The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1912-06-27
HOOkWORM DISEASE.
What II Is and How Caused, as
Told hy Those Who Know.

Told by Those Who Know.
This disease is caused by small
worm which lives in the small intes-
tine or bowel.
The worm when full grown is
about half an inch in length and as
big around as pin. 1t is of dirty
white color.
These worms lay eggs, which are
too small to be seen bv the naked
eye. Under the microscope they
may be seen. Each female worm
may lay thousand eggs in day,
They do not hatch in the bowel.
These eggs pass out with the bowel
movement and get on the ground.
Here, in week or two, one worm
hstches out of each egg. In hot
weather the worm may hatch out in
one day. These young hookworms
are called embryos. These little
worms live in the dirt and grow for
two or three days, then they shed
their skin and grow for a few days
more. They get ready to cast their
skin again and in this stage they are
called encysted embryos. Under the
microscope they appear to be in a
capsule. They are too small to be
seen by the naked eye. In places
where no privies are used or where
no buckets are used to catch the ex-
creta or bowel movements the
ground is alive with these little
worms. They cannot be seen but
they are there nevertheless. They
can be felt. Let any barefooted per-
son walk on soil which is polluted.
that is, contains bodily discharges,
and in a few minutes there is
singing sensation on the feet.
Later, this gets worse and in few
hours time the skin between the
toes and on top of the foot is red and
swollen. The itching is intense and
the desire to scratch is irresistible.
In other words, the little worms have
burrowed through the skin and
caused what we call ground itch, toe
itch or dew poison. Ground itch oc-
ours more often in rainy weather or
after heavy dews. This is because
the rain washes the excreta and the
young worms considerable distance
from the privy or other places where
the body waste is deposited. If these
discharges do not get an the ground
there will be no ground itch and no
hookworm disease. For this reason
we never have hookworm disease in
cities where sewer systems are used
or in country districts where sani-
tary privies are used.
Let us return to the little hook
worms too small to be seen by the
naked eye which had burrowed
through the skin and caused ground
itch. They get into the blood stream
and pass to the lungs, from the
lungs they crawl up the small air
tubes until they reach the windpipe.
We know that the upper opening of
the windpipe (larynx) is close to the
guliet (esophagus). 1t is easy to see,
then, how these little worms can be
coughed up from the windpipe and
swallowed. They pass through the
stomach to the first portion of the
small bowel. Sometimes they are
found in all parts Of the bowel. 1t
takes the worms two months or
more to travel from the skin to the
bowel. They cause no disease while
taking the journey, but as soon as
they reach the bowel they attach
themselves by means of two pairs of
lips to the lining of the bowel or
mucous membrane and soon become
full grown that is,about halfinch
long. Each worm has small tooth,
which is hollow like the needle of a
hypodermic syringe. The worm
takes hold of the bowel lining which