250 CHAMBERLAIN. 



4,106 Filipino prisoners at Bilibid Prison (2) where 52 per cent were found 

 to be the hosts of uncinaria, though rarely were these infections severe ones (3). 

 The great majority of these prisoners were adult males. As high as 60 per 

 cent of infections has been reported among Philippine Scouts in the United 

 States Army ( 2 ) . These high rates among Scouts and at Bilibid apparently 

 are not a correct index of the prevalence of hookworm infection in the general 

 population, if the results of subsequent work can be taken as representative. 

 In the medical survey of Taytay (4), a representative Tagalog town in Luzon, 

 1,000 persons were examined and 11.6 per cent were found infected (males, 

 17.2 per cent; females, 6.6 per cent). The greatest number of worms recovered 

 from any case was 14, and all worms found were of the species Neoator atner- 

 icanus. Few of the infected ones presented any symptoms which could be 

 attributed to hookworms, and the percentage of haemoglobin in the infected 

 cases was rather higher than in the noninfected. 



Of 385 native women and children examined in Manila, 13 per cent were 

 hosts of uncinaria. In the town of Las Pinas (5), Rizal Province, an examina- 

 tion of 6,000 people, completed by the Bureau of Health, September 30, 1909, 

 showed 16.13 per cent infected with hookworms (males, 24 per cent; females, 

 8 per cent). A still more recent examination of 2,500 persons in the Cagayan 

 valley showed 11.15 per cent of infection (males, 21 per cent; females, 9 per 

 cent; children, 2 per cent). 



The above figures from these widely separated localities in Luzon indi- 

 cate that the infection for the general population of this island probably 

 does not exceed 15 per cent, which is very low as compared with that in 

 many other tropical countries; India showing from 65 to 83 per cent (2) 

 and Porto Eico 90 per cent or more. This fact is surprising when one 

 considers the habits of the natives, namely, careless disposal of excreta, 

 bare feet, impure water supply. Furthermore, the agricultural pursuits of 

 the inhabitants, combined with excessive moisture and rank vegetation, 

 should, theoretically, lead to almost universal hookworm infection. The 

 parasites seem to cause little disability among the Filipinos, and uncina- 

 riasis apparently is of slight economic importance here. This again 

 contrasts sharply with conditions in Porto Eico. However, the disease 

 is sufficiently common in the Philippines to lead to very general pollution 

 of the soil and hence to the possible infection of white men. 



OPPORTUNITIES FOE IMPORTATION FROM THE UNITED STATES. 



The prevalence of uncinariasis among the inhabitants of the southern 

 portion of the United States has been the subject of so much recent 

 literature that I shall merely refer to the fact that the condition is 

 extremely general throughout this region, many investigators, in large 

 series of cases, having found 50 per cent of infections, and some claiming 

 that 90 per cent of the rural population of certain sections is suffering 

 from uncinariasis (11) (12) (14) (15) (16) (17). 



The feature which especially pertains to my present subject is the 

 prevalence of helminthiasis among United States soldiers, because the 



