Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1912-08-08
HOOKWORM
DISEASE
ITS CAUSE. PREVENTION
AND CURE
How the Disease Affects the Per
son Attacked, and Its SYmp-
toms Described,

The general disregard for sanitation
in the ruIal districts is responsible fol
the finding of nearly all cases of Hook
worm Disease. The infection cannot
spread in communities provided with
good sewer systems, and in the small
er towns and villages the spread will
be proportional to the number and
style of closets and the carelessness ex-
ercised in keeping them. A careful
sanitary survey is being made in each
county, and it appears that cOnsidera-
bly, less than 10 per cent. OF our rural
homes have closets of any sort.
IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.
More than 80 per cent of the stud
ents in some of the southern colleges
have been found infected, and in some
of the country schools 95 per cent of
the children have shown the infection
upon microscopical examination. Sew
eral schools in Tennessee have been ex-
amined, showing infections of from
10 per cent. to 3719 per cent. The
famous Webb School, located at Bell
Buckle, was the first private school to
have it's faculty and students examin-
ed for Hookworm Disease. The infec-
tion was demonstrated in twenty-four
of the boys, and each of these boys re-
ceived treatment after his parents had
been consulted Up-to-date sanitary
eonveniences have been installed upon
the grounds of this school and the stu
dents have been instructed by mem
bers of the faculty and by invited
70 iriI tn
sanitation and disease prevention.
There is good reason to believe that
the percentage of infection in some of
the cour ty schools will run as high as
80 per cent.
CAUSE OF HOOKWORM DISEASE.
>Hookworm Disease is caused by
small, round worms about half an inch
long and about as thick as an ordinary
hair pin. A number of different spe-
ces are known for various animals,
but the forms which occur in dogs,
sheep, cattle, swine and other animals
do not reach maturity in man; neither
do the forms occurring in man develop
to maturity in the lower animals. The
disease is very common in dogs, and it
may interest lovers of good dogs to
know that one of the representatives OF
the State Board of Health has been in
strumental in saving number of val
liable hunting dogs by directing the
attention of their owners to the proba-
bility of HoOkworm Disease causing
their disability.
For man, two distinct species of
Hookworms are now known. The |
New World form to which the name
"Necator Ameri tanus' has been given
by STYLES, and the Old World form, /
known as "Agchylostoma Duodenale. -
The great ma ajority of cases of Hook /
worm Disease in man in the United /
States ale due to the New World form, !
and the infection with the Old World .
parasite is found only in Americans
who have been outside the United
States or in immigrants
The New World parasite is slender
worm, varying in color from dead
white to dirty gray, sometimes red
from ingested blood.
In the adult stage it lives in the
small bowel, occasionally being found
in the stomach. Being provided with
strong jaws and median TOOTH which
enable it to attach itself to the wall of
the intestines, it wounds the lining
membrane of the bowel, sucks the
blood and produces poison which is
very injurious to the person affected.
1t is this poison which is perhaps most
largely responsible for the anemia, the
most marked symptom of Hookworm
Disease. The quality of the blood is
reduced by this poison and the dlges-
tion is impaired as result of this
anemia and because of the numerous
wounds inflicted upon the lining mem
brane of the bowel by the parasite,
HOW THE PARASITE GETS
INTO THE BODY.
The worms do not multiply in the
body, but the adult females deposit ,
great numbers of eggs which are pass ,
ed out with the normal bowel move ,
ments. These eggs, under favorable ,
conditions of temperature, moisture
and shade, hatch out the young worms, I
called larvae, in the course of about {
twentv four hours. Within week the $
tiny organism has shed its skin twice, ,
much as does a snake. 1t lives in this (
asst off skin, but takes no food after ,
me first few days following its escape a
from the egg. After the shedding of ,
the skin the young worm is In the |
,tage in which it is capable of enter I
NO the human body, which it may do s
n one of two ways. First, it may be c
,wallowed with contaminated food or (
water. Secondly, it may get into the /
,ody by boring through the skin. In c
the skin the embryos pro- L
luce the condition known as "dew C
,oison'' or 'ground Itch" which is t
,snally the first stage of Hookworm b
Disease. This "dew poison is gener- u
,lly on the feet or about the ankles i
md II is believed that the wearing of o
hoes will largely prevent it and pro- a
ect against Hookworm Disease At i
er penetrating the skin tie worm en- t
arc the blood stream, passes through b
he heart and lungs, makes its way. up i,
he windpipe or is coughed up and