The San Francisco call., 1905-05-28
PORTO RICAN COLONY OF THIS CITY

fully half the entire population Is af-
fected. But as long as Porto Rico be-
Ionged to Spain its germs did not IN
terest us. After the Spanish-American
war, however, when the troops began
to come home, uncinariasis came too.
Still it remained for the Porto Ricans,
arriving a few years later in shiploads
from Honolulu, to bring it to San Fran
cisco in such numbers that now We
have more cases than any other one
spot in the United States
And since it is here there IS only
one thing to do. Get rid of IT. The
cure is very simple, and costs little IN
time or money. If a station were es-
tablished here, to accommodate good
number at once, and above all one TO
which the people might be sent and
treated Immediately on landing, the
whole difficulty would be solved They
could then scatter where they would,
without the present danger OF infect
ing others, and with a brighter out
look for themselves Besides we owe
it to these people whom We have un-
dertaken to educate and elevate, TO
make it possible for them to earn a
living. Yearly in Porto Rico thous-
: ands of good laborers are lost by this
disease, which when IL reaches an
acute stage makes it impossible TOT q
man to work. There Is no reason that
the same thing should happen here.
In the meantime, until something
can be done on the scale that 1t ought
to be. there are two people In san
Francisco-one a doctor with a wide
tropical experience; the other, the
Crocker nurse OF the Associated Char
itfes-who have attacked this problem
single handed and are doing all In
their power To convince the germ that
we do not want IL here
1t was several months ago that the
nurse in her daily rounds first decided
that the picturesque Incidence OF the
quarter was not due entirely to an
inherited manana spirit, but that some
slow. wasting, tropical disease was at
the bottom of Ii. Accordingly a close
canvass was made Of the colony, men.
women and children, black. white and
intermediate, with the result that
more than fifty per cent OF the people
were found to have II
The particular pastime Of this un-
cinariasis germ Is to hook Itself into
the lining of the intestinal tract, suck
the blood, and at the same time
generate powerful poisons- Gradually
the man becomes pa1er and weaker
All day his bones ache with dull,
weary ache. Soon nothing Is done
that can be left undone. for there Is no
energy to waste So everywhere that
the Porto Ricans go the belief spreads
q
efficient. How can a man be any
thing else how can he be energetic
and strenuous, when he has disease
whose very symptoms are weakness
and anaemia?
Just how this disease spreads Is as
yet not fully decided. but the soil
seems to play an important part
When the eggs laid by the worm in
the intestinal tract are carried out OF
the body and deposited In water or on
the ground, they mature rapidly IN
the warm sun. California has just the
temperature they need. Taken back
into the body through the water. or
by eating products OF the injected sou:
the larvae find the conditions needed
for their development in the Intestinal
tract. and another worm Is the result
So Ii goes on and on. till finally the
patient dies, long before he reaches
old age, from sheer weakness
IT Is to prevent this needless waste
of strength and life that these two
people in San Francisco are working
long hours after the usual days work
Is done. To get the first blood speci-
men. which does not contain the germ
itself. but only shows whether the con-
dftious are favorable. alone took
weeks. It meant climbing the steep
hills from Pacific to Union and from
Montgomery to Powell; up fights OF
rfckety. uncarpeted stairs to dark top
floors, down equally rickety stairs 10
equally dark Easements Soon the
nightly visits Of ..el doctor" and ia
doctora," as they insist on calling the
nurse. became quite an event Men.
women and children came docktnG
from a11-over the house. from across
the street and from around the cor
ners. Quickly the small rooms and
narrow halls were crowded with dark
faces watching eagerly.
When all the blood counts had been
examined, each person was seen indt-
viduaIly and told whether or not he
needed a treatment. and offered a cure
absolutely free Here the real work
began When for years and years peo-
pie have had pain. until they have
come to look upon It as part Of the