The Hookworm 



would imply that a heavy infection of the seal would produce 

 similar troubles in that host. ... A crowded condition of the 

 rookeries would render an epizootic probable. 



Stiles later named the Pribilof form Uncinaria 

 lucasi. In a second communication he states the 

 injuries from hookworm to be loss of blood, loss of 

 capacity to assimilate nutriment because of in- 

 flamed tissues, and possibly the development of a 

 specific poison. Subsequently, as I have earlier in- 

 dicated, he discovered the appalling ravages of 

 Uncinaria duodenalis among certain classes in our 

 Southern states and elsewhere in warm regions 

 and in mines. 



In the adult form all species of Uncinaria are 

 slender, yellowish little objects about a third of an 

 inch long. Whatever the host, also, process and 

 pathology are essentially the same. The minute, 

 hair-like larva enters the body through the suckling 

 mouth or through pores of the skin, ultimately 

 reaching the upper part of the small intestine, to 

 which it clings, feeding on blood and thus producing 

 anaemia. So we soon learned to recognize, by their Attacks of 

 sluggishness and general lack of interest in life, the 

 pups attacked by Uncinaria; moreover, most of 

 those trampled to death by fighting males during 

 the breeding season were thus afflicted. Along the 

 great beach of Tolstoi and on Zapadni of St. Paul 

 we collected upward of 12,000 of these worm-in- 

 fected animals and burned the carcasses. But only 

 those born and reared on the sand were affected - 

 never those on the rocks where the rains wash away 

 all excrement. Healthy pups are as round as foot- 

 balls after the first two or three weeks, and then 

 practically immune to trampling feet. 



C 585 3 



