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Ascariasis in the Tropics
Author(s) -
SILVA C. C. DE
Publication year - 1954
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1954.tb15500.x
Subject(s) - medicine , ascaris , sanitation , ascariasis , hygiene , vomiting , environmental health , pediatrics , incidence (geometry) , pica (typography) , public health , surgery , helminths , immunology , pathology , physics , world wide web , computer science , optics
Summary Ascaris is one of the most prevalent and dangerous diseases of children of all underdeveloped countries. This is due to poverty, ignorance, low standards of sanitation and hygiene, especially the pollution of the soil by younger children. The problem is not only medical but socio‐economic as well. The chief hope of an early improvement lies in the discovery and use by public health authorities of a cheap ovicidal drug which can be sprayed on the soil and on the floors of houses. Ascaris lunibricoides is the commonest intestinal parasite seen in children between 1–10 years of age, its chief incidence lying between the ages of 1–6 years. The clinical syndromes are fully described and classified under (1) Gastro‐intestinal [medical or surgical], (2) Respiratory, (3) Nervous, (4) Pyrexial with enlargement of the liver, (5) Atypical and unusual cases due to migration of adult worms and larvae, and (6) Allergic. Treatment is indicated briefly. Santonin, Hetrazan, Banocide and Hexylresorcinol are the only drugs used by us. No vermifuges should be given to cases that me seriously ill with vomiting or toxaemia or have massive infestations till these disorders have first been overcome.