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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

35328

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No. 185.

UGANDA.

COLONIAL OFFICE to THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND

FISHERIES.

[Answered by No. 191.]

SIR,

Downing Street, October 9, 1907. I AM directed by the Earl of Elgin to transmit to you, to be laid before the Board of Agriculture, the accompanying copy of a letter from the Commissioner of Uganda, and to say that his Lordship would be glad if Mr. Stockman could give Mr. Bell the assistance which he desires in procuring some Angora goats and Mysore bulls for the Protectorate.

I am, &c.,

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No. 186.

NORTHERN NIGERIA.

R. L. ANTROBUS.

HIGH COMMISSIONER SIR E. P. C. GIROUARD to THE EARL OF ELGIN. (Received October 12, 1907.)

(No. 462.)

[Answered by No. 197.]

MY LORD,

"S.W. "Sarota," (on the River Benue), September 12, 1907. I HAVE the honour to transmit a copy of a report received from Mr. Brand in which he furnishes the results of cases of trypanosomiasis treated by intravenous The experi- injections of a mixture of methylene blue and corrosive sublimate. ments are still proceeding, but the results obtained up to date justify the hope that a remedy for this terrible disease has been discovered. If this hope is confirmed by the results of further experiments, Mr. Brand will be requested to submit a more fully detailed and quantitative course of treatment.

2. The officers in charge of Government transport animals have been instructed to take smears in all suspected cases. These slides will be microscopically examined by the medical officer at the nearest station, and if trypanosomes are found the treatment can be carried out by the transport officer.

3. The Principal Medical Officer has also issued instructions to medical officers at stations where sleeping sickness is prevalent to experiment with this method of treatment in such cases. The results obtained cannot, however, be received at head- quarters for a considerable time, and meanwhile Your Lordship may wish to issue instructions with a view to instituting similar experiments with the object of testing the efficacy of this treatment.

I have, &c.,

E. P. C. GIROUARD,

High Commissioner.

Enclosure 1 in No. 186.

REPORT OF VETERINARY SURVEY OF NORTHERN NIGERIA.

YOUR EXCELLENCY,

I HAVE the honour to inform you that during a portion of my veterinary survey of the Protectorate I have noted the following facts concerning transport animals generally :-

Up to the present time I am satisfied that trypanosomiasis is the disease that accounts for the great losses of animals within your administration. The blood- sucking flies that convey the disease are most active immediately after sunrise and about sunset, but are always active during the day and night, with the exception of the hours between one and four a.m. Between those hours my experience has been that animals are hardly ever bitten.

I also find that for six or eight hours after heavy rain has fallen that even in

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fly belts which are heavily loaded animals can pass through with comparative safety on account of the blood-sucking flies being inactive.

Å fly belt extends all the way from Zaria to Zungeru. I also found a poisonous plant, called by natives "Tururubi," between Zaria and Zungeru. This plant is readily eaten by all grazing animals when hungry, and, with the exception of some cases of snake bite, may account for the sudden deaths of transport oxen on this particular trek, and may, after the information regarding the distribution of the plant is received, account for sudden deaths of trek animals in other parts of the country, which information would be of great value to the Transport Department in particular. In all places where this poisonous plant is found, it would always be advisable for animals to receive their first feed of grass at the wagons before being turned out to graze.

The suitability of a resting place during the rainy season is an important question. My choice between Zaria and Zungeru is in favour of Zungeru. I believe Kano to be a more healthy resting place than either of the before-mentioned places.

Since arriving in this Colony I had worked out microscopically by hanging drop method the relative value of various drugs and dyes when allowed to act on virulent blood. Eventually I decided to try a mixture of methylene blue and corrosive sublimate intravenously injected as a curative measure. I am glad to say that the success of this treatment has gone beyond my expectations. On the 23rd of April, 1907, three horses were put under treatment (a copy of which is attached) at Zungeru. One of the horses was in the last stage of the disease, and on account of heart complications and extreme anæmia I hardly expected a curative result. This animal gradually grew worse, and was eventually shot by my order.

The other two horses have made a perfect recovery and are now doing work. In order to be certain that trypanosomes were not present in the blood streams and that they had certainly recovered from the disease, I had two dogs inoculated intravenously with the blood.

In one case the dog has remained healthy since inoculation on or about the 19th of June. In the other case I inoculated a dog on the 27th instant; the result of this inoculation will be determined later; as this horse has remained apparently healthy and carried conductors between here and Zaria and not lost condition, I feel confident that the result of the dog inoculation will be negative.

I

On June the 16th I inoculated a dog with blood from a horse in the last stage of trypanosomiasis, showing a large invasion of parasites in the blood smears. On the fifth day after inoculation this dog fell ill, and on the sixth day I was able to demonstrate the presence of a large invasion of trypanosomes. I allowed this dog to continue ill till the twelfth day after falling. On that day I inoculated another dog from his virulent blood. I then put dog number one under curative treatment. After having given him five daily injections of one c.c. he showed distinct signs of recovering. The intravenous injections of methylene blue-corrosive mixture were continued for ten consecutive days. On the 14th day after treatment had been adopted, this dog appeared quite well again, but in order that I should be certain that a cure had been effected, I inoculated a dog from No. 1. As this dog has remained healthy I conclude that dog No. I was cured by the treatment.

Dog No. 2 fell ill on the fourth day after inoculation, and also showed a good invasion of the blood parasites on that day. In order to prove virulence of the material I was using I allowed him to continue ill, and with the result that he died on the 23rd day after inoculation from the blood of dog No. 1, which recovered under treatment. I think I may with confidence say that I place in your bands a remedy for trypanosomiasis which will considerably reduce the percentage of deaths of transport animals in every country where this deadly disease exists.

It is very important that all transport animals should have their temperatures taken daily for seventeen days after exposure to infection (which appears to be the incubative period of the disease after being inoculated by infected flies), and in all cases where there is a rise of temperature of one, two, or more degrees above normal, blood smears should be taken in order to demonstrate the presence or absence of the animal parasite which causes the disease.

As it is sometimes difficult to demonstrate the presence of the trypanosome in infected animals when the clinical symptoms are those of trypanosomiasis and yet the presence of the organism not discovered microscopically, it would then be advis- able to carry out an animal experiment.

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