Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1923-04-07
WAR ON DISEASE
FULL Of THRILLS
Many Victories Won in Bitter
Battles Waged for Conquest
of Contagion.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST HOOKWORM
Not Person In Virginia County Has
Enough Hookworms In His Body
to Produce Any Of the Symp-
toms Of the Malady.

S0Nto VI StsO UnNs0AJs
Washington.-"f persistent echoes
Of wars disturb ones peace Of mind 1t
is a wholesome antidote to turn atten-
ton occasionally to another sort OF
world struggle, beneicent war-the
war against disease" says bulletin
from the Washington headquarters OF
the National Geographic society based
on a communication to the society
from William Joseph Showalter.
"In all the stirring history of mans
effort to make himself master Of his
environment, there is no more thrilling
chapter than that which tells Of the
bitter battles he has waged for the
conquest Of contagion.
"Three announcements Of almost
unprecedented import to mankind are
expected to be made at no distant date.
''The first Of these, chronologically,
at least, will be that yellow fever has
at last been banished from the face Of
the earth, and that the germ which
causes it has become extinct, along
with the dinosaur, the dodo, the great
aux and the passenger pigeon.
"The next in order will probably be
that hookworm disease, which has.
been called q 'handmaiden Of poverty,
an associate Of crime and degeneracy,
a destroyer Of energy and vitality,
menace and an obstacle to all that
makes for civilization and which Is
10 to fhot oyrnhNo h0lf
of the earth's population, can be
driven from any community which has
the will to get rid Of it.
'Last will come the statement that
large-scale demonstrations have
proved that malaria can be eradicated
from almost any community that has
enough vital force left to push
thorough, though inexpensive, cam
paign for its extirpation.
Virginia Early Campaign Center.
Richmond county, Virginia, where
the war on the hookworm as a world
wide fight had its inception, stands out
as an example Of what may be accom-
plished and as an evidence that 1t can
be accomplished with much less diff
Guilty than was formerly supposed.
"When the work began there, about
thirteen years ago, 50 Ter cent Of the
people had the disease. A few years
later resurvey showed that this had
been reduced to IS per cent. A more
recent resurvey reduced it to 2 per
cent, and in 1922 it can be announced
that there is not single person in the
entire county in whose body the
worms are numerous enough to pro-
duce any Of the symptoms Of the
malady.
"There are two kinds Of hookworms
that invade the human body, an Old
World species known as Ancylostoma
duodenale and. the New World form
known as Necator americanus.
"The New World species Of hook
worm Is a small parasitic creature
about as thick as an ordinary pin and
half as long. The adult female worm,
inhabiting the small intestine. lays
thousands Of eggs daily. After these
pass out Of the body they hatch with
in one or two days. They are micro
scopic in size when Matched and never
grow larger as long as they remain in
the ground.
"Then comes along a pair Of bare
feet or hands, or some other part Of
the body touches the infected ground,
and the little villains make the most
Of their opportunity. They promptly
begin to bore their way through the
skin, causing severe irritation known
as ground itch.' Once under the skin,
they travel through the tissues until
they come to the Emphatic system,
and thence into the blood.
''Finally, after passing through the
heart and lungs, they reach the throat
and pass thence through the stomach,
ultimately landing in the small intes-
tine. to whose wall they fasten them
selves, and for as much as seven years,
If not disturbed by treatment, take
their fill of the victims blood and in.
testinal tissue.
How They Do Their Work.
"They develop in their salivary
glands a substance that has q marked
power Of inhibiting coagulation Of the
blood. Attaching themselves to the
surface Of the intestinal wall, rasping
and sucking away the delicate inner
cells on which they feed, they lay bare
the deeper tissues, and the wound con-
tinues to bleed for a long time, even
after the worm has deserted the spot
to which 1t was attached.
''But they go even further than that.
BY some method not well understood,
they cause the blood to undergo q
change, reducing the amount Of hemo-
globin-the element that makes us
red-blooded, and which constitutes the
ingredient that tends to render healthy
blood an unfertile soil for the seeds of
infection sown there through lack Of
sanitation.
"Yet, owing to the fact that its
every stage 10 SO well known, that the
methods Of combating it are SO dra-
matically effective, and that those who
are cured so quickly begin to expert
ence the joys Of living once more, It
makes itself the most readily and sue
Es,II -