Parasites and plantations: Disease, environment and society in efforts to induce extinction of hookworm in Jamaica, 1919-1936.

Studies of extinction typically focus on unintended losses of biodiversity and culture. This study, however, examines an attempt to induce extinction of a parasite: human hookworm ( and ). Our interdisciplinary approach integrates medical history and epidemiology using records created by the Jamaica Hookworm Commission of 1919-1936.