Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-04-16
Intestinal
Worms Cause
Of Worries
3 Kinds Are Common
in North America
BY DIR. LOGAN CLENDENING

| ~ LIN. A>OohEN SA<EA~DE<A~AANo
CCoRDING to my mail there
"A is still a great deal of in
terest in intestinal worms.
The kind of worms we have in
North America are usually quite
harmless. although they always
alarm the parents when they are
discovered.
Or they alarm an adult when
he finds he has passed a part of
a tapeworm.
There are three kinds of in
testinal worms, all common in
North America.
One is the tapeworm which
occurs mostly in adults. and the
other two are pinworms and
roundworms which occur almost
entirely in children.
The kind of worms we have
in North America are usually
quite harmless, although they al
ways alarm the parents when
they are discovered.
Or they alarm an adult when
he finds he has passed part Of 4
tspeworm.
Il
ZACH of them has a somewhat
~ different life history, but
they all get into the body from
uncooked food.
The ordinary tapeworm de-
posits its eggs in the muscles OF
pigs and cattle and therefore il
found in pork and beef and un-
less these are entirely cooked
and their eggs destroyed. they
may thrive in the human intes-
tines and develop into an adult
tapeworm.
1t has been figured that ex-
posture to about so degrees OF
heat for a period OF four to five
hours is sufficient to destroy the
eggs in the meat. so that ordi-
nary cooking should do this.
Somehow or other in a num-
Der of cases this is not done. and
an egg lodges in the intestine
and begins to grow into an adult
tapeworm. II buries its head in
a fold of the intestine rather
high up and as the worm grows.
IL may attain length of 10 to
30 yards.
Eventually IL appears in the
stool and nearly scares the pos
SCISSOR to death.
The old superstition to the ef-
feet that q tapeworm makes
people thin and that it absorbs
food has no foundation.
Even a 30-ysrd worm does not
represent more than a good,
solid meal.
THE treatment OF tapeworm
Il is one of the easiest things
in medicine.
There are any number OF
drugs which will kill the worm.
such as male fern. peleterine
and pumpkin seed.
The great difficulty of course
IL to kill the head and for this
reason careful preparation is
necessary To prepare the in
testine by giving q saline ca
thartic in order to cleanse the
intestine completely.
Roundworms and pinworTns
are childhood diseases. Pin
worms may give a great deal
OF trouble.
They are very small and the
eggs are found on the surface OF
fruit.
The way TO prevent them
therefore is to wash all fruit
carefully before giving il to
children.
The worst trouble is that they
infect the lower bowel, crawl
out OF the anus and attach
themselves to the child's skin,
causing intense itching. discom-
fort and, with scratching, infec.
ton.
Treatment should be directed
not only at removal of WORMS
from the bowel, but also from
the skin, the bed clothes and
the underwear where they may
frequently be found.
The bed clothes and under
wear should be changed quite
frequently and boiled to prevent
reinfection from these sources.
The best drug to use in treat
ment of roundworms is chenopo-
dunn. 1t may be given either
by mouth or in the form OF an
enema.
QUESTIONS, ANSWERS
A. CATER the surgical re-
pair of a hernia, how long should
the patient refrain from any
heavy work? Would the period
be affected by the fact that the
repair was that Of a previous
hernia. or the use of a spinal
anaesthetic
Answer-The surgeon is the
best judge of how long a patient
should refrain from working
after a hernia REPAIR. Patients
are usually kept in bed for at