enlarged,
and the arm and legs are thin. 1t has
been observed tha5 the disease is most
common among the dirt eaters of the
South and among people who live IN
the sandy regions of that section. In
deed, DR.. Stiles declares that nearly
every case Of the disease found during
his trips through the South while
studying the subjects was either llV-
ing at the time in sandy district or
had lived in such district few years
before. DR.. Stiles also observes that
be would not expect to find the disease
originating in cities, and owns that
they are well paved and severed.
Paved streets and grass lawns, he de-.
clares, do not favor the development
Of the hookWorm.
Another interesting discovery he has
made in connection with the ra7ages
Of the germ Of laziness" is that the
pest is more active in summer than in
winter. This accounts. in a large
measure, for the apparent increase OF
laziness in hot weather. According tc
the testimony Of Dr.. Stiles, the symp'
toms Of the disease begin to increase
in the spring and decrease in the early
winter. THE periodicity, says the
discovery of the germ Of laziness, .
will be noticed, Of course, only in To-
calities which are above the frost line
and it is easily explained when we take
into consideration the biology OF the
parasites. It is probably that the sea
sonal periodicy of the symptom:
noticed in our Southern States will oe
modified in the tropics, so that The
symptoms will increase in severity II
the rainy season and decrease in thf
dry period of the year
One OF the most interesting feature:
of DR.. Stiles observations is this
"Uncinariasis, says be in bis repor'
on the subject, occurs in both blonde!
and Drunettes, and in both the white
and negro races, but. so far as my OBJ
servations go, the disease is more
severe, or at least more noticeable: II
blondes than in brunettes, and more
severe. as a rule, in the white than IL
the negro.
Snakes Escape.
Altoara, Pa, was thrown into