CO885-(25-26) — Page 81

79

140

Possible Explanation for the continued High Death-rate in Sesse during Period 1906 to 1909.

29. It is hoped that more data bearing on this point will be secured, but the following facts appear to be pertinent (see Table III.) :

Deaths per thousand. Sesse.

Buduma.

141

(3) The lack of any such effect in Chagwe, where the epidemic had reached its height three years before. (This corresponds to that which happened in Buvuma (Table III., note **, where the height of the epidemic had passed about two years earlier than in Sesse, and where the effect of depopulation was not noticeable as it was on Sesse. Similarly no effect is shown in Busoga, in Table VIII.)

Table IV.-Deaths by Sleeping Sickness returned from Mainland Sazas bordering the Lake.

1905

1906

1907

1908

1909

1910

63

155

52

71

52

99*

41

55

37 16t

23

8t

Chagwe.

Kyadondo.

Basiro.

Mawakota.

Buddu

30. In August, 1906, Professor Koch established a camp on Sesse for experi- menting with therapeutic remedies. Atoxyl was used, and the immediate effects

As a result the sick "flocked to him by hundreds were very favourable.

Their treatment, and, the natives inform me, many came from the mainland. deaths not only went to swell the total but they must have been a source of infection to their Basesse hosts.

31. In October, 1907, some months after Professor Koch's departure, a camp was opened under the auspices of the Uganda Government. The returns for deaths from this camp for the months of April to August, 1908, included :-

Islanders

96-74 per cent. Mainlanders 34-26 per cent.

Year.

Deathe.

Increase

or Decrease.

Increase

Deaths.

or

Deaths.

Decrease.

Increase

or Decrease.

Increase

Deaths.

or

Deaths.

Decrease.

Incrase

or Decrease.

"

for

Per cent.

Per cent.

Per cent.

Per cent.

Per cent.

1900

1,799

247

458

1901

1,712

258

492

1902

1,500

553

983

1903

3,372

242

1,320

141

45

1904

2,462

374

1,532

353

+ 60

265

1905

1,622

412

+9

1,427

8

395

11

388

1906

620

399

3

1,003

30

440

610

1907

381

223

44

72

93

259

322

49

1908

230

40

80*

71

74

46

86

1909

100

1

- 98

122

+ 42*

5

93

2

96

1910

169

5

+80

78

37

6

+66

1911

45

13

33

56

100

1912

24

7

8

1913

19

4

7

1914

6

3

The proportion of mainlanders in the island population cannot have exceeded This bears out the 15 per cent, and is believed to have been nearer 5 per cent. statements of the natives that many sick mainlanders came to the islands.

32. Neither in Professor Koch's camp, nor in that established by the Govern- ment, was segregation of sufferers insisted upon. They were mostly "out patients living on their plantations on the same or adjacent island, and any good effects of segregation were thus reduced. It is certain that concentration of sufferers from other islands, or their constant passing backward and forward, must have had some slight effect in increasing the number of infections contracted from 1906 onward.

33. In 1908, or possibly in 1907, a concentration scheme was recommended by certain missionaries, and found some favour in Administration quarters, but was properly denounced by Dr. Hodges as likely to lead to increased danger of infec- tion. The native chiefs themselves appear to have carried it out in a desultory manner and to have moved the people from some of the islands, where the popula- Had the movement been conducted tion had been naturally reduced, to others.

with due regard to the location of villages and plantations or infestation by fly, it might have had some good result, but the inhabitants were removed from several islands where fly was relatively scarce to Bugalla-Buninga, where it is more common than on any other (large) islands in the southern group.

Death Returns from Mainland Sazas bordering the Lake.

34. The returns of deaths from the mainland sazas are in many respects unsatis- factory-particularly with respect to those from Kyadondo and Busiro subsequent to 1907. More time ought to be spent in seeking out and tabulating the original monthly returns if they can be found.

35. The most notable features are:-

(1) The sudden and tremendous drop from 1,003 in 1906 to 72 in 1907 in Busiro saza. This is believed to be largely due to general prophylactic measures put into effect in 1905 and 1908.

(2) The sudden drop in Mawakota and Buddu in 1908, believed to be due to

depopulation in part.

* Mainland depopulated.

t Too small in both cases: see Note 1, Table II.

The admissions to sleeping sickness camp on Sesse from March to May, 1908, included 15

per cent. mainlanders. I cannot find any figures for admissions in the first months after the camp was opened, when most of Koch's old patients applied.

Total... 14,061

T

2

2,780

-

7,669

1,667

-

1,684

T

Table V-Showing Deaths by Sleeping Sickness in Busiro and Kyadondo in

Busiro

Kyadondo

Baza.

Year,

...

1908... 1909...

1908... 1909...

1908 and 1909.

la 5w

January.

February.

March.

April.

May.

10

6

12

10

8

2 10

14

19 1

12

།།

June.

Month.

July.

180307

September.

October.

17 8

November.

December.

Total.

10 71

12

15

8

12

13 5

9

14 122

48

1

*** |

1° | |

1

1

TE

* For some reason deaths previously recorded from Kyadondo appear to have been suddenly transferred to Busiro, thus accounting for very abnormal fluctuations. See Table V.

It is known that deaths which were properly attributed to Mawakota occurred in the sleeping sickness camps in 1910, and perhaps subsequently.

It is pretty certain that deaths occurred in Mawakote and Buddu before 1908-but the disease

was new and they were not returned. As a matter of fact we have no knowledge concerning the manner in which an epidemic really begins (unless, possibly, the returns from Ankole, 1910 to 1915, indicate the beginning of one). See Table VIII.

§ NOTE. The heavy death-rate in Kyadondo suddenly dropped in June, 1908, to 0 and remains small to the end of 1909. The light death-rata in Busiro suddenly rises in August, 1908, and No deaths were returned from either saza in June and continues heavy to the end of 1909.

July, 1908. It is plain that the increased number of deaths in Busiro is in some manner correlated with the decreased number in Kyadondo.

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