28 



The Philippine Journal of Science 



1917 



infection of hookworm takes place mostly through the skin, espe- 

 cially of the legs and feet, and as a consequence the men, whose 

 work is mostly out-of-doors, are naturally more liable to infection 

 than women. 



DISTRIBUTION BY AGES 



To obtain an idea of the distribution of infection by ages, I 

 divided the persons examined into decades from the first to the 

 sixth. The seventh decade and over are included in the sixth 

 decade. Table V shows the result. 



Table V. — Infestation by ages by the 



common intestinal parasites. 



Decade. 



Individuals. 



Infected with — 



Exam- 

 ined. 



Infected. 



Trickuris. 



Hookworms. 



Ascaria. 



let — - 



98 

 355 

 615 

 241 

 164 

 129 



63 



274 



393 



153 



99 



84 



P. ct. 

 64.28 

 77.18 

 63.79 

 63.48 

 60.36 

 65.12 



43 



176 



242 



97 



55 



p. et. 

 44.08 

 49.85 

 39.12 

 40.24 

 33.53 

 43.41 



14 

 146 

 197 

 72 

 42 

 41 



P.et. 

 14.28 

 41.12 

 30.35 

 29.87 

 25.61 

 34.11 



42 

 119 

 145 

 65 

 42 

 33 



P. ct. 



42.85 

 33.52 

 33.54 

 26.75 

 25.61 

 25.58 



2d 



3d . 



4th-— - — 



6th 



6th and 7th. 













The greatest infection percentage is in the second decade, 

 while the least is in the fifth. The variation is not great even 

 in the case of Trichuris. In the case of hookworm and Ascaris 

 differences are marked in the first and second decades. In the 

 first decade hookworm infection is the lowest. In ascariasis the 

 greatest percentage of infection in the first decade may be ex- 

 plained partly by the fact that children are fed by the mothers, 

 who may be infected and whose personal hygiene is very limited. 

 Unsanitary conditions of the house and surroundings may largely 

 be contributing factors in the production of this greater per- 

 centage of ascariasis in the first decade. These facts might 

 suggest that more instruction in taking care of children be given 

 to the mothers. 



SYMPTOMATOLOGY AND PATHOGENICITY 



Trichuriasis. — The presence of Trichuris trichiura in the in- 

 testine has never been recognized in this hospital by any charac- 

 teristic symptom that it may have produced, but only by finding 

 the ova by microscopic examination of the stool. Although many 

 consider that whipworm infection is of little importance, a review 

 of the literature on this subject indicates that, if it is not patho- 



