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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
דוּי
Reference :-
C.O. 885
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22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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A trypanosome of this type appeared also in a goat on which wild flies from the same belt had been allowed to feed, but as it was not sub-inoculated into a dog it is not certain if the species was T. pecorum or T. nanum,
In the Kafu country hæmatopotà is very common and very widely distributed in the rainy months; it is found equally in grass country and in bush, indeed it seems to prefer the open to the bush lands though it is found in both. The marked diminu- tion in the incidence of cattle trypanosomiasis in the open grass country bears no relation to the distribution of the hæmatopota, while it is markedly correlated with that of morsitans. Moreover, no sign of trypanosome infection was ever observed in any of the specimens dissected from various parts of the districts visited; 263 were dissected, 9 showed crithidia; there is no evidence to connect these forms with the trypanosomes in question. The cycles of the mammalian trypanosomes are now well- known and these crithidia are perfectly distinct from any phase of the said cycles. T. ingens was found in cattle on four occasions and it seems probable that either the crithidia of hæmatopota or that found not infrequently in tabanids may be stages of the cycle of this trypanosome; there is, however, no conclusive evidence available.
No evidence could be found to in any way involve tabanids as true carriers of the trypanosomiasis in the Northern Province.
At Kikubye which is a little to the south of the Hoima-Masindi Road about 15 miles from Masindi Station, a herd of cattle was found showing one case of T. ingens (non-pathogenic form) but none of the trypanosome disease under discussion. The herds were pastured upon a fairly high ridge rising suddenly immediately above the uninhabited bush. The cattle, however, were kept on the Hoina Road side, i.e., the north side of the cultivation away from the uninhabited country. The village in question was, however, on the boundary of the bush. This herd never had been diseased, nevertheless, the fly-boys brought in large numbers of hæmatopota and fair numbers of tabanids in a single day's catch. The boys had caught the flies while walking with the herd. These two genera were found to extend into the adjacent bush and have access to the game which comes to within a short distance of the village. The hæmatopota and tabanids caught here were dissected and found to be uninfected and the herd, as already stated, had not suffered. This is good evidence against the two genera in question being carriers of the disease.
718 head of cattle were examined in the Northern Province in the districts indicated below. Out of this number 89 head were infected with trypanosomiasis, that is a total percentage of 12 per cent. This includes all the herds examined whether clean or infected. The general percentage of infected individuals in all infected herds considered together amounts to 20 per cent. The individual per- centages of sick animals in each herd are shown below:-
Kibanga Kiamugweri
Kisuga
Kibali
Lukondwa
Miduma
Kitontoro
Katugarukwa
Per cent.
50
20
15
20
6
15
8
30
Kijambwra
10
Lubuni
10
Kihonda
15
Itoro
21
Kibangaya Mugarra's herd
50
Kahigumo's herd
12
Kabisolita's herd
19
Damali's herd
35
15
Kahera
CONDITION OF the Saza of BURULI IN THE KINGDOM OF UGANDA.
The Buruli country repeats many of the conditions found in the southern part of the Northern Province. The factors are however somewhat obscured by the tremendous extent of the bush and the diffuse distribution of the morsitans. Fly seem to be markedly seasonal in this type of country, increasing in number during
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the wet months. There appears to be an optimum condition of atmospheric moisture, temperature, &c., as distinguished from a periodic fly season. This optimum con- dition seems to arise in certain places during the dry months of the year. This was observed by Mr. Haddon in the Gondokoro district. (See answer to C.S. queries.)
As usual, even intelligent natives do not distinguish between tsetse and hæma- topota; when I showed specimens of both, the latter was always recognised, the former only occasionally. Native reports as regards the presence or absence of tsetse are quite useless, except in places where the fly are aggregated into very marked belts.
Morsitans was found upon the main road about two miles south of Nakitoma; they were sufficiently numerous to force their presence upon my attention while cycling. I was travelling between camps at the time and not making any search for
fly.
At Nakitoma, in the bush country, all the cattle had died off except one smal herd which was in process of dying. A herd of 20 which I examined in that district, however, was found to be clean; it was pastured in very open grass country near the Kafu and never came into the bush. This is a repetition of the relative safety of the grass country noticed in the district north of the Kafu (vide supra.).
The disease first appeared at Nakitoma in 1906. Going south from Nakitoma along the main road no cows were found at all, but at Kimaga, in the land of a chief called Kadyebo, I was told by that Chief's Musigiri that 600 head of cattle had died of trypanosome disease. The cattle had first shown signs of illness in 1904 and the number of deaths in the two following years had been so small as not to cause any anxiety. Since that time the disease had steadily increased until the whole stock of cattle in the district had been wiped out by 1912.
It was from Nakitoma in 1906 that Kabisolita's herd carried the disease into the Northern Province.
At Nakasongola all the cattle had died off except 10. Six of these were examined and out of that number two were diseased. The history of trypanosomiasis in the country round Nakasongola is very instructive and gives the key to the origin of the whole outbreak from Nakasongola right up to Masindi.
This Buruli district had always been a good cattle country, and large herds had been kept in safety here since beyond the memory of the present inhabitants. In 1900 certain of the leading Baganda chiefs sent large herds of cattle into this district from various parts of Uganda, i.e., from Kyagwe, Singo and Bulimwesi, and some of my informants thought, but were not certain, that herds had been sent also from the Mubendi district. Cattle had also been brought in smaller numbers from Busoga and Bukedi in that and the next year.
In 1901 and 1902 the trypanosome disease first appeared in the Nakasongola country, but as there were only a few cases no particular attention was paid. The disease has been present ever since, until, in ten years, i.e., by 1912, all the Naka- songola cattle had died off. The number of head lost in this one part seems to have been well over 1,500.
The disease spread out from Nakasongola. Going northwards, it reached Kimaga by 1904, Nakitoma by 1906, and the moving of Kabisolita's sick herd carried the infection into the Masindi district, where it first became seriously evident in 1908. Spreading westward from Nakitoma, it reached Kijaguso and Kijogolo towards the end of 1909. From Nakasongola the disease also spread south-west to the big tract of country beyond the Lugogo River; this district is known as Buten- gesa, but the disease did not appear there till about 1906 or 1907, and travelled southwards, gradually killing off all the cattle, but appears to have been arrested by the well-cultivated country north of Busibika.
There seems to be no reasonable doubt, in the face of the foregoing evidence, that the disease was brought to Buruli by some one or other of the herds taken to the Nakasongola district in 1900.
In spite of native assertion to the contrary, the whole of the Buruli Saza must be looked upon as morsitans country. I was taken early in September, after three weeks of drought, to what had been the actual pasture of the Nakasongola herds and found morsitans in quite sufficient numbers to account for the extermination of the cattle.
The road between Nakasongola and Ruampanga port was examined on a single occasion for morsitans right down to the lake. The first eight to ten miles from the Makasongola end were very much overgrown, so much so that the grass was four to six feet high all over the surface and even the central path could not be seen,
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