The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-23
HOOKWORM |S AN |NS|D|OUS FOE OF WHOLE SOUTHLAND pr. J. M. Lewrey Reports on Work Done At Recent At-
 Ianta Conference
AMERICAN MURDERER" Is
 STALKING THROUGH LAND
Chamber of comerce Delegate Reveals Worms History, It's Methods of Work and How 1t is to Be
 Combated.

%@As =. N4- A<cWAo oJS WiO nas 6Pp a delegate from the Birmin gh am Chamber of Commerce to the hook worm conference in Atlanta by Presi- dent Frank Nelson, Jr.. has submitted an intensely interesting report on the work of the Atlanta meeting.
 Ills discussion Of the hookworm, its history. its methods of work and the will prove interesting reading to all those who have kept up with tho cur rent discussion on this important sub ject. In conclusion pr. Lowrey urges the Chamber of Commerce to join with the medical forces of the state in bringing the next session of the con ference to Birmingham. His report to President Nelson Is as follows:
 MT. Frank Nelson, Jr., President Cham
 Der of Commerce, Birmingham. Ala.
 Sir-Pursuant to your letter of the 17th inst. appointing me delegate to the hookworm conference, which con vened in Atlanta on the 18th, I beg to hand you herewith my report of the proceedings of that conference, touching first upon the events which brought it about.
 
 History.
 It is quite probable that what today fs known as "hookworm disease in America was known, but not thor oughly understood, by the Egyptians nearly $500 years ago (Ebers papyrus). Zoologically, however, the first hook worm known to science was found In the intestine of the European badger by Goeze. a German clergyman. He noticed a membranous expansion at the tail of the worm, and in this saw two fngerlike structures, which he interpreted as 'hooks," ana It was from this that the name 'hookworm' was first taken. and not from the teeth. as is generally supposed.
 In 17S9 Froelich found a similar worm in the fox. and In 1s43 Dubini of Milan described the first parasite in man. In this parasite the mouth end of the worm was bent at an angle to the body. and Dubini spoke of this bent extremity as a 'hook," and so the name "hookworm' was perpetuated.
 This was the oldworld hookworm (ankylostostomum duodenale) which caused the first notable outbreak of the disease in epidemic form among the diggers of the St. Gothard tunnel of the Alps. It is the cause of the QlSedBe knOW0 ElS ankylOktOu1ASlS, or uncinariasis. and among the laity as brickmakers' anemia, Egyptian chlo- rosis. miners anemia. tunnel anemia, St. Gothard tunnel disease, tropical chlorosis, and in America and else- where, "h ookworm disease"
 For many years 1t was supposed that this was the only species of hookworm found in man, but in May, 1902, Dr. Charles Warde1l Stiles of the United States public health and marine hos pital service, Washington, discovered in some specimens which had been sent to him another distinct species which he named "Uncinaria Americana" (Nec- ator Americanus).
 In June. 1902, pr. Claude N Smith of Atlanta, Ga., presented a case be- fore the American Medical association. at its annual meeting, and in July, 1902, Dr. H. F. Harris of Atlanta also published an account of Q case ob- served by him.
 Dr. Stiles, convinced from general geological principles, that the disease must be widespread throughout the light, sandy soils of the south. asked and obtained permission from the sur geon general of the public health and marine hospital serv;ce to make field investigation. A preliminary report was published by him October 24, 1902. giv- ing results In Virginia, North Carolina and part of South Carolina. in which he stated, There is, in fact. not the slighetest room for doubt that uncin- ariasis (hookworm disease) Is one or the most important and most common diseases of this part of the south' especially on the farms and plantations in sandy districts"
 Later pr. Stiles discovered 15 cases in the government hospital for the in- sane at Washington, D. C.. few cases in Virginia and North Carolina, and many cases in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
 On his return to Washington he pub lished, in a bulletin issued by the public health and marine hospital service, full account of his observations, and also history of both the old and new world hookworm, together with the symptoms, means of diagnosis, treatment, etc AZ soon as this bulletin made its appear ance cases began to be reported from every section of the south, and as the methods of diagnosis improved the num- Der of reported cases increased to enor- nous proportions. pr. Stiles continued his work and his further publications, calling attention to the high percentage of infections in certain localities soon be- gan to attract the widespread attention of the laity until finally MT. John D. Rockefeller made the magnificent offcr of a, 900 600 for the eradication of this