276 



OTHER INTESTINAL ROUNDWORMS 



The symptoms produced by Ascaris infection vary greatly 

 with different individuals. In some cases a great number of 

 Ascaris may be harbored with practically no ill effects. Often, 

 however, even when small numbers are present, peculiar mental 

 and constitutional ailments occur, such as feverishness, anemia, 

 restle'ssness, epilepsy, insomnia and deliriousness. In combina- 

 tion with these nervous troubles there is usually some dyspeptic 

 trouble, such as irregular appetite, nausea and stomach aches. 

 The nervous and other constitutional symptoms are the result 



of poisoning or intoxication from sub- 

 stances given off by the worms in the 

 intestine, as explained in Chapter XI, 

 p. 203. The worms occasionally creep 

 forward into the throat or nose. Their 

 wandering into other organs through 

 ducts leading from the intestine or 

 into the body cavity through the in- 

 testinal walls often gives rise to serious 

 abscesses which call for an operation 

 and removal of the intruders. 



Santonin has been the classical 

 drug for expelUng Ascaris, but oil 

 of chenopodium has recently been 

 demonstrated to be considerably more 

 effective. According to Hall and 

 Foster oil of chenopodium, properly 

 administered (see Chap. XIV, p. 264), 

 is almost 100 per cent effective for 



Fig. 110. Human whipworm, 

 Trichuris irichiura: A, female; 

 ov., ovary; ut., uterus; v., vulva; 

 int., intestine; w., whiplike an- 

 terior end containing oesophagus. 



X 3. B, egg; note barrel shape ascarids, and is more dependable than 



x°56o!''"^"^' ^""^'^^ ^^ ""'''■ *^^y 0*^^^ d™g commonly used for 



worms. 

 Whipworm. — With the possible exception of the hookworms, 

 the whipworm, Trichuris trichiura (Figs. 106 and 110), is the 

 most common intestinal worm parasitic in man. It is a nema- 

 tode related to the trichina worm in which the anterior end of 

 the body is drawn out into a long filament hke the lash of a 

 whip. Closely related species are found in many other animals. 

 The narrow portion of the body in the human species occupies 

 about three-fifths of the entire length of the body, and contains 

 only the long slender oesophagus. The sexual organs and in- 



