Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1913-10-23


der the term "hetp" which is men 20
toned in the Ebers paDyrus, written IS
some one thousand five hundred an -
fifty years b. G. In the paPyrus the
disease was called AAA, and certain
remedies were suggested. Another an
cfent reference occurs in the Sanscrit ~ .
Harta Samhita where it is recorded 11o15
that the trouble due to swallowing 0U1OENG
clay But whatever the anCients knew
about the ancyOstOma soon disappeared from the
ock of common knowledge. and it only in
1888 that Dubini rediscovered the worm which is
responsible for such widespread distress. Some
years later Griesinger associated the presence of
the worm with profound anaemia in Egypt. Later
on it was discovered to be the cause of tropical
anaemia in Brazil. But it not till the boring
Of the St Gothard tunnel in the early eighties that
the disease attracted general attention among the
medical men of Europe. The Italian exCaVators
suffered much from this parasite that increas-
ing interest was taken in it, and for the first
time in modern medical history, it was recognized
rs causing dangerous and not infrequently IA
tai disease.
Our knowledge of the ographicaI distribution
of the worm has within the last % years Increased
amazingly and it has at the present time been
found in many countries that one may almost
state that ancylOstoma an allied genus is gen
orally endemic Of may apply this word to
worm all over the globe between the parallels
81 degrees 81 minutes north and 80 degrees south,
wherever the character and the moist condition or
the soil favors its presence. In Egypt it is found
In nearly all the natives. In parts of India 10 per
cent are infected and it seems to be equally COM
mon in Ceylon the Straits Settlements, Java,
China Japan the Philippines, the farmer parts of
South America and the West Indies, and in the
warmer parts Of Europe and North America. In
1902 ancyIostoma was discovered in the tin mines
of Cornwall England, probably introduced by the
return of miners from the Transvaal or other sub
tropical districts, and it has caused Infinite harm
In the coal mines of central Europe, especially IN
WestphaIa. Once established in its larval state
in the heat and the moisture of mine it is very
difficult to eradicate
AS is usual with parasitic worms the male Is
comparativek insignificant in number and size
compared with the female There seem to be
about three times as many of the latter as OF the
former and whereas the male measures from SIX
80 eleven miIlimeters in length the female meas
ures from seven to fifteen mtlimeters. Like all
animals that live in the dark, these little creatures
are without pigment and grayish white, but
sometimes they are stained red with the blood
they absorb from their host. AnCylostoma cannot
shut its mouth: it is perpetuC'ly open. inside It
is provided with certain strongly recurved hooks.
Into this mouth and, indeed. quite Ions way in
TO the outlet is dragged a portion of the soft mu-
cous membrane lining Of the alimentary canal of
the host and it is on the cells covering this that
the worm lives. Occasionally q blOCd-YGssel IS
rupturcd and then pinksh dnge is given to the
parasitic worm; but according to LoOss. the blood
Corpuscles are not digested. 1t is believed that
from time to time the worm shifts its position,
and that the abandoned bite continues to bleed,
and certainly there are some large glands opening
into the mouth of the worm like those that exist
in the pharynx Of the leech which may very we'll
secrete some anti-coaguating secretion.
A female anCyIostoma produces a neyer-ending
stream OF eggs. oval, transparent delcateIOoking
structures which do not develop very far until
they have passed away from the body of their
host Should however they reach a warm, moist
spot in mine or tunnel on the ground, the de
yelopment is so rapid that in one or two days a
young Iarva is Matched out very hungry and very
vigorous. devouTing whatever organic matter ii
can find SO that within 2 week it trebleS its size
but even then it is very minute. BY the end Of its
hrst seven days of free existence the embryo has
twice cast its skin, and after its second moult it
undergoes a "restcure." passing a stage compar
able with the chrysalis in insects. In this cCndi
ton il VIII live for weeks and months, moving. II
at all but Iangudly in mud or damp earth.
The question now arises: How do these larvae
find their way into the alimentaTy canal of man:
TIL a few years ago it always thought that
the transference was direct. either by means OF
drinking infected water or by means of the per
yerted instincts which the induces, for their
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