The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1912-07-04
HOOKWORM DISEASE.
What 1t Is and How Caused, as
Told by Those Who Know.
Concluded from last week..

patients have lost flesh and become
very weak they often imagine that
they have consumption. If they be-
come bloated they believe them
selves the victims of kidney trou-
ble". 1t is a common thing for hook
worm patients to suffer for years
with what they call consumption
kidney trouble, heart disease
'dropsy", dyspepsia" or mala-
ria. These imaginary troubles van
ish like magic when the patient has
been treated for a few weeks, and
will not return if the conditions sur
rounding the home are what they
should be. The symptoms outlined
above are those found in severe
cases of the disease. In mild case
of the disease the child may be full
grown for his age, and his color may
be good. The only evidence of dis
ease is indigestion or an occasional
headache. 1t is in these cases that
we must use microscope to make
diagnosis. Some persons imagine
that hookworm disease is found only
among the poorer people. This is
not true. The disease recognizes no
social barriers. 1t is found among
rich and poor and high and low. If
people go barefooted or wear leaky
shoes where there are no sanitary
closets, they will continue to have
hookworm disease.
is THERE A CURE?
The disease can be easily cured
except in the extreme cases. There
is no danger in taking the medicine
to expel the worms, provided the d.
rections of physician are followed.
If the disease is mild, it may be
cured with two doses of medicine
given a week apart. Severe cases
REQUIRE four or five doses. Improve
ment usually takes place as soon as
the treatment is completed and
sometimes before. There is no other
disease which is cured so quickly.
In children, the improvement is ex-
tremely rapid. In few weeks the
child is transformed from sallow,
weak individual to a rosy-cheeked
child full of energy. In older pei
sons the changes are not so marked.
If grown person has had the dis
ease since childhood and is severely
infected, he can be greatly improved
but the ear-marks of the disease are
always there In one of our coast
counties boy seventeen years of
age was so severely infected that he
was unable to walk over half mile
without resting. A week after treat
ment he walked four miles and is
now enjoying good health. Often |
have seen men so i'll with the disease
that they could do nothing which
required any more exertion than
chewing tobacco or fishing. A few
doses of medicine would enable these
men to follow a plow all day or to
do other hard work. Think of the
many persons in our State who are
now leading life of misery on &C
count of this disease!
Sometimes the disease kills, more
often it weakenS the system so that
the person dies of typhoid fever,
pneumonia or some other disease.
If these people could be cured and
could earn wages and pay taxes how
much the revenue of your county
and of the State at large would be
Increased! These people are new
consumers. Let US cure them so that
they may become producers. We
need no drones in our hive. There is
work for every man, woman and
child to do. We are spending thou
sands of dollars each year to educate
our children, and we should spend
much more, but many of these chill
dren cannot learn. This is not lazl-
ness; it is because they are sick with