Interesting theory, thanks. I believe one effect of hookworms is  
anemia as well. Not very good, when you don't have a rich diet to  
begin with. It might explain the instances of pica in the south,  
women eating dirt, etc., it's common with anemia to eat weird things  
in an effort to alleviate it. I'd still love to know about the  
origins of hookworms, if they came over from Europe, or if they  
weren't a problem with the natives who had little in the way of  
animals living with them, unlike the whites and later freed blacks.  
Google probably has 546,000 hits...

Nancy

-------
I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.

--Daniel Boone



On Mar 1, 2007, at 9:32 PM, Anita L. Henderson wrote:

> In a message dated 3/1/07 4:07:20 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>
>> Let's not forget "the hookworm belt" in the south, bare feet picked
>> up hookworm eggs from the soil, it was terribly debilitating to both
>> blacks and whites who went barefoot and picked up the noxious
>> parasite. I wonder if the natives were afflicted with hookworms, they
>> don't seem to have been, since the earliest descriptions have them so
>> healthy and robust. Surely they went barefoot a lot. Was it a pest
>> introduced with European livestock and the penning of same in more
>> crowded conditions made the eggs more plentiful? It is also spread in
>> dogs and cat waste. Did the natives have a natural remedy they took
>> regularly that the Europeans were unaware of? In any case, it can
>> take a terrible toll on one's health.
>>
>> Nancy
>>
>>
>
> Dear Nancy:
>
> About two years ago, there was an fascinating article in North and  
> South
> magazine written by an MD who theorized that the death rate at  
> Andersonville was
> augmented tremendously by a hookworm epidemic.   Some of the camp  
> survivors
> photographs look stunningly similar to those of white southerners  
> whose photos
> were taken in the late 1800s/early 1900s by southern health  
> officials.   I am
> sorry I am blanking on the author's name but he had done an amazing  
> amount of
> documented research to back up his theory.   He talked about how  
> hookworm
> epidemics robbed infested people of energy, vitality and decreased  
> their ability to
> be productive.   This may have also lead to early sterotypic ideas  
> about poor
> white southerners by the rest of the country of being lazy and  
> unproductive.'
>
> Anita L. Henderson
>
>
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