NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF FILARIA NOCTURNA IN 

 THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



By James M. Phalen and Henry J. Nichols. 1 



The origin of filariasis in the Philippine Islands, as well as that of 

 most other diseases is, and apparently must remain, a matter of con- 

 jecture. Anthropologists are not agreed as to whether the Philippines 

 in their island-form ever had any original inhabitants or, if so, who they 

 were. However, Foreman states that, at the present time, "the Filipinos 

 are a mixed people, descendants of Papuan, Arabian, Hindoo, Malay, 

 Japanese, Chinese, and European forefathers." Filaria noctuma is 

 common in China, India, Samoa, the Friendly and Society Islands, but 

 we have no data to decide from which of these places, if any, the parasite 

 was originally introduced. 



Our data on the present distribution of filariasis relate only to Filaria 

 noctuma, as this is the only one we ourselves have observed. As we have 

 shown in the preceding paper, southeastern Luzon is a marked focus of 

 filariasis, over 10 per cent of 80 persons from Albay Province being 

 infected. Unpublished reports lead us to believe that the same may be 

 true of Davao, Mindanao, and possibly of the east coast of Samar. Out- 

 side of these regions we have the resvdts of the examination of 1,178 of 

 the general population, which are as follows : 



Place. 



Number 

 exam- 

 ined. 



Number 

 infected. 



Per cent 

 infected. 



Filipinos., Moros. 



Japa- 

 nese. 



Chinese. 





267 

 188 

 115 

 60 

 113 

 203 

 232 



6 

 3 

 6 

 

 1 



11 



2.3 

 1.5 

 5.2 

 

 .8 

 .9 

 4.8 



114 

 159 

 115 



95 

 29 



39 



19 



Cotabato _ _ 



Cudarangan _ _ 







60 







Overton _ 



Cebu 



113 

 202 

 230 











1 

 2 







Total examined 







1,178 







933 

 2.6 



184 

 3 



1.6 



39 

 1 



2.5 



22 

 







29 





Total infected (per 













Of 74 women, 3.4 per cent were infected. 



1 James M. Phalen, captain, Medical Corps, United States Army, and Henry 

 J. Nichols, first lieutenant, Medical Corps, United States Army, constituting the 

 United States Army Board for the Study of Tropical Diseases as they occur in the 

 Philippine Islands. 



305 



