The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-12-11
HOOK WORM DISEASE
SOME PLAIN FACTS ABOUT THE
MALADY

Which Directly and Indirectly Kills
More People Than Consumption
or Typhoid Fever.
The hook worm Is a little crawl
ing thing, about the bigness of Il
piece of thread not half long enough
to twist round a mans finger.
Under the eye of the microscope 1t
jumps into a sinuous, graceful, eel
like creature, wriggling and squirm-
ing and exhibiting energy and ambi-'
ton out of all proportion to it's size.
1t is not a bit spectacular, and 1t
doesn't get itself discussed In legis-
lative halls, or furiously debated In
political campaigns. Modest and UNI
assuming, it does not aspire to such
dignity.
1t Is satisfied simply with (1) low
ering the working efficiency and the
pleasure Of living Of something like
2OO,0 people in Georgia, and all
other Southern States in like pro-
portion; with (2) amassing a death
rate higher than tuberculosis, pneu.
monia, or typhoid fever; with CD
complicating the labor problem in
the Southern States; with ca stub
bornly and quite effectually retard-
ing the agricultural and Industrial
development Of the section; with (5)
multiplying the benefits of hundreds
of thousands of dollars spent on ed
ucation, and with CO costing the
South, estimated, in the course of
several decades several hundred
millions of dollars. \
More serious and closer at hand
than the tariff; more costly, threat
ening and tangible than the negro
question, making the menace of the
boil weeyil laughable in comparison,
it is preeminently the problem of
the South.
A few cents worth of drugs an9
good, strong shoes wisely distribut-
ed will Danish it, absolutely solve i:s
many detailes, in six months. After
that, other more thorough methods
prevent the possibility OF its re-
currence.
This tragically expensive luxury"
which the people of Georgia and
other Southern States are, unknow-
ingly, playing against life, health
and progress is-the hook worm. 1t
has longer and more formidable
name, Uncinaria Americana, but the
other answers all purposes Of classi-
fication.
The story of this sinister little
parasite is intensely dramatic, since
it concerns most intimately the his
tory and the welfare and the future
of the Southern people in a degree
that is not recognized ~ one man
in twenty thousand.
1t is the more pathetic, from the
fact that it's details explain largely
the existance of that class Of rura!
population known in the South as
the poor white" illiterate, bereft
of energy, sallow of complexion, pro-
foundly anemic-a class that
thoughtful students recognize in
moment with this general descrip.
tion, and the condition Of which
many men and women are striving
earnestly to improve.
They have been variously charged
with thriftlessness, improvidence and
lack of ambition.
Science now overturns this harsn
indictment and shows that they are
suffering from a genuine disease
which saps their lives and makes
them listless, Indifferent, careless
beings. 1t shows that they are thus
paying the penalty for ignorance on
their own part and on ours, an ig-
norance which permits them to be-
come the victims Of their own neg
lect and which lowers their ability
to enjoy life and to participate in
the tasks of industry in a degree
that costs the community toll Of
millions yearly.
The story is unsufficiently fanciful
to provoke incredulity. The very
simplicity Of the cause and the SIM
plicity of the cure initiate against
either being taken seriously. Th:
information upon which these stat
ments are based is known and PROV
ed medical authority.
DR.. H. F. Harris, secretary OF the
State Board of Health, has been, TO-
several years, conducting SYSTEM
attic and energetic crusade against
hook worm disease in Georgia. He
has been successful to wonderful
extent, but finds himself handicapped
in the manner suggested, by the nat
ural hesitation Of people to accept
so elemental an explanation and SO
simple solution for grave cordi-
tion apparently very remote from
the Vaccinations of little wiring.
Cling, snake-like worm. 1t is upon
information supplied hv DR.. Harris.
upon the solicitation of this paper,
that this article is based.
DR.. Harris positively diagnosed
his first case Of hook worm disease,
or uncinariasis in Georgia in the
spring of 1902. A year previous -