Evening star., 1925-05-07
PORTO RICO HEALTH
VASTLY IMPROVED
Discovery of t1ookworm
Leads to Gradual Conquer
ing of Sickness Causes.
BY GIDEON A. LYON.
Il - Ao ~ ~ j
VII.

This is going to be the least pleas
ant of the preSelt series of articles
about Porto Rico and it's progress
under the American flag. For it is to
deal frankly with conditions and facts
of a disagreeable nature, but of the
most vital Importance to any COM
munity. Yet it is necessary as part
of the whole story and, moreover, 1t is
highly encouraging and reassuring.
The actual political warfare in Porto
Rico in 1898 was very brief. 1t was,
indeed, little more than a formality..
Almost from the beginning of the new
regime, however, another warfare was
begun, and it is still being waged, and
IL Will be conducted continuously and
vigorously for an indefinite time. But
instead of taking lives, it saves them.
Instead of Gripping people, 1t restores
them. For it is the war against dis
ease, against insanitation, against mall
nutrition. against the ignorance that
causes physical degeneracy.
When the American military gov
ernment was established at San Juan
the medical officers of the Army OBJ
served that the working people of the
island were plainly below par, weak.
listless, unambitious-in fact, suffering
from some widely prevalent sickness
Inquiry disclosed that this condition,
thorities. was called by broad and in
truth evasiVe title. ''anemia."
Enormous quantities of nostrums
were consumed by the people. A flood
of thousands of gallons of patent blood
restOrerS and 'tonics' flowed into the
island annually; draining the packets
Of the iibaros and giving them 40 re
lief from their deplorable condition.
Armenia" was an evasive titke only
because nobody knew better. Nobody
knew for a fact what 'ailed" the jibaro
and his family The medical officers
of the American Army accepted
"anemia" as a covering term, but not
as a definition. Anemia, they con-
cluded, was merely a symptom, and
they sought the cause, which is the
course of true science.
Root of AiIment Discovered
1t fell to the lot of an American
Army doctor. Col. Bailey Ashford-a
native of Washington, by the way-to
find that cause. He discovered that
the root of the ailment from which
virtually an entire nation was suffer
ing lay in the presence within the in
testinal tract. of a parasitic worm
which took its toll of blood and emit
ted a poison and thus doubly depleted
the energies and sapped the vitality of
the sufferer. From the mandibles with
which this worm attached itself to the
intestinal wall it was called the hook
worm" and by that name it is known
today throughout the world
As soon as the cause of the debili-
tation of the people was ascertained
remedies were applied to rid the pa
tents of the parasites. Salts and
thymOl were found to be effective for
this purpose and to rebuild the de-
pleted system. But how was the in
off,
could be answered no real progress
could he made toward eradication.
1t was then that DR.. Ashford deter
mined that q vicious circle of Infection
was in progreSs-a discovery compar-
able in Importance to the physical
and economic welfare of humanity
with that of the discovery Of the bear
ing of yellow fever and malaria by
mosquitoes.
1t was found that the discharges
from patients contained the eggs of
the parasite and that these eggs quick |
ly hatChed in the soil and became tiny
larvae, which. upon contact with the
skin of a human being, entered the
body through the pores of the lynn
phatic system and so found fodgment
in the intestinal tract, there to develop
and to hook upon the walls and take
toll of blood and to emit poison and to
discharge eggs and thus continue the
devastating procedure of reinfection.
Thus the problem assumed a dual
form-to cure the sick and to prevent
further infection. 1t was not hard to
get the people TO submit to curative
treatment. As soon as a few OF the
more influential members of the great
jibaro family were restored to health
by the systematic giving OF salts and
thymol others came fioeking. until ia
cil1tfeS for treating the cases We're
OyertaXed.
Habits to Be Changed.
But it was another thing to per-
suade. the people that their proniscu,
Gus physical habits must be changed
for the better, and that to prevent in
fection from a polluted soil the bare
feet must be covered. Those lessons,
started more than two decades ago,
are still in progress.
The technical name Of "hookworm
disease" is ''uncinariasis. 1t is a
formidable title in appearance. The
people. however. have come to know
it perfectly: They are aware that bad
physical habits and the lack of shoes
lead to "anemia" and they are strug-
Cling to overcome these deficiencies.
In the course of my visit to Porto
Rico | spent morning with DIR. Ash |
ford in his laboratory of the School of
Tropical Medicine, in the Pink Pal |
ace" as the former residence of the !
lieutenant governor in the old Spanish !
days is called. Attended by a group |
of his assistants, all young Porto /
Ricans of the highest intelligence and |
eagerness in scientific research, he !
gave me the benefit of a most inter !
esting and instructive talk on "sprue," |
u tropical disease which is now en-
gaging attention as a menace TO
health After some time with tho die |