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No. 21.
NORTHERN NIGERIA.
THE ACTING GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(No. 619.) MY LORD.
(Received 17 November, 1909.)
Government House, Zungeru, 18th October, 1909.
I HAVE the honour to transmit two reports-marked "first" and "second"- by Dr. H. Andrew Foy, of the West African Medical Staff, on experimental work conducted by him on animal trypanosomiasis at Maifoni, South Bornu, from September, 1907, to October, 1908, which I have just received. The second report embodies the first.
2.
Your Lordship will, I venture to hope, agree with me in thinking that Dr. Foy is to be highly commended for his efforts on this most important subject. I shall be glad if your Lordship will cause the reports to be forwarded on to the 'Bureau of Sleeping Sickness, Burlington House, London, W.
•
I have, &c.,
Enclosure 1 in No. 21. FIRST REPORT.*
WM. WALLACE,
Acting Governor.
A REPORT ON EXPERIMENTAL WORK that has been conducted by me at Maifoni, South Bornu, with a view to ascertaining whether the treatment of trypanosomiasis, put forward by Mr. JAMES BRAND, F.R.C.V.S., as a success in horses, was really a specific remedy for the disease, and as to whether it would prove a success in the treatment of cattle infected with the disease, with the ultimate hope of trying the treatment in cases of sleeping sickness in man should opportunity have offered at any subsequent time.
1. Maifoni, as a place for conducting this series of experiments, is specially suitable, since the district around is, for a very 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 more common blood-sucking flies of the species of Tabanidæ, 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, and Com- pany. 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 temperature 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.
Calves 10 c.c. daily intravenously.
Dogs 1 c.c. daily subcutaneously.
The charta accompanying the Report are not reproduced.
3. Animals used for experiment.
4.
"
(1) Horses which will be subsequently described as
condition. These animals were artificially infected and then treated.
poor" and "good" in (2) Ozen which had been naturally infected in some other part of the country
and then brought here.
(3) Calves which will also be described as
These animals were inoculated with the disease and then subjected poor" and "good" in condition. 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.
(4) 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 to 12 months.
Time when treatment was begun :-
(a) In natural cases as soon as they were considered ill and brought to me→ this was when the animal was found unfit for work. Loss of motor power shown 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 temperatures has been kept constantly, and after being infected the blood was examined for the presence of trypanosomes as soon as any abnormal rise of temperature 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 varianimals used, the temperatures of a number of healthy animals of each species as registered for a certain period, and the following daily variations in the morning and evening temperatures of healthy animals was struck:-
(a) Horses from 98° F. to 100° F. (see Chart No. 5).
(b) Oxen from 97° F. to 1024° F. (see Chart No. 20).
(c) Calves from 97:4° F. to 102.6° F. (see Chart No. 12). (d) Dogs from 97° F. to 1024° F. (see Chart No. 1).
open;
All the animals under observation and experiment were kept practically in the 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 experi- ments has been taken twice daily, at 7 ̊a.m. and 4 p.m., and a graphic illustration, 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 line of temperature indicate what was done to the animal as regards inoculations and injections; any remarks below the line of temperature show the inoculations that were made from the animal into others. Above the line of temperature will also be seen the following signs indicating the presence or absence of trypanosomes in the blood:-
Ttrypanosomes present.
T++many trypanosomes present.
T
-
trypanosomes not found.
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 the 14th, 1907, on "The Treatment of Sleeping Sickness and other Trypanosomiases by the Atoxyl and Mercury Method." In this article