What is the cause and remedy for worms?
Worms
Q. What is the cause and remedy
for worms?
A. The human alimentary canal
is subject to infection
by several different species of
worms. Some of these inhabit the small intestine
and others the colon. No animal parasites of
any sort locate themselves
in the stomach for the reason that they are
not able to withstand the digestive action of the
gastric juice. The tapeworm which is perhaps the most
common of these unwelcome tenants of the
alimentary canal lives in the small
intestine and the mucous
membrane to which it attaches itself, obtaining its sustenance from the digested
foodstuffs with which its body is bathed. Such an arrangement
is essential for the life of the tapeworm for the reason
that it has no digestive organs of its own
and hence can exist only at the expense of the
digestive function of some other animal. Two
varieties of tapeworm are found in the human body,
one of which is derived from eating infected beef, and the other from pork. The
former species was found by Doctor Liedy, of Philadelphia,
to be ten times as common as the latter. Several of the
parastic worms which infect the intestine, particularly
those found in the colon, are
introduced into the body through the eating of
fresh vegetables which have been infected through
fertilization by sewage, especially "night soil."
When worms are present they may usually be
found in the stools. Each particular species of
worm requires its own
remedy. When worms are found, a competent physician
should be employed.