Page:The Indian Journal of Medical Research, 1920.djvu/212

 HOOKWORM INFECTION AND SANITATION. BY Dh. K. 8. MHA8KAK, m.d., m.a., b..sc., d.p.h., d.t.m. & h., Officer in clidifip Aiiktflos/ottn'nsis Irtquiry in Madras. [ Received for publication. December 7. 1920. ] It lia.s been pointed out in my jirevious papers '0' i'* that the average hookworm infection in a group of persons is proportional to the chances of infection arising from the surrounding local sanitary conditions as well as the individual habits and occupations. Thus the infection was found to be 91 per cent in the municipal town of Negapatam, and 98-7 per cent in the villages around. The percentage of infection was less in females than in males, less also in males who hiive in-door occuj)ation than in those who lead an out-door lifp. In Dindigul town '3 the number of hookworms harboured per j)orson was 11 in the upper and middle classes and 127 among the sweepers. This paj)er shows that mere improvement in sanitary conditions without the help of any specific treatment is sufficient to bring down the intensity of hookworm infection. We know from the life-history of the hookworm that the infection is concurrent with the life of the adult worm in the intestine ; and so, were an infected person to remove himself to a phice where re-infection is not jjossible, the parasite he brings with him wouhl either die or be evacuated in course of time, and natural cure would foUow. Such natural cures are not altogether unknown. Ashford and Igarravidcz® (1911) cite the case of the Porto Rico Jibaro, who, leaving their agricultural pursuits, came to a town and gradually found ( m )