﻿NECATOR AMERICANUS IN THE PHILIPPINES. 337 



4.4 millimeters. No. 3: Length of worm, 12.6 millimeters; distance from head to 

 vulva, 5.5 millimeters. 



The ratio which the length from head to vulva bears to the length from the 

 vulva to the tip of the tail in the three eases above given is as follows : 



No. 1, 1 : 2.32. No. 2, 1 : 2.43. No. 3, 1 : 2.29. 



The ova are larger than those of Uncinaria duodenalis. (PI. IV, fig. 2.) 

 Harris 10 reports the measurements of ova of Necator americanus from 57.5 to 

 80 /j, in length and 35 to 52.5 /j. in breadth; and the average from a large number 

 of ova as 66.52 /i in length by 42.53 /i in breadth. In these cases the ova measured 

 from 58 to 73 /x in length by 36 to 46 /n in breadth. The average measurement of 

 40 ova was 66 by 40 fi. 



The attention of the commanding officer of the Division Hospital, 

 Major F. J. Ives, United States Army, having been invited to the num- 

 ber of patients from the Twenty-eighth Company of Philippine Scouts 

 admitted to the hospital and infected with Necator americanus, he re- 

 quested the chief surgeon of the Philippines Division to authorize an 

 investigation. The result was that Uncinaria ova were found in the 

 first slide from 13 of 25 men (52 per cent) examined, who at that time 

 were on duty. 



The fact that Necator americanus has been recovered from the stools 

 of all enlisted men showing Uncinaria ova, admitted to this hospital 

 since September, 1906, and that ova corresponding in measurements to 

 those of Necator americanus have been found in the stools of 52 per cent 

 of the men examined in one company, would lead one to think that a large 

 percentage of natives of the Philippine Islands harbor this parasite. 

 Craig 1X reported cases of uncinariasis in soldiers who had returned from 

 the Philippine Islands to the United States, but in those only Uncinaria 

 duodenalis was found. 



As both varieties of Uncinaria are present in the Philippine Islands 

 and as these investigations demonstrate that Necator americanus is quite 

 prevalent, uncinariasis would appear to be one of the most common 

 diseases to be found here and it would be expected that many severe cases 

 would be encountered. 



Seventy-six officers and men of the Eegular Army have been treated 

 for uncinariasis in the Division Hospital since its organization in 1898, 

 and of this number only 38 were admitted with a diagnosis of uncina- 

 riasis or ankylostomiasis. The histories of these 38 patients show gastro- 

 intestinal disturbance in 32, anaemia in 6, heart murmurs in 2. Dysp- 

 noea and oedema were not noted among the symptoms in any of them. 

 Six cases were uncomplicated by other diseases; 21 were suffering with 

 dysentery as well as ivncinariasis; 5 with diarrhoea; 5 with malaria; 1 



10 Uncinariasis (Ankylostomiasis) ; Its Frequency and Importance in the South- 

 ern States. The Atlanta Journ. — Record of Medicine (1903). 



11 The Occurrence of Uncinariasis (Ankylostomiasis) in Soldiers of the United 

 States Army. Am. J. Med. Sci. (1903), 126, 798. 



