166 



The Philippine Journal of Science 



1913 



by us, as these worms are notably extremely difficult to dislodge 

 by medication. 



In our autopsy series no instance has occurred where any 

 pathological condition was encountered which could be traced 

 to Trichuris even though very large numbers of the parasites 

 have been found in some of the cases. They are not infre- 

 quently attached rather intimately to the mucous membrane 

 of the cascum, and the sole exception to the above statement 

 of the absence of pathological conditions has been the occasional 

 finding of minute petechias in the mucosa of the ceecum which 

 have been attributed to Trichuris. However, this relation has 

 not been established by serial microscopic sections. 



On account of the frequent assertion that Trichuris is more 

 prevalent in females and children than in males and adults, 

 our records were examined to ascertain the incidence in our 

 series with respect to sex and age. The following record shows 

 our findings. 



Table V. — Incidence of trichuriasis according to age and sex. 





Total 

 males. 



Males 

 under 



15 

 years. 



Males 

 over 15 

 years. 



Total 

 fe- 

 males. 



Fe- 

 males 

 under 



15 

 years. 



Fe- 

 males 

 over 15 

 years. 



Total 

 under 



15 

 years. 



Total 

 over 15 

 years. 



Total. 



Cases examined 



Cases trichuriasis _ 



Per cent trichuriasis... 



353 

 120 

 33.9 



78 

 14 

 17.9 



275 

 106 

 38.5 



147 

 52 

 35.4 



38 

 4 

 10.5 



109 

 48 

 44.0 



116 

 18 

 15.53 



384 

 154 



40.1 



500 

 172 

 34.4 



Examination of this table shows that in our series the oc- 

 currence of Trichuris in females is very little more frequent 

 than in males, and that the cases over 15 years of age had the 

 parasites nearly three times as frequently as those under that age. 



Metchnikoff (10) was the first to ascribe a role to Trichuris 

 in the etiology of appendicitis, and the literature on the whole 

 subject of trichuriasis up to 1908 had been carefully reviewed 

 by Musgrave, Clegg, and Polk,(li) who say that "very little 

 is given about the clinical findings, but a priori there is no 

 reason to assume that they would be materially different from 

 appendicitis of other etiology." 



Castellani and Chalmers (12) in discussing the appendicular 

 variety of trichuriasis say "the symptoms of this variety are 

 the same as those for appendicitis arising from other causes. 

 Operative treatment reveals the nature of the malady." 



Cecil and Bulkley(l3) have reported finding trichurides in 

 two cases of appendicitis, 1 catarrhal in tjrpe and 1 gangrenous. 



