MALAYSIAN PARASITES XIV 
WORM INFECTIONS OF SOME MALAYAN ABORIGINES 
By 
A. A. SANDOSHAM 
The Malayan Aborigines fall into three groups, (i) the woolly-haired Negritoes, Pygmy 
Blacks or Semang, (2) the so-called proto-Malay or Jakun and (3) a short, wavy-haired less 
Mongoloid people called Sakai or Senoi. Many groups are of mixed origin, the mixture some- 
times including all three elements. The Negritoes are to be found mainly in Kedah, 
Trengganu and Kelantan, the Jakun in Negri Sembilan and Johore, and the Sakais in Pahang 
and Perak. According to the 1947 census, they number 34,734 of whom 29,648 are “ nomads”. 
The biggest number is in Pahang where there are 13,173 of whom 12,643 are nomadic. These 
estimates are all probably very low (Willams-Hunt 1952). 
The Sakai or Senoi (about whom the present survey is concerned) speak Mon-Khmer 
dialects and live mainly in the mountains and foothills of the main range and when conditions 
are favourable come down to the low country. According to Cole (1945) the most generally 
encountered settlement consists of 2 or 3 houses of closely related individuals placed in a 
small clearing. A few hundred yards away will be another similar grouping, until finally the 
settlement will extend for a considerable distance along a water course. Smaller units also 
occupy hillside clearings. Dwellings usually consists of one room with floors raised high 
above the ground on piles, with roof of thatch and sides of bamboo. 
Rice and millet are replaced when the soil in the clearing gets poorer by sweet-potatoes 
or bananas and after 3 or 4 seasons it is abandoned and the group moves on. A few chickens, 
pigs, pet monkeys or birds are seen in most settlements and dogs, unlike in Pygmy or Malay 
households, are real pets. Aside from work in the fields, the man’s chief occupation is hunting 
and fishing. 
Aborigines in Pahang 
Early in 1948 there was an outbreak of small-pox among the Senoi in Pahang and the 
Health Department had organised in April vaccination parties to camp along the banks of the 
Pahang River to gain access to the Senoi. The writer is grateful to Drs. McGarhity 
and McLintock and Che Dom for assistance in securing faecal samples from the Senoi. It 
was very difficult at first to persuade them to part with some of their faeces but 117 of them 
overcame their superstitious beliefs when bribed with headache balm, tobacco and salt. The 
specimens were obtained from Nenasi, Pekan, Maran, Ulu Mentiga, Sungei Kertan and Ulu 
Paleh Inai in Pahang. Owing to the difficult journey involved and the uncertainty of the time 
that may be taken for samples to arrive at the Kuantan Hospital for examination, it was decided 
to add 5 per cent, formalin to the faeces on receipt. (Results tabulated overleaf). 
A noticeable feature was the extreme lightness of the hookworm infection in most cases. 
Although no egg-counts were made the paucity of hookworm eggs in the stools was very obvious 
to the writer who was simultaneously examining faeces of children in Kuantan which were 
thus available for comparison. One possible explanation would be that the nomadic life of 
the Aborigines prevents heavy pollution of soil. It may also be due to the hookworms of the 
Senoi belonging to a different species or variety from the common human forms, with a lower 
egg-output. This seems unlikely because the same relative fewness of eggs was observed 
with Ascaris infection among the Senoi. Probably associated with this was the frequent 
finding of unfertilised eggs of Ascaris. In 13 out of the 90 positive cases of Ascaris infection 
only unfertilised eggs were seen and in 10 others both fertilized and unfertilized eggs were 
present. 
STUD. INST. MED. RES. 
