![]() ![]() ![]() A common set of symptoms pointed to hookworm infection, and attention shifted toward finding out whether this disease was responsible for the pervasive sickness in the South.Ī person's foot showing evidence of ground-itch, a symptom of hookworm infection Rockefeller Sanitary Commission Prior to the early 1900s, people with symptoms similar to hookworm disease were often misdiagnosed with unrelated conditions, such as malaria or dropsy. Hookworm disease was known in Europe, but very few cases of European hookworm had been documented in the United States. They began to suspect the problem was hookworm. Anemia, impaired learning, stunted growth, and digestive disorders resulted in chronic weakness and long-term disability among people in the South.Īn unidentified illness, scientists believed, was lowering productivity and causing people to remain mired in poverty at a time when other agricultural areas of the country were experiencing economic growth. A recognizable pattern of symptoms emerged. ![]() In the late 1800s, medical scientists noticed that a general condition of poor health had become widespread in parts of the southern United States. Bryant brothers from Forest County, Mississippi: Infected 21 year-old boy (right) weighed 66 pounds healthy 17 year-old younger brother (left) weighed 126 pounds ![]()
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