CO885-(25-26) — Page 69

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

IC.O.

Reference :-

885/25

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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makes only too clear), I believe they might properly be permitted to return without further restrictions or conditions. But I fear it is impossible. Some restrictions and conditions must be imposed.

I stated above that they might "properly" be permitted to return—not safely, as far as the lives of individuals are concerned--if only precautionary measures are undertaken. Some lives would certainly be sacrificed, sooner or later, but they would not be wasted if only the lesson is taken to heart.

Government and natives are as one in desiring that the coast lands and islands should be reclaimed, and again become the home of prosperous and contented populations. From every point of view it is desirable that Government and the natives should co-operate to this end. It is, also, eminently right that the natives should incur personal risk, if they understand it and are willing to accept it. A main incentive for them to do so is certainly love of home and country, and there is none more justifiable than this.

I believe that we should impose conditions upon their return, and also that they should be permitted to incur attendant risk; but, personally, I am unwilling to assume any responsibility for the consequences if half-way measures are taken. Either safety must be guaranteed (and this cannot be done short of the imposition of conditions which are economically impracticable) or the natives themselves must accept the responsibility.

If the European Government will agree, however, and the native chiefs and Government care to accept a situation in which there is

(a) the certainty that some lives will sooner or later be sacrificed, (b) the possibility of a deplorable recurrence of the epidemic,

I am willing to act in an advisory capacity in outlining the work which would necessarily be done to ensure a degree of safety comparable to that which exists at the present time at Bukakata, amongst the wood cutters across the bay from Entebbe pier, etc. If such points as these may be safely occupied to the extent to which they actually are at present, not only the lake shore but the islands, in whole or in part, could probably be reclaimed.

Personally I believe that danger of a recurrence of the epidemic is remote if the natives will observe the restrictions which would necessarily be imposed-but This much, however, is certain. A European iny opinion counts for nothing. inspector must eventually be employed, and must be either supplied with a corps Native of assistants or with adequate means for transportation upon the lake. inspection is far from efficient at present.

The point which I attempted to bring out in my brief report upon the results of the survey of the Buddu coast is that proof is lacking that the "Bukakata standard" may safely be accepted as a basis for any reclamation project.

The

point must either be overlooked under the conditions above set forth and the risk must be taken, or further tedious investigations must be undertaken in which the assistance of a trained pathologist is an absolute essential. This, for the present. I understand to be impossible.

The Principal Medical Officer,

Entebbe.

(6)

I am, &c.,

W. F. FISKE,

Entomologist.

Entebbe, Uganda, 30th August, 1915.

SIR,

I HAVE the honour to present herewith a report covering those which I believe to be the most important points in connexion with the fly survey of the Buddu coast, which was begun on 17th May and concluded on 24th August, 1915.

Very respectfully,

The Principal Medical Officer,

Uganda Protectorate.

W. F. FISKE.

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THE FLY SURVEY OF THE BUDDU COAST.

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THE survey of the Buddu coast included all portions from the Uganda boundary southward to the zone of military activity near the German frontier. Its object was to determine the relative abundance of Glossina palpalis at all points, and, by a study of existing conditions as regards shelter, breeding places, and food supply, to estimate roughly the actual expenditure which would be required so to reduce the present abundance as to make reoccupation of the closed area safe.

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"

2. Approximately seventy miles of shore was thus surveyed, which may be conveniently divided into twelve districts, as named in the accompanying table. From this table it may be seen that the average degree of infestation varied greatly in different districts. It was lightest in Bwendi, where a reasonable expenditure would reduce it sufficiently to meet the standard of safety which has been established

district at Entebbe. (Precise figures are lacking, but it is believed that, if a to include Entebbe were surveyed, abundance of fly would be indicated by 5 or less per boy per hour.) In the other districts, if what may be called the Entebbe standard were adhered to, a much greater expenditure would be required: greater, proportionately, in some, than heavier infestation of fly would indicate, because of different local conditions.

3. Attention is particularly called to the Bukakata district, where the infes- tation is heavy, as compared to Bwendi; very heavy as compared to Entebbe; heavier than in Bujaju or Buganga, and about on a par with Sebweru. It appeared certain, on studying local conditions, that to reduce the degree of infestation in the Bukakata district to meet the standard which has been set in the Entebbe district would cost more than to reduce it in any other district in Buddu to meet the standard which, by precedent, has been established in Bukakata. For Bukakata itself is an open port. There is no large village, because the land is not suited to agricul- ture; but the natives fish freely and openly along the entire seven miles reach of shore a well-worn path runs along the larger part of it, and in point of fact they seem to be visiting it to the extent of their desire to do so.

4. The conclusion appears unavoidable that the expenditure which would be necessary to clear the Buddu shore to meet the "Entebbe standard" would cost more than all interested parties together would willingly pay; i.e., it is economically impracticable. But it is believed that, if a " Bukakata standard" could be adopted, the native alone would, not improbably, meet the expense. Either the Bukakata standard is too high or the Entebbe standard too low, and, in view of the actual circumstances, a decision upon this point appears to be of the first importance. The natives ought not to be permitted to continue fishing at Bukakata if it is unsafe. If it is not unsafe they ought to be permitted to reoccupy the remainder of the shore under similar conditions.

5. The question at issue is purely one in bionomics, i.e., of the effect of environ- ment upon the numerical increase and dispersion of an organism, but one in the bionomics of the trypanosome and not of its vector. The writer is wholly unwilling to proceed with his consideration of the practical application of recently-acquired knowledge in Glossina bionomics until the point is decided. He is equally unwilling, as a specialist in entomological bionomics only, to undertake the responsibility of deciding a question involving the bionomics of a protozoan.

6. It was his plan to investigate conditions in East Africa, where natives occupy shore once infested and probably infested still; to secure figures which would make possible a direct comparison between abundance of fly at such points and at points in Uganda; and to ascertain the extent to which the population, in its ordinary activities, comes in contact with the fly. But it is equally necessary to secure data concerning the prevalence of sleeping sickness in such localities as may be visited and studied, and concerning the prevailing infectivity of the fly. This work the writer cannot attempt to carry on, for, even though he were to do so. no one would be justified in accepting his results as authoritative.

7. In addition to this is another point equally open to investigation. If the results of the work done at Mpumu re antelope as a reservoir of sleeping sickness virus are to be accepted at full face value, it appears to be a reasonable assumption that in certain localities in Sesse the flies ought to be more dangerously infective at the present time than at the height of the epidemic. At present they can be shown to feed almost exclusively upon antelope in such localities, and it is doubtful if ever before they principally fed upon a host capable of conveying infection. Opposed to this presumption is the fact that no case of sleeping sickness is known to have developed amongst the hundreds of men who have spent periods of from

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