THE PURPOSE of this report is to describe the findings in the "latent" phase of infection with Schistosoma japonicum and to evaluate the treatment. The study is based on observations of 300 patients admitted to Harmon General Hospital approximately six months after the onset of their acute illness overseas.
On Oct. 20, 1944, and for several weeks thereafter, American troops landed on the east coast of Leyte, one of the Philippine Islands. These troops were engaged in, or supported, active combat during the wet weather of the northeast monsoons. Conditions of combat during this period necessitated fighting, working, wading or bathing in polluted fresh water streams and rice paddies which harbored the snails serving as the intermediate host of S. japonicum. The schistosomiasis is transmitted to the mammalian host by the cercarias, which penetrate into the capillaries of the skin and enter the venous circulation. These larvae are then carried