194 GARRISON. 



of about 5,000 examinatons which he made upon these 4,106 prisoners 

 either before or after their examination by Dr. Edwards or myself. 



Since the work of accurately determining the specific identity of the 

 parasites found is still in progress; since in many cases it is impossible 

 to make more than a generic diagnosis from the ova alone and since 

 further, the medical and sanitary interests involved are, . with few ex- 

 ceptions, identical for different species of the same genus, we shall use 

 only generic names throughout the present paper. 



In addition to the microscopic findings, a record was kept of the prov- 

 ince from which each prisoner came, with the object of discovering any 

 inequalities in the geographical distribution of infections which might 

 be of practical value with regard to the establishment of sanitary pro- 

 cedures in the Islands. 



GENERAL RESULTS. 



Of the 4,106 prisoners examined, 3,447 were found to be infected with 

 one or more species of animal parasite, an average of 84 per cent. The 

 total number of infections was 7,636, an average of 186 infections for 

 each 100 prisoners examined. 



Unfortunately we know of no statistics for tropical countries, based 

 upon an adequate number of examinations, which are suitable for close 

 comparison with these figures for the number of infected persons. The 

 Anajmia Commission of Porto Eico reported 100 per cent of the persons 

 which were examined to be infected with hookworms, their work being 

 directed purposely to that parasite and their report not being upon a 

 true statistical basis for the general population. Dobson and Pearnside, 

 in India, give the number of infections found, but fail to state the number 

 of persons infected. Calvert, in India, found 92 per cent infected, but 

 examined only 100 men. 4 



The total number of infections reported by these authors is as follows : 



Authority. 



Date. 



Country. 



Number 

 examined. 



Number of 

 infections. 



Per cent. 



Aneemia Commission 



1904 

 1901 

 1900 

 1893 





4,482 

 100 

 S78 



1,249 



6,259 

 143 

 921 



1,340 



139. 64 

 143 



104.90 

 107.28 



India __ . 



__do 







do 







* For complete bibliographical references to authorities quoted in the present 

 paper see Stiles & Garrison; A Statistical Study of the Prevalence of Intestinal 

 Worms in Man: Bull. Hyg. Lab., U. S. Pub. Health <& Mar.-Hosp. Serv., Wash. 

 (1906), 28, 74-77. 



