CO885-(21-23) — Page 563

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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The district to the northern side of Masindi Station, i.e., towards the Budongo Forest, was examined, but not in such detail. The majority of the herds were infected there also. The cattle round Kibona were, however, clean, a circumstance of some interest, as it appeared upon enquiry that the herds were owned by the peasants, not by the chiefs. Each man owned a few head of cattle only; the largest number belonging to one individual being ten; every owner herded his particular animals near his cultivation patch. As a general rule, where the cattle belong to the peasants they are herded together, even though the individuals belong to different people. For some reason that was not the custom here. The cattle, therefore, were grazed among the cultivation, and were shut off by planted land from the bush and forest country- they were, therefore, neither in contact with the game nor the fly.

Two other herds are of particular interest in this connection :-(1) The herds at Butobe. (2) Those at Kitonda.

(1) The Butobe herds were grazed in two lots; one at Butobe itself, the other at Lubani, just on the opposite side of a stream not more than a mile apart at most. In 1912 both herds had been infected for the first time. The sick cattle in the Butobe herd had died by the time I saw them in July and no fresh cases had appeared in

1913.

In the Lubani herd several quite new cases were to be seen as well as a few survivors in the last stages; that is to say, this herd had been again infected in the present year, i.e., during 1913. On being taken to the grazing grounds the reason became clear; the Butobe herd was now being pastured on a ridge of short grass clear of bush, and quite near the cultivation; the gardens of the Lubani village moreover stretched for part of the way between this ridge and the bush. The Lubani herd was pastured on the further side of the Lubani cultivation patches which marched directly with the bush, the cattle thus coming into more immediate contact with the bush-dwelling fauna.

(2) At Kibonda, which is north of Masindi on the way to Fowera, an even more striking state of affairs was found: one herd of 17 cattle belonging to a chief called Yapwesi had never been diseased and was clean when examined.

The herd of Kijanjala, his immediate neighbour, was heavily infected and had been so for two years; he had one-fifth of his whole herd ill when examined. On enquiry it was found that Yapwesi had always had his cattle herded behind the village cultivation--that is to say, there was a belt of cultivation between the herding ground and the bush-Kijanjala had herded his cattle on the bush side beyond the cultivation.

One is rather struck in this country by the, very small amount of land under cultivation, and the number of places where one can see that land is going out of It would cultivation-abandoned banana gardens smothered in tall grass and so on. appear that herds could still be kept in these districts if the natives could be taught to herd the cattle between the villages instead of in the bush beyond them.

One cannot too seriously emphasise the danger, at present, to cattle, and at any time to human life also, of so large a tract of morsitans-infected country, full of game of all kinds, on what is the main road of intercourse with the Congo and the Soudan.

At present, passengers on the motor van between Masindi Port and Masindi Station are frequently bitten by morsitans, and this applies more seriously to regular workers on the road. One individual out of every ten of these flies is at the present time inoculating a trypanosome into the persons bitten-that human beings are not susceptible to the particular species injected is merely a fortunate circumstance. Morsitans is perfectly capable of carrying human trypanosomiasis, and the game are equally capable of forming a very effective permanent reservoir.

I have not, so far, found any trace of trypanosomes belonging to the brucei group (ie., T. rhodesiense, T. brucei, T. gambiense), but a survey of herds and the examination of a relatively small number of Glossina morsitans such as I have made cannot be considered a really exhaustive investigation of the country, and no sub-inoculations have been made from the game.

I would like to point out that with the knowledge placed at our disposal by Drs. Kinghorn and Yorke in Rhodesia, by the Royal Society's Commission in Nyasaland, and by the German investigations in German East Africa (where T. rhodesiense has already appeared), it is to be clearly understood that this whole tract of the Northern Province only awaits the introduction of T. brucei or T. rhodesiense species-regarded as identical by many competent observers to repeat the condition found in the infected parts of Rhodesia, and that, moreover, on one of the main trade routes of the country.

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T. brucei, T. rhodesiense, and for that matter T. gambiense can all be trans- mitted by Glossina morsitans, and they can all be carried by cattle, and at the present time cattle are allowed to be introduced into the district from Uganda and Toro, and may also be passed out without examination or hindrance of any kind. Moreover, large bullock safaris pass from Uganda to Butiabwa twice or thrice every year. It may be mentioned in this connection that since January, 1913 (a period of eight months) Dr. Duke has got a trypanosome of the group in ques- tion out of antelope in the Toro District-the Veterinary Department have also sent me a strain apparently of 7. gambiense from an ox working in the transport waggons of one of the trading companies at Jinja, and I have just lately been sent slides from the blood of a donkey which had been taken on safari through the Masindi District-these slides contain also a trypanosome of the brucei group.

The prevention of trypanosomiasis is not unduly difficult, and its progress is very slow-nevertheless, as is shown (to choose a single instance) by the cattle disease in this district, it is exceedingly difficult to check when once introduced into morsitans country. The relative slowness of the progress, and the absence of accurate knowledge as to the actual condition of susceptible districts in the Pro- tectorate, form a most unfortunate mask concealing the reality of the danger. The fact that it would probably take five years from the time of its real introduction for the presence of such a trypanosome as T. rhodesiense to become apparent among the hunian inhabitants of the district lessens neither the danger nor the responsibility attached to such a state of affairs.

The broad simplicity of the measures so successful in dealing with Glossina palpalis areas does not meet the case in a morsitans country, which is a further argument in favour of preventitive measures.

The following recommendations suggest themselves in connection with this district :-

1. Cattle should not be moved from infected to clean districts where Glossina morsitans are present on any consideration whatsoever.

2.

3.

(If a competent person has examined the blood of the healthy members of a sick herd microscopically three times at intervals of ten days to a fort- night, and found them consistently free from trypanosomes, the cattle may The herd should be moved without danger into a genuinely fly-free area.

be examined microscopically at least twice during the first month of its sojourn in its new situation, and any case of trypanosomiasis appearing should be slaughtered at once.)

(Early cases of all cattle trypanosomiasis are easily diagnosed microscopi- cally by direct examination of the live blood. Late cases show clinical signs of the disease, and all emaciated cattle in a herd of which any member has shown trypanosomes may be assumed, for practical purposes, to be infected.)

Accurate and exhaustive fly maps should be made during the wet season. Cattle should not be brought into or through morsitans country from either Uganda or Toro. If bullock safaris are considered essential, the animals so employed must be subjected to the most careful and stringent examination, with definite quarantine depôts at the appropriate places along the road. The enforcing of this is of the greatest importance, as bullock safaris are the most fruitful source of danger as regards the introduction of trypanosomes of the brucei group.

4. Travellers should not be allowed to take mules and donkeys on safaris in districts where fly exist.

5. A periodic census of the infectivity of both fly and game should be made in the Masindi fly-belt, and the trypanosomes found should be diagnosed into their groups.

6. There should be a periodic examination of all cattle in or near the morsitans area by a competent Stock Inspector (examination for trypanosomes always implies microscopic examination of the blood)-the said Inspector should have powers to order the immediate and compulsory slaughter of any animal found infected with a trypanosome of the brucei group.

(The diagnosis of trypanosomes into their groups is perfectly simple, and suffices admirably for practical and administrative purposes-species deter- mination is difficult and expensive, but is not necessary in the present instance.)

These are preventitive measures that could be put into operation at once, and would not involve any serious expense.

In addition, the bush ought really to be cleared on either side of the motor road through the fly-belt, and the clearing planted. Moreover, a serious attempt ought