Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-01
HOMICIDE BUG THIS
"American Murderer" or
HookWorm, Kills Many.
WHITES CHOICE VICTIMS
Sensational Report on Ravages by
DR.. C. W. Stiles.
MAKES HOME IN MANS INSIDE
Saps Life and Poisons Blood as It
Clings to Intestinal Walls
and Natures.

A sensational report on the new world
hookworm, technically known as Necator
Americanus 1.-The American murderer =
has been made to the marine hospital
service by DR.. Charles WardelI Stiles, au-
thority on this decimator of the poor
white and the negro in the south.
The present report Of DR.. Stiles deals
with the disease among southern negS.)es,
although. he says, he has had far less
experience with the disease among ne
groes than among whites. His conclu-
sions are unique. in that he believes the
hookworm disease is not so destructive
among negroes as among whites.
Negro Partially Immune.
He accounts for this on the supposition
that the negro has become somewhat i'm
mune, owing to incubation of his fore
fathers in Africa hundreds of years be-
fore this country was discovered. But
in both races it kills, directly and indi-
rectly. thousands of people each year,
probably equaling the ravages of con-
sumption.
The old world hoohworm is relatively
rare in the United States. 1t is the
American pest that is claiming its thou
sands Of victims here.
The hookworm is one-fourth to one
half an inch long and about as thick as
a small hairpin 1t has hard jaws, by
which, when well intrenched in the sys-
tenn, it adheres to the walls of the In
weakening the victim and bringing on an
anemic condition that is often attributed
to malaria and other causes.
Children Greatest Victims.
Children are subject to the disease more
than adults. In the south the disease is
contracted through soil pollution and in
sanitary surroundings. The eggs and
young thrive in the soil pollution.
The young worm enters the system
through two methods. The first is by
swallowing contaminated food or water.
The second is by boring through the Skin
After entering the skin the young
worms make their way to the blood
and pass with the blood through -ae
heart to the lungs. From the lungs the
parasites pass up the windpipe, down
the outlet into the stomach, through
the stomach to the bowels, where they
shed their skins several times much
like a snake all the time becoming ma
ture They then begin the work of in
juring the walls of the intestines by
sucking the blood and poisoning the
victims.
Children become undeveloped phys-
cally and mentally, the skin becomes
dry and salloW, the hair is dry. there
is ground itch, the patients are weak
and indisposed to work. This condition
predisposes to tuberculosis and many
other diseases.
Dr. Stiles is confident that il a cam
paign should be made in the south
against the disease the death rate in
many localities would be greatly re-
duced. The disease is rarely found
north of Maryland or west of the Ohio
river. A warm climate is essential TO
it's existence.
Manila Checks Disease.
The medical authorities in Manila
when they discovered the disease among
the prisoners of Bilibid prison, reduced
| the death rate from 23s per 1000 to 13J
per 1000. all by sanitary regulations
and the use of thymol.
The treatment for the disease is not
expensive. The doses of thymo1 to De
given will depend entirely upon the
condition of the patient and should be
prescribed by a physician. DR.. Stiles,
however, places campaign against soil
pollution as far above anything else In
the prevention line. The greatest care
should be taken in this respect.