MEDICAL SURVEY OF THE TOWN OF TAYTAY. 



XIII. FILARIASIS, MALARIA, TUBERCULOSIS, TYPHOID FEVER, GOITRE, 

 BERIBERI, VENEREAL AND SKIN DISEASES. 



By He>;ey J. 'Nichols.* 



Micro filaiia bancrofti was searched for in the blood taken at night 

 of 400 persons and was found in one case. This was in a man 28 years 

 old who was born in Taytay and had always lived there except for two 

 years spent recently in towns on the lake within a radius of 20 miles of 

 Taytay. He had no signs of elephantoid' disease. The embryos had 

 a nocturnal periodicity but there were very few present even at midnight. 

 'J'lie blood of the man's father contained no embryos; his wife and 

 mother declined to be examined. A number of examinations of other 

 people residing in the neighborhood were made, but were also negative. 

 Oulex fatigans Wied. was found by Banks in only one locality on the 

 opposite side of the town. 



Of the 400 persons examined about one-half were adult males, about 

 one-quarter adult females and about one-quarter children and old people. 

 The specimens were secured by going to tiendas in each part of the town 

 l)etween 8 and 10 p. m. with a lantern and depending on the natural 

 curiosity of the natives, a few coppers and the diplomacy of the medical 

 students to attract a small crowd. Usually there was little difficulty 

 in obtaining the consent of the individual to allow the specimen of blood 

 to be taken after several of the inhabitants were shown the parasite. 



A woman 33 years old, suffering with elephantiasis (Plate No. XV, 

 fig. 1) came to the clinic from Napindan, a town four miles distant, 

 where she was born and had always lived. Ten years ago her left leg 

 began to swell, this symptom being accompanied with fever. Eight 

 years ago the swelling ruptured near the ankle, discharged blood and a 

 white fluid, and then healed, leaving the markedly depressed scars seen in 

 the picture. No microfilariae were found in the serum from the leg or 

 in the blood collected at night. 



' Lieutenant, Medical Corps, United States Army, serving on United States 

 Army Board for tlie Study of Tropical Diseases as they occur in the Philippine 

 Islands. 



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