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Show DISGOm IT FORT Some of the Troops From Southern States Affected by Dread Disease. TREATMENT EFFECTIVE Ailment Being Successfully' Combated by Medical Men at Post. Investigations being conducted at Fort Douglas by tin: medical depart-imiiit depart-imiiit have disclosed tin: i ut .iroti n n tact that a maximum of about o per cent of the men from the- south anions tho troops at tho local post are infected with " hookworm, " tho microscopic parasites par-asites which cause Uio highly fatal, yet ensi ly curablo, cliuca.se so prevalent in the south, and, in fact, in ail tropical cou ntrios. Tho disease lias been found only among men from the south anil, strangely strange-ly enough, tho pathology of each case shows tliat in almost every instance the infection has como through the feot, tho men at some time, having pone barefooted on tho warm, damp soil of tho south, where tho insidious and highly activo worm thrives. Tho malady yields readily to treatment, treat-ment, and fortunately all the cases found at tho local fort are at a stage where thov can be effectively handled. As a result, prompt and effective steps are being taken to cure those infected and to prevent possibility of spread ot the disease to others. The malady is parasitic, and infectious only. Infection Infec-tion conios principally from infected earth, hence is most frequently contracted contract-ed through the feet or the bauds by persons working with their hands in Infected earth. Infection has been known to result from food infected by tho worms and even from infected water, but such cases are few as compared com-pared with the cases that develop by : infection through the feet, or bauds. Examining Soldiers. Examination of all soul-horn men in the troops at tho fort is being made coincident with a similar examination being made of all southerners in the entire en-tire troop forces of tho United States. Following discovery of physicians among a southern regiment that -15 per cent of the men were infected with hookworm, an order was issued by the surgeon general of the array requiring army surgeons to make examination for hookworm of every soldier from the south in all regiments. The examination examina-tion at the local post has been under the direction of Dr. J. J. Galhgan, m charge of laboratory work at the post baso hospital. A. visit to tho post laboratory yes-terdav yes-terdav by a Tribune representative, who was shown somo of the "hookworms" "hook-worms" from victims among the troops at Fort Douglas under a microscope, was highly interesting and enlightening in tlirt Kuhiee t of hookworm disease. ,lust what the percentage of fatalities from the disease is in the United States has not been definitely determined, but in Porto Rico, where the disease was epidemic in extent, it is placed at 30 per cent in untreated cases. Treatment, however, has resulted in demonstrating that 89.5 per cent of the cases are curable, cur-able, while 2:5 per cent arc unrelieved and 8 per cent die. One-third of the fatal cases, however, it is found, are cases in which the victim is in a moribund mori-bund condition before treatment Is commenced. Another one-third die of complication of troubles and the remaining re-maining one-third of the 8 per cent die directly as the result of hookworm infection. in-fection. How Infection Grows. How the parasite gets from the ground through a person's feet and into their small intestine is explained in II,;. wa-p. The larva of the worm which is in the soil comes into contact with the skin of a bare foot. It has a peculiarly penetrative property and finds easy ingress to the blood of the veins through the tender skin under and between the toes. "Entrance of the larva into the tissues of the skin is attended at-tended bv a most severe itching sensation, sensa-tion, known as " ground itch ' ' and "toe itch," which is the first symptom ot infection. The larva moves through the veins to the heart, from there to the blood cells of the lungs, penetrates the lung tissues into the air cells of the bronchial passages. From there it goes into the throat, where it often produces an irritation and attendant cough. Then it is swallowed and lodges in the small intestines. Haye, in about ten days i;, tho ivnrU- develons and attaches itself by means of four hook-shapeu fangs to the mucous lining of the intestines. in-testines. Then the worm proceeds to suck the blood of its victim into its own stomach, robbing the victim of his blood and leaving him a victim of pro- I gressive anemia, to die a slow death ot inanition, or in plain words, starvation. ! The worm lavs its eggs in the iutes- : lines, but thev'do not hatch within the j intenstinal tract. They hatch only m the ground, which explains tins original . source of infection. |
