THE DISTRIBUTION OF FILARIA IN THE PHILIPPINE 



ISLANDS/ 



By James M. Phalen and Henry J. Nichols.- 



I. Introduction. 

 II. Material. 



III. Methods. 



IV. Distribution. 



V. Filarial Parasites of Man and Animals. 

 VI. Practical Considerations. 

 VII. Conclusions. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 



In a brief article published the previous year,-' the writers reported 

 the result of a little over one thousand blood examinations for filaria. 

 these examinations being made in various localities in Mindanao, Cebu, 

 and ]\Ianila. 



The investigations indicated that a small amount of filariasis was 

 present throughout the Archipelago, and to form some adequate idea 

 of its prevalence and distribution, the examinations thus commenced 

 have been since continued. 



The present paper is based i;pon nearly 6,400 examinations of 

 as many subjects, with positive findings in 137 cases, showing nearly 

 2 per cent of infection for the Islands. The localities covered by these 

 investigations include nearly the whole of Luzon, the principal islands 

 of the Visayan group, the northern end of ^lindoro, and scattered sec- 

 tions near the coast of Mindanao. 



ir. ]\[ATE1{IAL. 



The enlisted personnel of the Philippine Scouts furnished 4,883 

 subjects for examination, the remaining number being made up of house 

 servants and quartermaster employees at different military stations, in- 

 mates of provincial jails, and others from whom blood sj^ecimens could 



' Read at the Sixtli Annual Meeting of the Philippine Islands Medical Associa- 

 tion, Manila, P. I., February 13, 1909. 



- Captain, Medical Corps, United States Armj-, and first lieutenant. Medical 

 Corps, United States Army, constituting the United States Army Board for the 

 Study of Tropical Diseases, as They Occur in the Pliilippine Islands. 



'This Journal, ^ec. B. (1908), 3, 30.5. 



127 



