I was gratified, in an odd sort of way, to see a recent piece in the Wall Street Journal describing how John D. Rockefeller helped eliminate hookworm in America. The reason for my gratification (maybe that's too strong a word, but let's go with it) was that many years ago, my first publication was a little piece entitled "A Brief History of Hookworm Disease in North Carolina", published in the North Carolina Medical Journal. In that paper, I traced the history of Necator americanus (the American killer) in NC, and how Rockefeller's efforts eliminated the disease from the American South in general and NC in particular. Nearly 30 years on, it was good to see the subject again, this time for public education. The WSJ was coincident in time with another article entitled "Developing World's Parasites, Disease Hit U.S.". This piqued my interest, and reminded me that there is nothing new under the sun.

When I studied parasitology, it was a relatively obscure subject, diseases generally confined to the developing world. In recent years, we have become increasingly aware that this distinction is breaking down, as formerly rare or isolated diseases encroach into our developed world. The term de jour is "emerging diseases". While most interest has been focused on the bacterial and especially viral diseases, it was only a matter of time before parasitic diseases joined the battle. Unlike their microbial cousins, parasites have not been the subject of intense study and as a consequence drugs to combat these organisms are few and generally a bit toxic. The good news is that they don't become airborne and are fairly easy to avoid. A notable exception is malaria, which is spread by mosquito, and which remains one of the biggest killers of mankind with millions of fatalities a year. Think that malaria is a tropical disease and nothing for us to worry about? Consider this: malaria was until fairly recently endemic in the U.S. Under the right conditions, it could return.

How can you protect yourself from these emerging diseases? For most of the intestinal parasites good hygiene is the key, as it was many years ago when hookworm was eliminated (so to speak). Wash produce thoroughly. Don't go barefoot in questionable places. Wash your hands a lot. In other words, take Mom's advice.

BTW: If you're interested in learning more about parasites (and who wouldn't be?), check out "Parasite Rex" by Carl Zimmer. Whereas parasitology textbooks abound, they are among the most boring of any I've ever read. "Rex", on the other hand, is by turns entertaining and creepy (even by my standards) and a thoroughly fascinating read. If you think movies such as Alien, where some creature takes over another's body, are just fantasy, wait until you see pictures of a crustacean that eats a fish's tongue, then takes the tongue's place in the fish's mouth, acting as a tongue to the point of helping the fish capture and eat prey. That gives even me the willies.

--R.V. House