The Pensacola journal., 1917-08-15
HOOK WORM CAU Sc
Of INEFFIC|ENCY
Board of Health Bulletin.

A disease that must be eradicated !
or reduced to the minimum in Flor !
ida is hookworms. Right at this par
ticular time, when military strength
Of the country must be increased .
and the demand for physically effci-
ent men is greatest, this most in
sldiously harmful malady presents
a factor with which the state board
of health must reckon, and, through
cooperation of the people, remove
from the bodies of the boys and girls
that they may grow to manhood and
womanhood prepared to shoulder the
responsibilities changing national
conditions will place upon them.
Hookworm is one of the most COM
mon, yet easily prevented diseases,
prevalent in Florida. The human suf-
ferlng and economic waste caused by
it is entirely out of proportion to
It's apparent death rate. Ills &C
credited to mental and moral weak
nesses are known to be caused by this
disease and can be cured with its
cure. AS DR., John A. Ferrell, of the
Rockefeller Sanitary Commission,
aptly says:
Its eradication is one of the most
important and pressing problems be-
fore the people of the southern half
of the United States and of other
! semi-tropical lands. Moreover the
! progress which has been made in re-
! cent years completely demonstrates
at once the vast benefit, in terms
both of human happiness and of in
dustrial efficiency, ath1dant on
( stamping out Of the disease, and also
+ the complete adequacy in stamping it
out, of perfectly simple precautions
prescribed by the primary rules Of
health and even of common deccncy.
Continuing, DR.. Farrell refers to
the effect of hookworm upon its vic
tim as follows:
{ For generations hookworm dis
ease has been insidiouslE spreading
unrecognized and unchecked over the
countries of the globe having a mild
climate Its victims numbering many
millions, have through centuries. no
doubt, been hosts to the small blood
sucking intestinal parasite which
causes the disease. Their strength
has been sapped, their vitality low
cred, their physical and intellectual
growth stunted. They have been
mastered in war. commerce and in
dustry by the more hearty people Of
colder latitudes to the north. The
social and economical Importance of
the disease is therefore almost be-
yond comprehension. The infection
is in most instances so insidiouslv
acquired by the unsuspecting victim
) that he and the members of his fam
lily, who are probably likewise being
infected, do not know just when the
effects of the disease began to mani
fest themselves. In the course of a
few summers, however, a once
healthy family has become pale and
puny; a once industrious family has
become lanquid and backward in its
work; once prosperous family has
fallen into debt; once proud family,
owning valuable property. has been
reduced by an easily durable and cas-
lily preventable disease to tenancy
and to poverty. The children, once
bright and we'll advanced in their
school classes, begin to lose their zeal
and their mental alertness when grad
ually robbed of their vitality They
fall behind in the struggle with their
healthier classmates, and finally dis
couraged and perhaps abused, give up
school work in despair"