MEDICAL ROMANCE

Hokitika Guardian, 27 December 1924, Page 4

MEDICAL ROMANCE

CONQUEST Ob' HOOKWORM. Tlie story of the conquest of the hookworm disease is one of the most astonishing among the many astonishing romances of medical history of the past few years. And among the many brilliant triumphs over disease, such as tlu‘ subjugation of diabetes, wound infection. yellow lever, malaria, and so on, which were made by investigators working directly on these diseases as special problems, and usually with large stall’s and expensive equipment, the discovery of the latest and most elfective weapon against this parasite plague stands out with startling uniqueness for the cheapness and simplicity of the means employed, and the casual, almost accidental, manner of their finding. The discoverer, Dr Maurice C’. Hall, of the Bureau of Animal Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture, stands among his fellow, conquerors like David with his stone and sling among the great captains ol Saul’s army with their swords and shining armour. The old injunction to “ try it on the dog lirst ” was observed, though unintentionally, by Doctor Hall, "lieu lie began bis experiments. For lie was concerned at lirst with discovering remedies for parasites of animals rather than for those of man, and dogs were tlie animals lie chose to experiment with, lie tried mil tilt kinds of tilings on dogs airiicled with all kinds of worms, lie found that chloroform was reasonably successful in ridding dogs of hookworm, and decided, mi a sudden "bunch," to try carbon tcIrachlorid, a substance chemically similar to chloroform. long familiar under various trade names as a fireextinguisher and insecticide, and also as a remover ol spots and stains from limbing, lie found that three cubic centimetres—-about a spoonful—of this liquid would dear out the most obstinate ease of canine hookworm, lie tried it on rabbits next, but it killed the rabbits when given to them in doses which bad never proven to be markedly poisonous lo dogs. Dogs usil allv lolerafe e\en 70 or 0.0 limes tile curative dose uithmit lasting barm. Finally, with smite trepidation, be swallowed three cubic centimetres liinv Self. No ill effects followed. A lew other hardy volunteers tried it. It seemed lo be no more poisonous to man than it was to dogs. So it was, with some modesty, suggested as a pos-ibilily in the treatment of hookworm disease in human beings. From the start, from the very earliest experiments in widely-scattered tropical countries, the success of the new treatment, was sensational. .Missionaries and physicians in tropical countries who were able lo get barely enough, for a dozen doses, reported that ill the great majority of eases one dose was completely elfective, killing every worm at mice, and ••leafing lip the ease. Tile I nteriial iolial Health Hoard of the lioekl’eller Foundation was quick to seize upon this new weapon for its warfare against disease bulb at umac and abroad, and its shipments of rnfhoii tot raeldorid and salts '.tlie two always go together in the treatment) run into tons, and travel not only to the southern United Stales, but to such distant lands as Brazil. Ceylon. China, and the Fiji Islands. 'ink ctirboii LetrnelTtorid treat ill,cut has verv largely displaced the older methods of attack upon the disease. The lirst method used against bookworm involved the use of thymol, an aromatic solid distilled I rout certain plants of the mint family. Later on. oil of elieiiopodiiim. extracted Iron! the common American wonuseed, ot unhappy childhood memory, was .substituted. But both these treatments were unsatisfactory. They were extremely nasty to take: repeated doses were necessary, so Hint a given infected district would have to be revisited two or three times at great expense, and an uncomfortably large number of deaths followed their use in bad eases. The new remedy is much easier to down, though it is still tar from being lemonade; it is much cheaper and easier to get; and one dose usually cures. One hundred per cent, cure alter the first dose is the common report.

A diminished number of fatalities followed its introduction. but the medical authorities thought that .10 deaths in 1,500,000 cases treated—that was tlie proportion—were still 100 many. They employed Dr Paul D. Damson, of the John Hopkins University, to look into tlie matter. 'I be first thing lie thought of was that possibly some impurity in tlie drug might be the cause of the poisoning. But dogs treated with highly purified carbon totraehlorid still occasionally succumbed. so the drug itself bad to take the blame. It was found in clinical experience and laboratory experiment

that if milk or fat, or anything containing alcohol, were in the stomach or intestines when the treatment was administered, unpleasant consequences were more likely to follow, ’llie history of cases in the clinics that had trouble following the administering of carbon totraehlorid seems to indicate also that if certain other parasites, like the cemmon asearid or large round worm are present in great numbers, this may cause complications. In general, then, it is expected that by watching the diet of the patients and making sure that they do not have large numliers of parasitic worms other than the hookworm, the now treatment mav he almost entirely freed from danger. In districts where round worms are plentiful a mixture of carbon tetrachlorid and ehenopodiuiil is used, owing to the great eflieary of chenopodium against these worms,

nml in all cases steps are taken to ensure prompt purgation in the interest of safety.—" Sydney Morning Herald.”