38 DEPAETMENTAL KEPORTS. 



CONTINUATION OF EXPERIMENTS IN TREATING CATTLE, SHEEP, AND GOATS FOR 



ROUND WORMS. 



The experiments in tliis line liave Ijeen liiglily successful, and the 

 results of the work have alreadj- been ijublished. Tlie treatment with 

 a 1 per cent solution of coal-tar creosote has been found to be the 

 most satisfactory of anj^ of the methods tried in cases of infection 

 with free nematodes in the fourth stomach. This method entails only 

 one-fourtli to one-nintli the manual labor that is required when tlie 

 gasoline treatment is used, and it seems to involve less risk of acci- 

 dent to the animals. The medicine itself, when made up in large 

 quantities, costs less than one-half cent i^er dose. A recent letter from 

 Dr. Peters, of the Nebraska experiment station, states that upon 

 reading the Bureau's account of this method of treatment, he tested 

 the same for round worms in hogs and that it excels any otlier method 

 known to him. The best results, in case of infection with free round 

 worms below the stomach, were obtained by combined doses of creo- 

 sote and thymol. No success was obtained in attempting to treat 

 cases of infection with round worms encj'sted in the wall of the stom- 

 ach or the intestine. All experiments with the most approved methods 

 (intratracheal injections) of treating verminous bronchitis were also 

 negative. 



SURRA. 



Owing to the diagnosis of surra among the army horses and mules 

 in the Philippines, the zoological laboratoiy was suddenly called upon 

 for an emergency report on this disease. An extensive report has 

 been prepared and issued, and it is hoped that its contents will enable 

 the prompt recognition of this disease should it appear in the United 

 States. 



HOOK-WORM DISEASE IN MAN. 



Persons such as miners, excavators, farmers, etc., whose dailj^ work 

 brings them in contact with moist dirt, are subject, in P^urope, Asia, 

 Africa, South America, and Central America, to a disease known 

 under the various names of uncinariasis, anchylostoiniasis, brick- 

 maker's disease, etc. A few cases of this malady have been reported 

 for the United States, but it has been assumed that such cases were 

 imiDorted directly or indirectlj^ from Europe. During this last year, 

 however, we have been able to prove that this malady, as it occurs in 

 tlie United States, is due to two distinct parasites. One of these is the 

 Old World hooli worm {Unciiiai^ i a duodevalis), so common in Italy 

 and Africa, and the other is an endemic New World form, which Dr. 

 Stiles, zoologist of the Bureau, has named Uncinaria americana. 

 This disease is an important one from the agricultural standpoint 

 because of its frequencj" in farm hands in certain countries, and the 

 indications are that it is much more common in this country than has 

 heretofore been supposed. 



At the request of Dr. Walter Wyman, Surgeon-General of the 

 United States Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service, the zoolog- 

 ical laboratory has prepared an article upon this disease, giving an 

 account of the structure and life history of the parasite, together with 

 a dif-cussion of symptoms, treatment, prevention, etc. 



