The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-11-03
THE "HookwoRMn DISEASE.

4
Public Health and Marine Hospital
Service, in a parer read before The
Pan American Sanitary Congress, that
he had discovered human parasite
to which were directly due the lar
ness and shiftlessness Of the poor
barrens Of the south, 1t was accepted
by the newspape wits as an excep-
| tionally coed joke, and much was
| said in jocular way about the
lazy bug" and the lazy germ The
subject continued to be regarded as
a legitimate one for ridicule until DR..
Stiles, who "haG seen emaciated men
trying to wrest living from half
titled fields and women, to whom
rest never came. trying to nurse starv-
cling babes at withered breasts"
solemnly declared in a subsequent
address that sit isn't thing to laugh
at when men and women and chill
dren are dying Still later develop
ments have conclusively proven that,
far from oeing laughing matter, DR..
Stiles announcement was founded on
facts, and those of the gravest i'm
port to at least two million people OF
the south.
The story of DR.. Stiles momentous
discovery is forcefully told by Marion
Hamilton Carter in McClure's for
October, from which it appears that
the discovery of the hookworm itself
is not recent. AS long ago as 1882
one Goeze, German clergyman and
zoologist, found small hair-lile par
asite in the intestine of badger he,
was dissecting, which he called der
Harrandwurm (the hair-round worm).
Seven years later Froelich, another
German zoologist, found a similar
parasite in the intestine of fox.
Observing the "hooks" spoken of by
Goeze, Froelich adopted the. vernac-
ular word Haakenwurm {hookworm)
and gave the generic term Uncinaria
(from Uncinus. a hook to the genus
he established Thus the parasite got
it's name. II 1S43 Dubini, an Italian
of Milan, described species occur
ring in man, to which was attributed
the widespread anemia among italian
brickmakers, excavators and the
poorer rural population. In 1879 a ter
rible epidemic of the tunnel disease"
broke out among the workers in the
st. Gothard tunnel, and the interest
of the whole scientific world was
aroused. Investigation left no doubt
as to the cause of the disease, and
that it had been spread through total
neglect of personal hygiene on the
part of the workers and lack OF sani-
tary conveniences. The soil of the
tunnel was completely impregnated
with the ova and larvae of the hook
worm, and all who handled It became
infected. In 1881 Bozzoli, in Turin,
lsuggested the use of thymol, the active
principle of thyme, for the destruction
of the parasite, which remains the
stock treatment today
The first recognized case in this
country was an imported case
in a German bricklayer, treat
ed by Blickhahn in Phila-
delphia in 1898. On the heels of
this cases were reported from Rich
mond and New Orleans, and the med
ical profession knew the hookworm
was here; but nc enc knew that
America had hookworm of It's own
4 until 1901, when case fell into the
hands of Dr. ]. Allen Smith of Texas
and an account of it was published by
Il DR.. Charlotte M. Schaefer in the Texas
Medical News. Dr. Stiles obtained
specimens of the worms from DR.
Smiths case and later made the an
nouncement which has made hin
famous.
In most cases infection takes place
through the skin of the foot, ant
herein lies the one hopeful feature o
the hookworm disease: the parasit,
cannot multiply in the body of it
victim because of lack of oxygen
When they have passed out they de
velop rapidly under favorable cor
: ditions of air and temperature. an
. after the second mott reach the in
: fective stage. Unless it can faste
I on a passing foot, or a stroke of luc
: sends it down its future victim
g throat in drinking water or on tn
= surface of unwashed vegetables, 1t
= career as parasite is nipped in tn
= bud. When thus fully developed
). hastens to protect itself by burrowin
= through loose, sandy soil, gatherin
!. about the roots of plants and veg
:. tables. Here larvae are Matched an
e spreed themselves over an area pro
= able hundred times greater than tt
spot whence they originated. The
are tens of thousands of them, all bel
on the same errand, all ravenous f,
contact with human flesh.
1t will be seen from this that ii
spread of the hookworm disease
- due to soil pollution. In census
=. Se6 sand-land farms taken by L
~ Stiles, 43 per cent of the whites al
~ - 81 per cent of the negroes were wit
:. out any kind of sanitary conyenienc
!. 1t is found that, without so much
~ guessing that there is anything t
= matter with him, the negro is able