SIR,
30
Enclosure 1 in No. 15.
Government House, Seychelles, 21st June, 1915. IN continuation of my letter dated the 11th June last, I have the honour to forward a copy of a report from the Chief Medical Officer of Seychelles, enclosing a return as requested on 1 of your letter of the 16th March last, showing the percentage of infection of hookworm and other intestinal parasites among representative persons in the different infected localities.
Dr. V. G Heiser,
c/o American Consulate,
Colombo, Ceylon.
I have, &c., [C. R. M. O'BRIEN,]
Lieut.-Colonel,
Governor.
REPORT MADE by the Chief Medical Officer of Seychelles.
YOUR EXCELLENCY,
The results I Now enclose the return of the figures required by Dr. Heiser. of the systematic examination are very interesting. The degree of infection of the general population with ankylostomiasis has proved higher than I expected, but, of course, it must be remembered that a large number of those infected were only thus It is difficult to infected to a small degree and would not feel any evil effects. explain the very low rate of infection of Praslin; from personal experience there I should have expected it to be higher proportionately.
The enormous rate of infection by Tricocephalus dispar (the whip-worm) is interesting, but this parasite is not believed to do any injury to its host.
J. B. ADDISON,
31
Officers, including the Chief Medical Officer, on my staff. Means of transportation for your staff from place to place in Seychelles will be provided. It will be neces- sary, probably, to hire accommodation for the personnel, but this will be arranged, or the small resthouse (in Victoria) will be put at your disposal. There are no hotels suitable for Europeans, but necessities of life and servants are not expensive. The average bazaar account of Europeans can be put down at Rs. 2 per diem, a cook costs Rs. 25 to Rs. 28 per mensem, and a house-boy Rs. 12 to Rs. 14.
4. I regret that our communication with Ceylon is not direct. There are two routes available, the first from Seychelles to Mauritius and thence by the monthly Messageries Maritimes boat to Seychelles; the other would be by steamer to Bombay and thence by the monthly British India Steam Navigation Company steamer to Mahé. It would be possible to proceed from Ceylon to Aden, and thence by the out- ward bound Messageries Maritimes to Mahé, but I think the routes first mentioned by me would be preferable. In any case it will be necessary to obtain connexion at the intermediary points named.
5. I trust you will give me the pleasure of your company at Government House on your arrival in Seychelles and until you can be comfortably settled into quarters, and would ask you to kindly telegraph when you propose to arrive.
6. I also attach, for your information, a copy of a report by Dr. Marie, dated
the 27th April last, and certain remarks thereon of the Chief Medical Officer, under date of 11th May, 1915.
Dr. V. G. Heiser,
c/o American Consulate,
Colombo, Ceylon.
I have, &c.,
[C. R. M. O'BRIEN,] Lieut.-Colonel,
Governor.
| PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
།། ། ། ་། mummimi.C.O. 885
24
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON'
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-| COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
20th June, 1915.
Chief Medical Officer.
INTESTINAL PARASITES.
SEYCHELLES.
Number
examined.
Ankylostoma duodenale.
Ascaris lumbricoides.
Tricocephalus
dispar.
Central District
100
42%
46%
89%
South Mahé District
50
44%
38%
Praslin District
50
10%
42%
68%
La Digue District.....
50
70%
38%
92%
N.B. The Central District can be taken as well representing the degree of infection of the general population, as the material examined was taken from the prison (the only one in the country) and from patients in the Victoria Hospital.
Enclosure 2 in No. 15.
SIR,
Government House, Seychelles, 11th June, 1915. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 16th March, which was two months in transit.
2. I attach, for your information, Dr. Addison's (the Chief Medical Officer) minute on the points raised in your letter. It will be seen that some time must neces- sarily elapse before full replies on all points can be given to you as, with the small staff at our disposal and the somewhat irregular communication with Praslin and La Digue, there is unavoidable delay. Under the circumstances it seems wisest to send I also attach a you such information as I can at once and the remainder later. report on the proposed sanitary service for La Digue by Dr. Marie, who is at present the Medical Officer and Justice of the Peace in charge of Praslin and La Digue Districts.
3. The Government will do all it can to assist in providing the sanitary ser- vice, purchase of depositing site, etc., but, in view of the heavy fall in revenue due to the War and our small resources, great care will have to be exercised as to expendi- At present, I ture. I can, however, promise that we will do all we can to assist. am one Medical Officer short, as one has been lent for active service in East Africa, and with the calls and fascination of work in the field it is not probable that I will be able to fill the vacancy until the War is over. I have, therefore, only three Medical
REPORT MADE BY THE CHIef Medical Officer of Seychelles,
YOUR EXCELLENCY,
It will take at least one month to I HAVE seen Your Excellency hereon. supply the information required in No. 1 of Dr. Heiser's letter and also to prepare the specimens he requires in No. 2; it would therefore appear to be better to furnish Dr. Heiser at once with the information required in the rest of his letter and to send the rest later.
As regards 3:-The last estimated population of La Digue was 1,424 (I believe a muddle was made over the last official census and so the figures obtained are not quite reliable). Praslin population, estimated 2,131. I think it might be taken that about one-fifth to one-fourth of this number reside at Grande Anse, the locality the most infected.
The population of Mahé can be taken as somewhere about 20,000.
As to the practicability of examining the stools of all inhabitants and having them take medicine, I am afraid there would be considerable difficulty in doing the thing thoroughly; it would entirely depend on the good will of the people, who are entirely independent and not docile in this sort of matter.
As regards 4:- -The replies are not in my province.
As regards 5:-With our staff short-handed a Medical Officer would not be available for special work, which would take up all his time. There are at present
no assistants available to do microscopical examinations; it might be possible to train a few in the necessary technique, but this would take time.
6. No steamers leave Colombo direct to Seychelles, and there is a monthly service from Seychelles to Aden.
13th May, 1915.
J. B. ADDISON,
Chief Medical Officer.
t
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