22 
since Ascaris gave uniformly a higher rate of infection among females 
and since Trichuris gave a higher rate among females at the Con- 
necticut hospital and at the orphanage, while the higher male rate 
with whipworms at the Government hospital seems to be explained 
bv infections introduced among the males bv soldiers returned from 
recent army and tropical life. The hookworm infections found at the 
Government hospital, all but one of which occurred in males, may 
also be excluded from our sex statistics as being due to the influence 
of the army men; the three remaining hookworm infections, one at 
the orphanage and two at the Connecticut hospital, show a slightly 
higher rate per cent of infection among females than among males. 
Both males and females presented one infection with the fat tapeworm, 
the rate per cent being somewhat higher among females. 
In interpreting these results as indications of the general relative 
frequency of each species of intestinal worm in the two sexes certain 
precautions are necessary. In the first place, the value of the statis- 
tics in this respect for any one species is directly proportional to the 
number of infections present. Thus the rates of infection with hook- 
worms at the orphanage and the Connecticut hospital and the -total 
rates for Tsenia saginata, taken alone, have practically no significance 
with regard to the general relative frequency of these worms in the 
two sexes, since they represent only 2 and 3 infections, respectively. 
Cochin-China worms, with 8 infections and with a higher rate of infec- 
tion among males than among females at both the Government and 
Connecticut hospitals, gave a much stronger indication of a relatively 
higher frequency in the male sex. In the case of Hymenolepis nana 
the evidence in favor of a greater frequency among males than among 
females seems fairlv conclusive: 5 of the 6 infections with this worm 
found at the Government hospital and the 6 infections found at the 
orphanage were present in male patients. The greater frequency of 
the dwarf tapeworm among males than among females has been 
reported also by Cima in Italy. 
Too much importance must not be attached to the excessive male 
infection with pinworms. Aside from the fact that a microscopic 
examination of the feces is not a satisfactory method of diagnosing 
pinworm infections, the simple life cycle of the worm and its direct 
transmissibility from person to person would indicate that it would 
spread in any part of an institution in which it happened to be 
introduced. 0 
Ascaris lumbricoides , with a total of 17 infections and a higher rate 
of infection among females than among males in each of the three 
institutions, 'seems to show a predisposition to eelworm infection on 
a For the distribution of pinworms among the different sections and wards of the Connec- 
ticut hospital see page 53. 
