Printed for the use of the Colonial Office.
Miscellaneous
No. 248.
INVESTIGATION AND CONTROL OF
TROPICAL DISEASE.
MEMORANDUM.
The time seems to have come when further steps should be taken to co-ordinate the work of the different agencies connected with the Colonial Office which are engaged in the investigation and control of tropical disease.
These agencies can be divided into three groups:
(A) The research institutes, laboratories, &c. in the
Colonies themselves.
(B) Similar institutions or agencies in this country. (C) The Scientific Committees which advise the Secretary of State on the various matters arising out of the work of, (A) and (B).
(A).
These institutes, &c., are as follows:-
(a) The Kuala Lumpur Research Institute in the
Federated Malay States.
The staff consists of a
Director
Health Officer
Bacteriologist
£800-£1,000 a year.
£540-£600
""
£480-£600 31
Pathologist
Chemist
European Assistant
and various subordinates.
£480-£600
£420-£540
£420-£540
19
The total cost of the Department is about £5,600 a
year.
Amongst other things, a great deal of valuable work is being done by the Institute in the investigation of beri- beri, a dangerous disease which occurs in other parts of the Empire, and which, on account of its appearance from time to time on merchant vessels, is of special interest to this country.
(b) The Bacteriological Institute of Ceylon.
The staff consists of a
Director
£600-£800 a year.
"
Assistant Bacteriologist £400-£450
and subordinates.
The total cost is about £1,800 a year.
The Institute has carried out investigations with regard
to the etiology and treatment of "yaws" and "
"1
sprue,"
has discovered a treatinent of elephantiasis, and has described several new tropical diseases.
(c) The Bacteriological Laboratory of Hong-Kong.
£480-£720 a year.
Director
Assistant Bacteriologist £120-£180 and subordinates.
Total cost about £1,080 a year.
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2
Some good work has been done in the past, but recently the Department has been handicapped by want of staff.
In the report on the work done for the six months- 1st February-1st August, 1908—the following pasange
occurs :-
"The Bacteriologist continues to be on long leave. I was on sick leave in May, and it has taken most of the remaining time to do the arrears of routine work which had accumulated.”
(d) The Bacteriological Laboratory of Mauritius.
Director...
Assistant Director
and subordinates.
Total cost about £1,100 a year.
£800 a year.
240
Very little original research work has been carried out
here.
(e) The West African Central Research Institute at
Lagos.
Director and Bacteriologist
Assistant Bacteriologist.
and subordinates.
Total cost about £1,500 a year.
£800 a year.
500
27
The Institute has only been in existence about a year, but the whole time of the staff is available for research, and a good deal of work has already been done, especially on the entomological side.
(f) Bacteriological Department of British Guiana. £600-£700 a year.
Bacteriologist
...
Assistant Bacteriologist £350-£450 a year. Total cost about £1,300 a year.
A great deal of excellent work has been done here in connexion with leprosy and other diseases, but for some time the Bacteriologist has been overburdened by routine work. The post of Assistant Bacteriologist was created for the purpose of relieving him of some of the routine work, and, after considerable delay, a highly qualified man has now been found to fill it.
(g) There is some small provision for bacteriological work in Trinidad, and the Leeward Islands appear to contemplate the formation of a bacteriological department. Moreover, an effort is being made in connexion with the bicentenary of Codrington College. Barbados, to raise a very considerable sum for the establishment of a Tropical School of Medicine at that Institution.
(h) As regards the East African Protectorates there is now a laboratory at Mpumu in Uganda which has been used by Sir D. Bruce and his colleagues for the sleeping- sickness investigations at present being carried out under the auspices of the Royal Society. In view of the
numerous tropical diseases which are prevalent in Uganda and the East Africa Protectorate, the Royal Society are strongly of opinion that this laboratory should be made permanent, and it will no doubt be found possible to arrange this. It could then serve as a Central Research Institute for our East African possessions and be the counterpart of the West African Institute at Lagos.
(i) Finally, a Research Laboratory has been started at Townsville, in Queensland, where the study of the diseases of our Pacific possessions is being taken up. The laboratory is in charge of Dr. Breinl, a very com. petent expert, who has been employed in the past by the
}
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and satisfactory progress is being made.
In some cases, the establishment of these institutes has entailed considerable capital expenditure on buildings and equipment, and I think that it must be admitted that satisfactory progress is, on the whole, being made. There are, however, some weak spots in the present arrangements. I have already quoted two or three cases in which there have been serious interruptions of work owing to want of sufficient staff, and to these I might add another, viz., that of the Ceylon Institute, whose Director has, however, managed to do some admirable work. In his report on the research work done in the Institute during the six months ended 30th June, 1909, he says:—
"The amount of routine and administrative work at the "Bacteriological Institute has increased to such an extent "that absolutely no time is left for research work.
"The little I have done during the last few years has "been practically entirely carried out at the Clinic of
Tropical Medicine outside my office hours."
$4
The remedy for this state of affairs is the appointment
of one or two assistants, and the cost would not be great, as suitable men can be got for £400–£500 a year. In the case of British Guiana one assistant has just been appointed, and it is hoped that this addition to the staff will enable the Bacteriologist to continue his original investigations and work out the material which he has been collecting and keeping until such time as he could be relieved of some of his routine work.
I think, too, that Trinidad, which only spends about £300 a year on research work, might be encouraged to extend its operations and that Jamaica, which appears to be doing nothing at present in this direction, might be invited to make a start. They are prosperous colonies and ought to be able to do as much as British Guiana,
Further, a great deal of good would probably be done if these Institutes and Laboratories were visited from time to time by some of our leading experts in tropical disease, such as Sir P. Manson, Sir D. Brace, Professor Ronald Ross, Sir W. Leishmann, and Sir R. Boyce. The recent missions of Sir D. Bruce to Uganda, of Professor Ross to Mauritius, and of Sir R. Boyce to the West Indies have had excellent results in stimulating the local workers, and the arrangement seems to be mutually advantageous-to the experts in this country, because it gives them an opportunity of seeing tropical disease on a large scale in its natural surroundings-to the local workers, because it gives them the benefit of the advice and assistance of men who are high authorities in their own departments of tropical medicine and are thoroughly up-to-date.
These Institutes and Laboratories are situated in the most diverse parts of the tropics, and in one or other of them nearly every form of tropical disease can be studied. As will be seen from what has been said with regard to the work of the Ceylon laboratory, they are also admirably placed for the discovery of new tropical diseases-the timely investigation of which might enable us to cope effectively with them should they show signs of becoming epidemic, and might incidentally throw light on other forms of diseases both in the tropics and in temperate climates.
It therefore seems desirable that these institutions should not only be maintained at a high pitch of efficiency but
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