A STUDY OF THE INTESTINAL PARASITES FOUND IN 

 CAVITE PROVINCE/ 



By E. R. Stitt-^* 



An out-patient department where medical aid has been given such 

 Filipino patients as might present themselves, has been in operation 

 during the 3^ear 1910 at the United States naval . hospital, Caiiacao, 

 Cavite Province. 



The 932 stool examinations upon which the statistics to follow are 

 based, were therefore made upon specimens from cases of sick people 

 and of these only such patients as it was thought required such an 

 examination for diag-nostic reasons were made to bring such a specimen 

 of faeces. 



The patients presenting themselves at our clinic come almost ex- 

 clusively from the city of Cavite and the adjacent towns of Caridad and 

 San Eoque. The conditions as regards rainfall and soil considerations 

 are therefore the same for all of them. The rainfall in Cavite is slightly 

 less than in Manila, where the yearly average approximates 75 inches. 

 In this connection it should be stated that practically 80 per cent of 

 the rain of the year falls in the months from June to October. Even 

 after the most severe tropical rainfall the gTOund becomes dry in a very 

 few hours. The average yearly temperature is about 27° C. and the 

 difference between the average temperature of the coldest and hottest 

 months is only about 4° C. 



The towns of Cavite, San Eoque, and Caridad are situated on a 

 low-lying sandy peninsula, the soil being chiefly coarse-grained sand. 

 Many of the lower levels are covered at high tide with salt water from 

 the adjacent waters of Caiiacao and Manila Bay. 



These statements as to soil and climatic conditions are presented in 

 view of a probable explanation of the small number of hookworm infec- 

 tions noted in our stool examinations. 



Of the 932 examinations, 135 or 14.4 per cent failed to show the 



^Read at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Philippine Islands Medical 

 Association, February 24, 1911. 



" Surgeon, United States Navy, associate professor of medical zoology, Depart- 

 ment of Tropical Medicine, College of Medicine and Surgery, University of the 

 Philippines, Manila, P. I. 



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