XI, B, 1 Mendoza-Cruazon: Case of Dipylidium Caninum 29 



But not all cases of megacolon were found infested with 

 Dipylidium caninum as shown by Finney's paper, (33) nor have 

 these been found at the autopsies with greater frequence. 



As to the lesions they produce, Blanchard(3) speaks of the 

 suctorial action of the suckers and cites Schefferdecker who 

 found in some dogs, that had the parasites for a long time, a 

 considerable hypertrophy of the villi, which were from four 

 to five times larger than normal with a rich network of capil- 

 laries, and in others the mucosa had true tunnels running longi- 

 tudinally with two or three worms inside. 



REASONS FOR ITS INFREQUENCE IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



The fact that this parasite has been found in dogs (Willets. 

 Bowman, Wharton) and yet not found in man with the frequence 

 that was expected in these Islands is due, I think, to the follow- 

 ing reasons: 



1. Filipino children, especially those of the lower classes, are as a rule not 



fond of playing with dogs and cats. 



2. Puppies and cats are not usually given milk, but soft boiled rice, in a 



separate bowl when the inhabitants of the house have finished their 

 meals. 



3. Babies are almost always breast-fed, and if griven artificial feeding during 



the later years of infancy they are under the prescription of a physician 

 to avoid the so-called infantile beriberi. 



4. Babies in the small huts of the small towns are not left sleeping on the 



floor, but are placed in hammacks. They are thus little in contact 

 with cats and dogs. 



5. Although some tribes eat dog meat, they burn off the hair before removing 



the skin. 



PROPHYLAXIS 



Prophylaxis is brought about by removing the cats and dogs or 

 freeing them from their intestinal and external parasites. Those 

 who cannot afford to buy cribs should continue the custom of 

 placing the babies in native hammacks, as I suggested before (34) 

 and must teach their children not to put their fingers, or any- 

 thing that they find, into their mouths, as well as not to play with 

 cats and dogs. 



LITERATURE 



(1) Ramson. B. H. Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. (1909), 69, 84. 



(2) Stiles, C. W. Am. Med. (1903), 5, 65-66. 



(3) Blanchard, R. Arch, parasit. (1907), 11, 439-471. 



(4) Riley, W. A. Science (1910), n. s. 31, 349-350. 



(5) Bowman, F. B. Bull. Manila Med. Soc. (1910), 2, 75-76. 



(6) Willets, D. G. Ibid. (1910), 2, 262-264. 



(7) Krabbe and Ward. Cited by Riley (4) . 



(8) Strong, R. P. Circular on Tropical Diseases, Manila, P. I. (1910), 



1, 15. 



