The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-04-22
BILLION PEOPLE IN
THE HO0KWORM BELT
Disgusting Disease that Saps Energy
of Thousands of Florida Children
can be Cured by Few Mild doses.


of Thousands of Florida Children |
can be Cured by a Few Mild doses |
Jacksonville, April 20.-Nearly a |
billion people live in the hookworm
belt
1t stretches around the earth, six
ty-six degrees wide. 1t includes forty
seven countries with an area of fif-
teen million square miles, and Flor
ida is within the belt.
In this vast area which is the home
of about one-third Of the worlds
population, the disease is almost the
easiest thing to get rid of, excepting
money-the easiest of all the diseas-
es that reduce the working efficiency
of mankind. Ninety of each one hun
dred of the working population of
Porto Rico had the disease in 1904,
but under the systematic treatment
the cases in that country are being
reduced by twenty thousand a year.
At least ninety per cent of the peo-
pie of Colombia living between sea
feet elevation have it. One-half of
the population of British Guiana has
it; almost two million of the people
of India have it and it is estimated
that three of every four people in
southern China are afflicted.
How many of Florida's popula-
ton have it?
No census of hookworm patients
has been taken, but within the past
two years a canvass was made of the
country schools in the central part
of the state, with the result that
more than six thousand cases were
discovered, or more than one-haf of
the school children who were exam
ined.
The economic loss cause by the dis
ease is beyond estimation, because it
effects directly the physical efficiency
| of its victims. 1t dulls their intel
lectual capacity and by weakening
the system it makes the way easier
for the attack of other diseases,
some of them most virulent and &C
tive. Actual observation in various
localities has demonstrated that per-
sons suffering from. the disease are
capable Of performing and actually
do perform, from one-half to two
thirds less work than when in nor
I m Of
from every part of the world where
the ailment prevails show practical
| ly the same results. The sufferers
appear to lose all ambition and most
of their energy. They move about in
a sort of mental and moral lethargy
to save funeral expenses, Indifferent
as to when the final obsequies may
become necessary.
| Yet the hookworm disease is al
most the easiest to be mastered of
all the physical troubles that attack
mankind dose o. epson salts,
followed by a does of thymol and a
second dose of salts. Thymol is
made from the thyme that grows in
most all well regulated gardens, and
it is just as simple and as harmless
in it's action as the epson salts.
Usually one treatment is effective;
if not, the second one will be. Fur
thermore the disease is one that
lends itself to quick results. II
changes lazy, good-for-nothing boys
and girls into sprightly, energetic
individuals within few weeks. But
the greatest difficulty that is found
by those who are Systematically fight
ing the disease is not in curing it
but inducing the sufferers to be cured
to accept salvation for themselves OF
their children.
Florida's state board of health i!
2 working to eradicate the diseas.
from its jurisdiction. 1t is trying Il
T discover the infection, to induce thu
: use of the simple cure, and the mex
1 hardest task will be to keep the III
lection out. 1t is largely matter o
i education, to show the serious harm
that is caused, to demonstrate in ev
cry community how easily it may b
banished and to enlist the co-opera
ton of the people of the state t
: keep it under control
The effects of the disease hav
been described. Its cause may b
told again and again, if for no othe
reason than to inspire disgust wit,
it.
The hookworm lives in the intes,
n ines of the human body and suck
the blood of the patient. 1t inject
a poison into the system. It lay
v thousands Of eggs which are passe
= out of the BODY in the excreta. Thes