81
42023
No. 87.
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA PROTECTORATE.
ACTING COMMISSIONER PEARCE to THE EARL OF ELGIN..
(No. 265.)
(Received November 14, 1906,)
Government Offices, Zombȧ,
MY LORD,
British Central Africa, October 2, 1900. I HAVE the honour, in the absence of the Commissioner, to acknowledge the receipt of Your Lordship's Confidential despatch of the 23rd of August, 1906,* informing me that the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has offered to send two experts to this Protectorate for the purpose of studying local conditions and initiating such quarantine measures as may be necessary and feasible for the prevention of sleeping sickness in this country.
2. I fully concur in thinking that the generous offer of the Liverpool School should be accepted, and in accordance with the instructions contained in the despatch under acknowledgment, I telegraphed† to Your Lordship in that sense.
I have, &c.,
:
42831
No. 88.
F. B. PEARCE,
Deputy Commissioner.
MY LORD,
Cairo, October 30, 1906. I BEG to forward herewith, for Your Lordship's information, a most interest- ing report of the Soudan Sleeping Sickness Commission, 1905-6.
The report includes an account of the recent expedition of Major Dansey- Browning, R.A.M.C., in the Bahr-el-Ghazal for the purpose of investigating (1) the presence, or otherwise of sleeping sickness in Soudan territory, and (2) the limits of the distribution of the tsetse fly.
His observations and conclusions are given in the reports submitted by him. Dr. Andrew Balfour adds a note regarding the utility of the work done and the value of the specimens sent to Khartoum for examination by Major Dansey Browning.
In his summary of the reports of the expedition, Colonel Hunter, R.A.M.C., President of the Commission, points out the real and active danger of the possible introduction of this terrible disease into the Bahr-el-Ghazal-where the tsetse fly "Glossina Palpalis" has been found to exist-owing to its proximity to "infected areas in the Congo basin.
I am in full accord with the opinion expressed by Colonel Hunter as to the imminent danger of the introduction of sleeping sickness into Soudan territory, and agree with his recommendation as to the urgent necessity of the appointment of a medical inspector in the southern district of the Bahr-el-Ghazal for the purpose of delaying and preventing the advent of the disease, on the lines laid down in his report.
It is, therefore, my intention to appoint, at an early date, a medical inspector for this duty in the Bahr-el-Ghazal.
The Right Honourable
The Earl of Cromer, P.C., G.C.B.,
&c.,
&c.,
&c.
I have, &c.,
REGINALD Wingate,
Governor-General.
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PUBLIC
חחחח
RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
885
9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received November 21, 1906.)
The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments to the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and, by direction of the Secretary of State, transmits herewith copy of the under-mentioned paper.
Foreign Office,
November 20, 1906.
DESCRIPTION OF ENCLOSURE.
Name and Date,
Subject.
Lord Cromer, Cairo, No. 83 ...
Report of Commission on Sleeping Sickness.
(No. 83. Commercial.)
SIR,
Enclosure in No. 88.
Cairo, November 2, 1906.
IN continuation of previous correspondence, I have the honour to forward herewith copy of a despatch which I have received from the Sirdar, covering the report of the Soudan Sleeping Sickness Commission 1905-6.
You will observe that it is the intention of the Soudan Government to appoint a medical inspector in the southern district of the Bahr-el-Ghazal for the purpose of delaying and preventing the arrival of the disease in that district.
Sir Edward Grey, Bart., M.P,,
&c., &c., &c.
• No. 72.
† No. 76.
'I have, &c.,
CROMER.
SOUDAN GOVERNMENT SLEEPING SICKNESS EXPEDITION, 1905.
REPORT on information collected during a journey made by Bimbashi G. Dansey- Browning, Medical Corps, from Wau to Chak Chak, Deim Zubeir, and Kossinger, between 22nd November, 1905, and 15th December, 1905.
The objects of my journey in the Chak Chak, Kossinger, and Deim Zubier districts were :—
First To obtain information as to the presence, or otherwise, of sleeping sickness (human trypanosomiasis) in the districts of the Bahr-el-Ghazal which border on the French Congo.
Second: To ascertain and identify the varieties of tsetse fly found in these districts, and to determine, as far as possible, the northern and north-western boundaries of the fly belts.
The results of the information obtained on this journey are:- First Sleeping sickness is at present non-existent in these districts. Second Tsetse fly is abundant and of two varieties, the first of which is the
more common.
(a) Glossina Morsitans, the carrier of Nagana.
(b) Another variety allied to the Glossina Palpalis of South Africa and Uganda, but differing from it by the colour of its legs.
First As to the existence or otherwise of sleeping sickness in the regions of the Bahr-el-Ghazal bordering on the French Congo..
In order to obtain information as to the existence or otherwise of sleeping sickness in these districts, at each camping ground on my journey I collected, as far as possible, the villagers and sick of the neighbourhood for systematic examina- tion and treatment.
In none of these did I find any symptoms pointing to the possibility of the existence of sleeping sickness, nor could I obtain any history of any such illness having been heard of in any locality through which I passed."
The inhabitants were fully aware of the pernicious result of the tsetse bitc on animals, but in no case did anyone remember having heard of a human being suffering from such like affliction as the result of a tsetse bite.
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