Rural Diseases

Hookworm.

Hookworm, or ancylostomiasis, is a condition caused by a parasite found in tropical and subtropical climates, especially where the inhabitants do not wear shoes and where the soil is contaminated by human excrement. In the early twentieth century Dr. Charles Wardell Stiles of the United States Public Health Service found that hookworm was epidemic in the southern United States. The parasite entered the sole of the foot and made its way to the intestine, resulting in pain, diar-rhea, anemia, and listlessness. Victims sometimes experienced a craving to eat a certain type of white clay.

Sanitary Commission.

The Rockefeller Foundation established a sanitary commission that educated people about the problem and encouraged practical measures for permanent sanitation. In sixteen southern counties surveyed by Rockefeller workers between 1910 and 1915, the rate of hookworm infection was 59.2 percent. By 1923 the...

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