6 
September, 1902, by the Division of Zoology of the Hygienic Laboratory 
under the direction of Dr. Ch. lY ardell Stiles, chief of the Division. 
The examinations were for the purpose of determining the percentage 
of intestinal infections with animal parasites and of demonstrating the 
value of microscopic examination of the feces in general clinical diag- 
nosis. The following results have been obtained from 500 white male 
patients, and include the number and kinds of infection found with 
regard to age, length of residence of the patients within the institution, 
and character of life previous to admission, together with an investiga- 
tion of the effects of parasitic infection of the intestine upon digestion 
and upon the litmus reaction of the feces. 
Frequency of infection. — Of the 500 patients examined, 66 
patients, or 13.2 jier cent, showed parasitic infection of the intestines. 
Ten patients had a double infection, and in one case three different 
parasites were present, making a total of 78 infections. These were 
distributed among five parasites, as follows: 
Parasites present. — 
Uncinm^ia americana or Agchylostoma duodenale^ (hookworms), 15 
cases, or 3 per cent of the cases examined. 
TricJiuris trichmra (whipworms), 51 cases, or 10.8 per cent. 
Oxyuris ve'rmicidaris (seatworms), 1 cases, or 0.8 per cent. 
Strongyloides stercoralis (Cochin-China worms), 3 cases, or 0.6 per 
cent. 
Ascaris lumbricoides (eelworms), 2 cases, or 0.1 per cent. 
Xo evidence of parasitic infection of the liver, stomach, lungs, or 
other organs was present. No tapeworms, fiukes, or coccidia were 
found. 
Severity of infections. — In general it ma}’' be said that the cases 
of infection with intestinal parasites found by us at the Government 
Hospital were not severe. In one or two cases of hookworm disease 
several eggs were present under a single cover-glass, but in the 
majority of cases we found onl^^ 5 or 6 eggs under the 10 covers 
examined, and in no case were the ova so numerous as in the severe 
infections with this parasite found by Dr. Stiles in the Southern States.^ 
In some cases of infection with the eggs were veiy numerous 
in the feces and indicated the presence of a great number of worms in 
the intestine, but as a rule not more than 5 or 6 eggs were found 
in examining 10 preparations. In one of the infections with Strongy- 
loides the feces were rather heavily infested with the embryos. The 
number of eggs found in the infections with Oxyuris and Ascaris was 
small. 
«See footnote page 5. 
& Report upon the prevalence and geographic distribution of hookworm disease 
(uncinariasis or anchylostomiasis) in the United States, byCh. Wardell Stiles, Ph. D,, 
Bull. 10, Hyg. Lab., U. S. Pub. Health & Har.-Hosp. Serv., Wash., pp. 1-121, figs. 
1 - 86 . 
