﻿IX, B, 3 Calderon: Medical Geography of the Philippines 205 



the Philippines have now been segregated at Culion, and new 

 cases that appear are transferred to that colony as rapidly as 

 practicable. Apparently the number of new cases of this disease 

 has already been reduced to less than 700 per annum, and by 

 persistently carrying out the policy of isolation there is much 

 hope that in time to come this terrible scourge can be entirely 

 eliminated from the Philippine Islands; or, at least, its ravages 

 reduced to proportions that will compare with the more advanced 

 countries of the world. In this connection, it is interesting to 

 observe that, while Cebu Island has approximately one-tenth of 

 the population of the Philippine Islands, yet it furnished over 

 one-half the lepers that have been collected. 



AM(EBIC AND BACILLARY DYSENTERIES 



Amoebic and bacillary dysenteries still prevail to a very great 

 extent in the Philippines, The latter occurs almost annually in 

 epidemic form, and is most prevalent in those provinces in 

 which there is a poor water supply. For instance, on Catan- 

 duanes, a small island with a population of 39,288 and which 

 is noted for its poor water, there were several hundred deaths in 

 1912 from bacillary dysentery; whereas, in towns in which there 

 is good artesian water, bacillary dysentery is becoming less and 

 less common. This one disease alone affords most concrete proof 

 of the necessity of improving the water supply of the Philippines, 

 and if one active doctor in each community would constantly 

 keep this matter before the attention of the residents no doubt 

 great improvement could be brought about in the course of a 

 few years. Amoebic dysentery up to comparatively recent times 

 was believed to be a disease which mostly afflicted Americans 

 and Europeans, but the autopsies made at the city morgue showed 

 that 33 per cent of the persons afflicted with this disease were 

 Filipinos. There is already much evidence accumulating, how- 

 ever, to show that amoebic dysentery is becoming less frequent. 

 This is probably somewhat influenced by the improved hygiene 

 which is taking place among the masses, making it a criminal 

 offense to use human excrement as a fertilizer or insecticide. 

 Owing to the fact that diagnoses can only be verified in a few 

 isolated instances in the provinces, there are as yet no reliable 

 data available as to the localities in which this disease is most 

 common. 



FILARIA 



Another disease, which as yet has not attracted great attention 

 in the Philippine Islands but which is of more and more im- 

 portance, is filariasis. For instance, an examination of 2,629 



