COMMON INTESTINAL PARASITES 



By Faustino Garcia 

 {From the Southern Islands Hospital, Cebu, P. I.) 



To obtain an idea of the prevalence of infection by intestinal 

 parasites among Filipinos in the Visayan Islands of the Philippine 

 Islands, the records of stool examinations from April, 1913, when 

 the Southern Islands Hospital was established, to November, 

 1916, were examined. For these three and a half years the stools 

 of 1,603 patients were submitted to routine examination. The 

 majority of the patients were of the lower classes, so that my 

 statistics represent more or less the common Filipino people 

 residing in the Visayan Islands and especially in Cebu Island. 



Table I gives the names of the intestinal parasites and the per- 

 centages of infections by the common intestinal parasites among 

 the Filipinos whose stools were examined. 



Table I. — Percentages of infections by the common intestinal parasites 

 among Filipinos examined. 



Patients examined 



Patients infected. 



Infections: 



Trichuris 



Hookworms 



Ascaris 



Monads.- 



Amoeba 



Strongyloides. 



Tssnia 



Oxyuris 



Hymenolcpis nana 



Total infections - 



Num- 

 ber. 



1,603 

 1,066 



669 



502 



446 



284 



17 



7 



6 



3 



1 



Percen t. 



66.5 



41.11 



31.31 



27.82 



17.70 



1.31 



0.43 



0.37 



0.17 



0.06 



1,945 ' 121.32 



These results are not to be taken as the exact percentages of 

 intestinal infections. It is to be admitted that each percentage of 

 intestinal infection found represents the minimum obtained, for 

 although two or more cover-glass preparations were made, still 

 some might have escaped diagnosis. 



25 



