Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-01
CREDIT DUE ASHFORD
Army Surgeon First to Dis
cover H00kW0rm Disease.
TREATED IN PORTO RICO
Many Cases in His Charge During
Military Occupation.
WORK DESERVES RECOGNITION
Army Officers Regret Failure to APP
point Him as a Member of the
Rockefeller Commission.
WORK DESERVES RECOGNITION

According to the official records OF the
War Department Mai. Bailey Is. Ashford
OF the medical department Of the army
WAS the real diScoverer of the hOokworm
disease and The first medical man TO treat
il systematicaly and successfully. Be
cause OF that fact his many friends I'm
this city express deep regret that he was
not made q member of the Rockefeller
commission To fight the disease in the
southern states and was not even men
timed in the correspondence relating
thereto.
Brig. Gen Clarence r. Edwards. chief
of the bureau of insular affairs: Brig.
Gen. George w. Torney surgeon general
! Of the army: Mai. Frank Mcintyre and
! others all said that if any man was quail
ified t. serve on commission selected tn
fight this disease it was Maj. Ashford.
who discovered il. had treated IL with re-
markahlc results and probably know more
about its ravagcs and its cure than any
one else i'm the world. Maj. Ashford is
| now in Porto Rico continuing that me vi
| work which he began in 1892
Discovery in Porto Rico.
According to the official records the
discovery of anemia or "hookworm dis
ease" was made by Maj. Ashford in Por-
to Rico shortly after the island had been
| devastated by a hurricane In 1sE'. At
! that time Maj. Ashford. then post sur
geon at Ponce. established field hospi-
tai of 1s6 beds for the treatment of per-
sons who could not be accommodated I'm
the hospitals of the city. Fully three
fourths If those were suffering from what
was believed to be faulty diet. Better nu-
triton was provided but that. with other
remedies. failed. II was then That MAJ.
a., III of 40 X
worm or anemia and also found a rene
dy which has steadfastly proved success
full.
Ma. Ashford's part in the discovery of
the hookworm disease i'm Porto Rico has
been recognized by scientists and Of
ficiaIs generally. Prof Osler i'm an ar
ticre in regard to the disease said:
While il was known that d few cases
occurred in the United States. II was not
until the interest aroused in tropical dis
eases by the Span. sh-American war and
the work of Maj. Ashford i'm Porto RICO
that the attention of American physicians
was called TO the disease.
Gen. Edwards Report.
In letter to Senator Depew. chairman
of the Senate commission OH Pacific
islands and Porto Rico. under date Of
June 10, 1859. Brig. Gen. Edwards. in de-
scribing conditions i'm Porto Rico. said:
Before the termination of the military
government of Porto Rico the medical
department of the army had begun
work of even greater Importance than
Graduating smallpox. This was the treat
ment of the disease which up to that
time had been generally referred TO in
Porto Rico as tropical anemia.
To grasp the significance of this work
il should be understood that more than
700 90 people in Porto Rico were chronic
sufferers from 'uncinariasiS, the most
common of the diseases generally called
anemia IL was locally regarded as in the
same class with old age, and attracted
about the same scientific interest.
In 1850 IL per cent of all deaths In
Porto Rico were due to anemla, after
which date there was a gradual increase
until i'm 1899, when 2215 per cent of all
deaths were due to 'anemia- 1t has
been estimated by experts that the
capacity of the people of Porto Rico Tor
labor was reduced at least 20 per cent
by this cause. II had been vaguely re-
garded as one of the necessary evils of
the climate, accentuated in the case OF
those improperly housed and fed.
.'As "a result of the work begun by MAJ.
Bailey X. Ashford, an assistant surgeon
i'm the army, in 1899 the nature of the
disease was accurately determined. 1t
WAS found to he preventable and readily
cured except i'm the most advanced cases.
From IL S15 deaths due to anemia i'm 1900
to 1901 the number has been reduced
gradually to 1870 in the fiscal year of
1905. and of a total of S1.TJ patients
regularly treated 93 died.