The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-08-21

- iot Tic poHit OF attack Inere Is
nothing sensational about the matter
this time. Policemen and barricades
are not part of the cure In fact. not a
dozen laymen know that the wasting
tropical disease of uncinariasis is here
TO stay and to spread unless somes hing
is done, and done Immediately.
! Up to two years ago only thirty-eight
cases had been reported in the United
States. Up to a year ago only eight
had been found in California, outside
the army. To-day there are several
hundred among the Porto Ricans in
this city alone.
Now there is nothing sudden about
uncinariasis. A man does not die in
agony within a few hours. He lives on,
growing weaker and weaker. No one
realizes that he is in danger He is left
alone. AS the disease advances he be-
comes paler and paler. The dull ache
in his bones grows heavier. That is
all. Soon he can do no heavy work. A
few months more and he cannot keep
at light work steadily. When he
reaches this stage his employer decides
that he is lazy and Inefficient and
lets him out. The army of the unfit"
is one larger.
It was just in this way that the sur
prising extent of uneinariasis was dis
covered here A LITTLE oyor a yaar a 90
unusual numbers of Porto Ricans be-
gan pouring into the office of the Asso-
cfated Charities looking for work. On
investigation it was found that few of
the families had enough to eat, and
hardly a man or woman was physic-
ally able to earn an average living.
Accordingly they were referred to the
Fruit and Flower Mission for medical
treatment and food One and all
showed the same symptoms, and
within a few weeks DIR. Herbert Gum
had been known in the whole state be-
fore. He Immediately began cam
vass of the Latin quarter, and discov-
cred the following state of affairs:
There are six hundred Porto Ricans
in San Francisco. Four hundred more
are scattered through the southern part
of the state. Three or four thousand |
more are in Honolulu waiting to come. |
OF the one hundred and fifteen who |
RI an examination sixty Der
cent. were found to be infected, OF |
these, thirty-eight were treated and
cured, but there was no way to COM |
pei those who refused.
Although at present uncinariasis is |
practically confined to the Porto Rican |
colony, there is absolutely no reason |
that it should continue so. 1t is not a |
disease that requires particularly |
crowded and squalid surroundings in |
which to thrive. On the contrary, it is |
farm hands, miners and others |
working close to the soil that it is most |
widely spread. For the best possible |
media for the transmission of the |
germs are water and vegetable prod |
ucts from infected ground. 1t is here
that the eggs, carried out from the |
body, meet the conditions they need |
for embryonic development, grow and
at last find their way back to the ali |
mentary canal, where finally as tiny, |
hooked worms they fasten into the lin |
ing of the intestinal tract and subsist |
by sucking the nourishing elements
from the blood.
If these germs worked from the out |
side there would be no waiting till |
half the population Of district was
completely debilitated before doing |
something. But as it is, the whole |
process is so hidden and gradual that |
it is hard to interest the public, much |
more so to awaken an intelligent un-
Outstanding of the danger.
Still in Europe they now realize the
gravity of uncinariasis. In Austria, |
Italy and Westphalia the governments
have taken the matter up. During the
last two years uncinariasis has cost
Westphalia five hundred thousand dol
lars. In the valley of the Ruhr there
We're 1855 cases in 1902. In the 10th
ringen Colliery, if six per cent. of the
men are found with it the mine is re-
garded as infected.
Bad as is the condition of these
countries, it is only a fraction Of that
N Porto Rico So serious is it there
that it is often called the scourge of |
Fcrto Rico. Thousands of good field |
laborers die yearly from no apparent |
reason save extreme weakness. Gov
ernor Hunt realized the danger and in |
stituted a medical commission to H. /
yestigate Their report is now ready /
and proves: 1.-THE existence of an in |
fictitious disease which is transmitted |
from one to another, and is probably |
responsible for the so-called laziness
IF the inhabitants not only OF Porto
Rico. but of most semi-tropical COM
tries. Until a general and intelligent
is begun, anemia will continue
TO reduce the white and mixed popula-
ton forming the country class, to a
lower and lower grade mentally, moral
" and physically, until the existence
of this class will be threatened.
Why do so many Porto Ricans come
here? Cannot they be stopped? NO,
thew cannot. Once we wanted Porto
Rico and now we have it, germs and
all. Besides it is our own fault that
they ever left their homes. At the |
lose of the war, when trusts and mod !
arm machinery invaded the island, the !