Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1919-08-07
|. ANY PERSONS
RE HOOKWORM
VICTIMS NOW

-oC' Ills chapter on I1OOkWOIn
IS as follows:
FOR many years it was customary
The United States to look upon
1tless people to be found in our
18th as the product of wanton lazi-
and an Unborn lack of ambition
decades the more fortunate North
Aars considered the Poor whites"
ne South good-for-nothing, ire
nsible people, worthy only of scorn
OF the sordid poverty and igno-
ee which they brought upon them
Tes as the fruits of their own shift
ness. When it became known,
rely as the result of Investigations
DR.. c. w. Stiles. of the United
les Public Health Service, that
se hopelessly incapable and pitiful-
emaciated and stunted people were
victims, not of their own unwill-
ness to work or learn, but Of the
acks of intestinal worms which
ped their vitality, poisoned their
TENS, and stunted both their men
and physical growth, and that over
million people in our own Southern
res were the victims of these para
rs, the poor whites" and "lazy mig
rs" of the South became objects of
: and help rather than of scorn."
Here we stop and throw aside the
k in disgust Just another fling
The South" says the average South
Z citizen. But those who have had
opportunity to study the subject
that our Northwestern friend is
~At after all.
The Rockefeller Foundation has
Idied the hookworm conditions in
7rgia and in the Southeastern
.es for many years and over one
. lion dollars have been spent by
school Of research in the South,
The study and treatment Of Hook
TX alone and over 100000 hook
-m patients have been treated. In
recent report the following concise
7cription of the disease is given
Hookworm disease is communica-
!. 1t is caused by a small parasitic
IN (Uncinaria). about as thick as
: ordinary pin and about half as long
ousands of them may live in the in
tine of single person: in one case
re than 5000 hookworms were pass
i by patient as a result of treat
Mt. While the female produces i'm
nse numbers of eggs, these never
ture within the host but must leave
body with the feces before they
= hatch. Under proper conditions
air, heat and moisture, they hatch
hin the brief space of from "a to
hours. When once Matched, the lar
Q, or young hookworms, too small to
seen with the naked eye, may live
a and near the surface of the ground
r many months, and so long as they
ny in the son they remain micrs-
opic in size. They get back into
g body by boring through the skin
the bare feet and hands or other
,Ttions of the body which come in
intact with soil in which they ex-
r and thus pass into the circulating
cod of the human host. Their en-
.Srce through the skin causes an itch
lch has come to be known as
-und itch. After boring through the
IN they enter the lymphatics, are
,ried through the heart, penetrate
Re lungs, make their way to the
-oat and are swallowed, after which
/ y ultimately reach the small intes-
lie. Here they grow to maturity and
main for seven years, or more, if
disturbed by treatment"
The hookworm lives upon the blood
the patient, thereby lowering the
atty and subjecting him to other
eases, such as typhoid, malaria,
4eumonia and tuberculosis. This is
1rgely responsible for the greater
..aber Of cases Of pneumonia and
ser infectious diseases among
lthern recruits in our recent mill
" mobilization camps. One regi
Mt recruited from two Southern
es showed hookworm infection of
per cent, while another showed an
ection Of 81 per cent. In both Of
ase regiments an unusually high
rtality of measles and pneumonia
ulted
Location Of the infection,
The hookworm infection in Georgia
most severe in the small towns and
-al districts where no adequate sew
age disposal is prscticed. The dis
is usually spread by focal matter.
he home or school which has no prop
-ly constructed privy is very liable In
ed to infection.
Treatment.
The treatment of hookworm is a
rv simple matter. Your State Board
Health furnishes a specimen con-
ner. furnished to any one upon re-
est. In this container bit of fecal
tter is sent to the laboratory and
q exact extent of the infection de
e mined. Th~n you are told how to
IKE the treatment. Later another ex-