FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE
RELATING TO
VETERINARY MATTERS AND THE PRESERVATION OF GAME IN CERTAIN BRITISH COLONIES AND PROTECTORATES.
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(No. 679.)
MY LORD,
No. 1.
NORTHERN NIGERIA.
THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 7 January, 1909.)
Government House, Zungeru, 8 December, 1908. WITH reference to the despatches* noted in the margin, I have the honour to transmit, for your Lordship's information, Governor, No. 462, 12th Sept., 1907.
copy of a circular issued by the Principal *To Governor, No. 643, 20th Nov., 1907.
To Governor, No. 308, of 18th June, Medical Officer to all medical officers in the Protectorate.
1908.
I also enclose copy of a report by Dr. H. A. Foy on experimental work con- ducted by him at Maifoni, Bornu Province, in the treatment of trypanosomiasis.
2. So far, it is reported that the results are:--
In Cattle. The treatment is of no use.
In Horses. A certain proportion, if the cases are not too far advanced,
recover.
3. Dr. Foy is now preparing a further report, which will be transmitted to your Lordship in due course.
I have, &c.,
M. H. D. BERESFORD,
For Governor.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
TREATMENT FOR TRYPANOSOMIASIS.
Make a saturated solution of methylene blue by adding to the powder sufficient absolute alcohol to saturate it; take one part of the saturated solution and add 98 parts of water.
Take corrosive sublimate and make a watery solution of 1 in 500; mix equal quantities of the diluted methylene blue solution and the water solution of the corrosive sublimate.
Doses.
For Horses.-10 c.c. or 3 drams of the mixture injected into the jugular vein
on 10 consecutive mornings or evenings.
For Cattle-15 c.c. or from 4 to 5 drains, according to the size of the animal, injected direct into the left jugular on 10 consecutive mornings.
• Nos, 186 and 197 in Miscellaneous No. 229, and 4839: not printed.
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
11C.O. 885
20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TOPage 211
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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For Donkeys-6 c.c. or from 1 to 2 drams injected as for a horse. For Dogs-1 c.c. or about 18 to 20 minims.
Further treatment for anæmia, any blood tonic such as iron and arsenic. Zungeru,
26 July, 1907.
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
A REPORT on experimental work that has been conducted by me at Maifoni, South Bornu, with a view to ascertaining whether the treatment of Trypanoso- miasis put forward by Mr. James Brand, F.R.C.V.S., as a success in horses was really a specific remedy for the disease, with the ultimate hope of trying the treatment in cases of Sleeping Sickness in man should oppor- tunity have offered at any time.
1. Maifoni as a place for conducting this series of experiments is specially suitable, since the district around is, for a considerable distance, free from the tsetse fly, which keeps the animals under observation and experiment free from the main source of natural infection and hence results are less erroneous than they would be in a district where the fly abounds. Other common blood-sucking flies of the species of Tabonidæ, however, are present in great numbers.
2. The treatment adopted was, as far as possible, on the lines suggested by Mr. Brand, and was as follows:-
Solution A-A solution of perchloride of mercury, 1 in 500, freshly prepared. Solution B-A saturated solution of methylene blue in methylated spirit as no absolute alcohol was available. The methylene blue used was the tabloid form, as prepared by Messrs. Burroughs, Wellcome & Co. Of this saturated solution, 1 c.c. was diluted in 99 c.c. of distilled water for purposes of injection. At the time of injection, equal parts of solutions A and B were mixed and warmed to the tem- perature of the blood previous to being injected. In the case of horses, oxen, and calves, the injection was made intravenously, but in the case of dogs it was tried subcutaneously.
Doses of this mixture injected were as follows:-
Horses.-10 c.c. daily, intravenously.
Oxen.-18 c.c. daily, intravenously. Dogs-1 c.c. daily, subcutaneously.
Calves-10 c.c. daily, intravenously.
3. Animals used for experiment:-
Horses which will be subsequently described as "poor" and "good" in con- dition. These animals were artificially infected and then treated.
Oren which had been naturally infected in some other part of the country and then brought here.
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Calves which will also be described as poor" and "good" in condition. These animals were inoculated with the disease and then subjected to treatment. Calves are not suitable animals to experiment on, owing to their growing age period, but they were used as they were readily obtained, were not expensive, and easily handled.
Dogs. The first case treated was one which was naturally infected, the rest were inoculated. All the dogs used in the course of experiments were young and between the ages of 6 and 12 months.
4. Time when treatment was begun:-
(A) In natural cases, as soon as they were considered ill and brought to me- shown this was when the animal was found unfit for work. Loss of motor power, by inability to stand fatigue, is about the first sign of an ox being ill that would be noticed by the general attendant, for at this period of the disease the animal looks in good condition and retains his appetite to the very end.
(B) In cases of animals artificially infected by inoculation, a chart of their temperature has been kept constantly, and, after being infected, the blood was examined for the presence of trypanosomes as soon as any abnormal rise of tem- perature was noticed-treatment was then begun as soon as trypanosomes were found to be present.
5. Normal Temperatures of Animals.—With a view to ascertaining the normal daily variations in the temperature of the various animals used, the temperature of a number of healthy animals of each species was registered for a certain period,
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and the following daily variations in the morning and evening temperatures of healthy animals was struck:-
Horses, from 98 F. to 100 F.
Oxen, from 97 F. to 1024 F.
Calves, from 974 F. to 1026 F.
(D) Dogs, from 97 F. to 1024 F.
All the animals under observation and experiment were kept practically in the open-the only shelter provided for them was a grass mat overhead to protect them from the mid-day sun.
6. Temperature Charts.-The temperature of every case in this series of experiments has been taken twice daily at 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., and a graphic illus- tration, in the form of a chart, of the course of temperature run by each case during and after the administration of treatment will be found attached. In each chart any remarks above the lines of temperature indicate what was done to the animal as regards inoculation and injections; any remarks below the line of tem- perature show the inoculations that were made from the animal into others. Above the line of temperature will be also seen the following signs indicating the presence or absence of trypanosomes in the blood:-
T + Trypanosomes present.
T++ Many trypanosomes present.
T- Trypanosomes not present.
7. Blood Examinations.—Whenever a blood examination was made, it was done both in fresh specimen and in stained films before any opinion was formed as to the presence or absence of trypanosomes. Blood examinations were not made daily, but periodically, and more often in conjunction with clinical phenomena, as that of high temperature when the organisms are most likely to be found in the peripheral circulation.
8. Life-history of the trypanosome in the animal body has not been fully worked out yet. At this juncture it will, however, be interesting to quote part of an article by Sir Rubert Boyce, F.R.S., published on page 624 of the "British Medical Journal," of September 14th, 1907, on "The Treatment of Sleeping Sick- In this ness and other Trypanosomiases by the Atoxyl and Mercury method." article it is put forward that the trypanosome, like other protozoa, has probably two phases in its life-cycle in the animal body, viz. :-Phase A, in which the organisms are found in the blood; and Phase B, in which they are absent from the blood, but assuming some other form in some part of the body, re-appearing in the blood as Phase A at intervals.
It was found by Moore, Nierenstein, and Todd that after the trypanosomes had been completely driven out of the peripheral blood by atoxyl, recurrence again took place, although the investigations of organs and tissues other than the blood bad failed to demonstrate anywhere a storage of the ordinary phase of trypanosome.
Phase B in the life-cycle of the trypanosome has been more completely inves- tigated by J. E. Salvin-Moore and Breinl, who have clearly shown the existence of such a phase. It was with this knowledge of the double phase in the life-cycle of the trypanosome that the bio-chemical principle of treatment was tried on rats infected experimentally with trypanosoma Brucei with the following results:-By means of atoxyl, a compound of aniline and arsenic, Phase A was successfully treated and the trypanosome driven out of the peripheral circulation; then by means of the bichloride of mercury beneficial results were at once obtained, for, while the entire series of rats treated with atoxyl alone succumbed, nearly 70 per cent. of the rats given the double treatment survived, never showing any recurrence of trypanosomes; and of the remaining 30 per cent. only 8 per cent. showed recurrence of trypanosomes.
The article says, further, that it may be emphasized that the mercury salt alone has not the slightest effect on the ordinary phase of the trypanosome as seen in the peripheral circulation.
9. The experiments conducted were as follows:--- Dog A was the first case.
He was brought from Yola by me and became
infected on the 3rd September, 1907, when passing through a tsetse fly belt on the banks of the River Loko some 30 miles north of Yola. By September 14th the dog
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