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C.O.885
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13. At first, then, it could do no harm because there were no people with sleeping sickness for it to bite. But afterwards, perhaps seven or eight years ago or even more, someone came into the country from somewhere where the sickness was, and he carried in his blood the infection. We know well that this is possible, for the same has happened in other countries, but happily there were no bivu in them and the sickness did not spread. We know that the infection can sometimes be carried in the body for a long time, even years, before a persons becomes seriously ill from it. This person, then (or of course there may have been more than one) settled somewhere in this country, perhaps in Busoga, perhaps in Kyagwe or some other place, we do not know where, but we do know that it was somewhere where the kivu was, and when he became sick, and before he died or went away, he infected many of the bivu who bit him, and they in turn infected other people by biting them.
14. No one can tell now who it was who first brought the disease, whether he was a Muganda or a Musoga who had travelled to the Congo or whether he was a Sudanese or soine other person who came from there, or a slave who had been brought in, but we know that sleeping sickness was in the Congo and the countries near it very many years ago, and therefore we believe it came from there to us.
15. No one could know, when the first person or persons fell sick and died, what their illness was, for none had seen it before, but each one who fell sick infected many bivu, which again infected many more people, and it was only when many were sick and dying in the same manner that men said to themselves "this is a new disease and all the people who get it sleep very much and at last die" and so. the Baganda called it "kubongota " or " Mongota."
16. Now it is only after we understand how a disease is caught that we can hope to be able to avoid catching it, and so I want everyone to try very hard to under- stand how it is that the kivu takes the disease from one person and carries it to others, and I will try and tell you what it is that it carries and what we call the
"infection."
17. This infection is a very small living thing, so small that a single kivu could contain thousands, but there is nothing wonderful in its smallness, for many other living things are known to Europeans which are far smaller even than this one.
18. When it gets into a man it lives and multiplies in his blood and in his glands and other parts of his body till at last it kills him like a poison. It is, in fact, a living poison. Many other diseases are caused in a like manner, but for- tunately few are so fatal as sleeping sickness.
19. These little things, then, live partly in a sick man's blood (though for- tunately they are not often very numerous in it) so that any insect which bites the sick man and sucks blood will sometimes suck up one or more of them, but in all but the bivu they die very soon, Lefore the insects become hungry and want to bite again. In the kivu, however, they live for some time, we do not yet know how long, and when it bites people afterwards it puts them into their blood and they become infected, and, sooner or later, sometimes after a very long time, they get sleeping sickness. But, you may ask, how do we know that this little living thing is the cause of sleeping sickness? We do know, and our knowledge is certain, though it has taken much money, much time and much hard work to find out.
20. We know it because in every person who has sleeping sickness this living thing is present and can be found, and because it cannot be found in any other persons. Sometimes it has been found in people who appeared to be quite well, but afterwards, sometimes a very long time afterwards, those persons have become sick with sleeping sickness.
21. We also know that if we take the blood of a person which contains this infection and put it into an animal, such as a certain kind of rat or monkey, this rat or monkey will get sleeping sickness, and then we shall find in its blood the infection, which was not there before.
22. How do we know that the kivu carries the infection? Because when sleeping sickness has been taken to other countries where there are no bivu no one else but the persons who took it there has ever caught the disease. We know it also because, if we take some hivu and let them suck the blood of a person with sleeping sickness and afterwards again let them feed on such a monkey or rat as→→ I have mentioned, this monkey or rat will get the disease just as if we had taken the blood from the man and put it into the animal, or, if we take many bivu from a
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place where there are people with sleeping sickness, and let them bite such a rat or
monkey the animal will get the disease in the same way.
23. Again, if we take any other kind of insect which bites and do the same things with it, we cannot carry the disease to the animal by means of these other insects. And the more our knowledge grows the more certain we become that no other insect but the kivu carries the disease, and that people do not catch it in any other way except by its bite.
24. It is because the Germans know this, and that all the great doctors in all countries believe it, that they are afraid that sleeping sickness may spread among their people in German East Africa, for they know that bivu are very plentiful there in some parts, though as yet, fortunately, no one with sleeping sickness has gone to these places.
25. There are other kinds of kivu besides this one, but not near Victoria Nyanza. We know that these carry a disease like sleeping sickness, but not the same disease, to horses, cattle, and other animals. We do not know for certain yet that these flies will not carry sleeping sickness also, but we do not believe they can, because sleeping sickness has never spread in countries where these flies are and the bivu of Uganda are not.
26. We know, then, that the kivu carries the disease from man to man, and that no other Liting insect in Uganda carries it.
27. We know, also, that it is man who carries the disease from place to place, because a fly never moves very far from where it is born. But if a man carries it to a place where there are no bivu, it cannot there spread to other people. We have known places where there were many sick and there were no bivu, but we always found, if we enquired carefully, that all the sick persons had been at some time at some place where there were bivu. And if such places were far from the places where livu are, then the sick people were chiefly men, who travel most, and next women, who travel less, and few of them were children, who travel least.
28. Supposing, then, that all the bivu were killed, no one would catch sleeping sickness any more. But since we cannot hope to kill them all, we must ask our- selves what there is that we can do instead.
29. We have seen that the kivu was harmless till the sick people came and that sick people are harmless unless the fly can bite them. And we have also seen that most Europeans escape because they are not often bitten by bivu. These are very important facts because they show us one way to avoid sleeping sickness, and to prevent the spread of the infection. I think anyone will see that one thing we must try to do is to keep the bicu from biting the sick.
30. Of course we cannot hope at first to keep all the flies away from all the sick people, but I think, if we try, we can keep many flies from biting many sick people, and if we persevere this will soon make a great difference in the number of people who will escape the disease in the future.
31. Now the sick people are often very helpless and the only way to prevent the bivu from biting them is to keep them away from those places where the bivu live. So we must consider how this could be done and whether we can do it.
32. It is really the same thing as saying that we must keep the sick away from the water side, for we know that the bivu always live near the water in places where there is plenty of shade. They do not like open spaces where there are few trees and no bushes or long grass. They like the shade of bushes especially, and they will not come far from the water over open ground. We know, in fact, that they cannot live where there is no shade near the water.
33. In every village, then, where there is sleeping sickness and there are also bivu at the water side, the sick must be made to live in some open space at a dis- tance from the waterside. They should not be allowed to visit the water at all, but all the water they require should be carried to them every day by their friends or their fellow villagers. As a rule they would not have to be moved very far, perhaps only a few hundred paces, perhaps on to the nearest hill side. This would depend on how each village was situated. At any rate it would not take them away from their homes and friends.
34. But, you will say, we cannot always tell when people have sleeping sickness." That is quite true, but it is when they are very ill, and anyone can see what is the matter with them, that they lie about all day asleep, and then, if they are near the water, all the bivu bite them and carry the infection to many other