11 
within three }’ears, thus presenting conditions about the same as found 
among the Philippine men. The frequency of infection, however, 
was only 20 per cent, as compared with 42.16 per cent among the sol- 
diers returned from the Philippine Islands. The much higher rate of 
infection in the Philippine men can be accounted for by the greater 
prevalence of the parasites in the Philippines and by the poor sanitary 
conditions under which it was necessaiy for the men to live during 
active service in the islands. 
The results obtained in these examinations at the Government hos- 
pital would indicate that a large number of the United States soldiers 
returning from service in the Philippine Islands return with a para- 
sitic infection of the intestines. While the percentage of infection 
with hookworms (16.95 per cent) among these soldiers was not so 
high as that with whipworms (39. 98 per cent), its clinical importance 
is much greater, because of the severe anemic and nervous symptoms 
which the hookworm is capable of producing; and the danger of this 
parasite being spread in this country, especially the danger of its being 
carried to parts of the countiy where it does not now exist, makes 
the presence of hookworm infection among the soldiers returning from 
the Philippines a matter of moment from the view-point of public 
health. ® 
The patients admitted from the Army after the outbreak of the 
Spanish- American war show a much higher rate of infection (20 per 
cent) than do those admitted from the Regular Army before 1898 (10 
per cent). In the former class we find an average age of 34.8 years 
and only four men who had been in the hospital longer than three 
years. In the latter class the average age was 45.6 years, and all 
except six of the men had been in the hospital longer than eight 3 ’^ears. 
According!}", the lower percentage of infection among the soldiers 
admitted before the war seems to be due to a combination of three 
factors, namely, greater age, longer period of institutional life, and 
the better sanitary a;id hygienic conditions found at the Regular 
Army posts than in the temporary reserve camps established during 
the war. 
Considering the 124 patients who had been admitted to the Govern- 
ment hospital from the United States Soldiers’ Homes, we find the 
highest average age (62.9 years) of any of the classes studied, and 
while 97 of the 124 men had been received at the hospital within three 
years prior to our examination, all of them had resided for a longer 
or shorter period at the Soldiers’ Homes, so that we have a combina- 
« Since this report was prepared the feces of 9 soldiers newly arrived at the Gov- 
ernment hospital from the Philippines have been examined for parasites. Six of 
the 9 men Avere infected, 1 Avith hookAvorms alone, 1 with hookworms and Tri- 
churis, 2 with Trichuris alone, 1 Avith Ascaris lumbricoides alone, and 1 Avith Ascaris 
lumbricoides and Trichuris. 
