The present monograph is the first of a series of investigations on intestinal parasites in the Szechwan province, West China. Attention is directed to the prevalence, distribution and importance of hookworm, the factors involved in infection and dissemination and effective methods of control under local conditions. Later studies will consider Ascaris and Endameba histolytica.
Szechwan has a population in excess of 46,000,000. About 90 per cent of its inhabitants are supported directly or indirectly by agriculture. In considering the transmission of hookworm. the authors point out that hookworm in other parts of the world is largely the result of repeated promiscuous defecation near houses and the consequent human contact with infected soil. The disease in China, on the other hand, is an occupational one, largely restricted to agricultural classes who carefully conserve and utilize human excrement as fertilizer. The soil is infected as crops are fertilized, and human infection is