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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

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PUBLIC "RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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ing swampy places. I found them always on dry ground with bushes and trees, and also close to water. There are flies on both sides of the Nile below Fajao and above, but the further one gets from Fajao above, the less the flies appear to get. At Fowers there were very few, and above that we found none. This is probably owing to there being more papyrus, and the banks becoming lower and consequently more swampy. There are not so many on the north bank. I think it quite probable that the flies do frequent certain times of the year. We never found them in banana plantations or in the native shambas. All small streams running into the Nile had fly on them.

(4.) Whether sleeping sickness is on the increase or decrease in the Bugungu

district?

(4.) This question is not easy to answer, as undoubtedly many cases were hidden. All the chiefs without exception stated that it was decreasing. (5.) If any means could be devised to prevent its spreading across the Victoria

Nile, by way of the ferry at Fajao?

(5.) A Medical Officer might be stationed at Fajao, to examine all caravans before they crossed, in order to stop any suspicious case. He would also be in a splendid position for noting habits and peculiarities of the fly, &c., &c.

Unyoro, November 14, 1905.

DEAR MR. WILSON,

me.

ERNEST BEADOn Adams,

Medical Officer.

Hoima, September 10, 1905.

WITH regard to Circular No. 19, which you have been kind enough to hand

2. You ask me for any assistance I can give you, and I shall be only too pleased if I can do so at any time.

3. For your own personal information I attach herewith some notes upon the points I think of most importance, and which I am sure the present Medical Com- mission would be glad of information upon.

4. Please make whatever use you like of these notes.

5. With regard to Fajao Ferry, I certainly think as you do, that something in the way of prevention of spread should be carried out at that spot, the only spot available for the purpose, as far as the regions north are concerned.

6. You will gather by the article in the "British Medical Journal," which I have sent you, that it is no easy matter to diagnose an early case of trypanosomiasis, except by the swelling of the glands, and I am not at all sure that it might not be advisable to place a Medical Officer on special service at Fajao, to examine all travellers, and stop those with swollen glands. This alone would do a good deal towards the prevention of spread. In India many of us on Special Plague Service were stationed for years in worse places than Fajao on similar duty.

7. A Medical Officer stationed at Fajao would have better opportunities of studying the fly than under any other circumstances that I can think of. He might institute a series of experiments for the purposes of discovering what preparations or substance are disagreeable to the fly, and therefore, when carried or smeared upon the body, would prevent attack.

8. Absolutely nothing has as yet been done upon this part of the subject, and it is obvious that such a substance, if discovered, would go far to minimize the chances of infection.

9. To any doctor stationed there I would suggest the trial of Liquor Carbonis Detergens, or perhaps Jeyes's Fluid, both of them cheap enough, I think, in bulk, Many other things might be tried.

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10. The clearance of all bush and forest is, of course, the first necessity, but would be a heavy undertaking on the northern bank, from what I remember of it.

11. I repeat that any measures you may enforce at Fajao Ferry will be amply warranted, and I agree with you that they should be instituted without delay.

12. Anyone who knows the geography of Fajao Ferry will know what a dangerous spot it is, or may become, if it is frequented by the fly, and will realise what ample opportunities the flies have for becoming infected, making a single bite highly

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dangerous, just in the same way as Anopheles mosquitoes and Spirillum-conveying ticks have, not only of all becoming infected with each their own speciality, but of living to a ripe old age, in the carefully tended rest houses, magnificent monuments of native labour, on the Entebbe-Butiaba road-a string of death traps.

I am, &c.,

1.

TSETSE FLY.

C. CHRISTY.

An accurate knowledge of the spots or areas in which Glossina palpalis, or any other species of tsetse fly occurs, at a particular date, is the first thing to accomplish.

2. A sketch of those areas or spots should be made and dated.

3. It is important to know whether those spots or areas are permanent or not. They should therefore be revisited by the investigator or a trained assistant, say once a month or so for 12 months at least.

4. If not permanent, where have the flies migrated to, and why? Is it due to absence of water or clearing of bush or other cause?

5. It is important to know whether the fly is equally voracious and tormenting as a blood-sucker during all the months of the year; and, if not, what are the most dangerous months at any given place? What connection has this with the fly's breeding time?

6. Males are usually more numerous than females at all times. Knowledge is required as to whether females congregate or predominate at certain times or certain spots. If so, what are the characteristics of these spots, and does the time corre- spond with that of the breeding time, if any and if known?

7. Information as to the breeding spots and breeding habits of the fly in general is of the highest importance, and the smallest detail is worth reporting.

8. Glossina palpalis, unlike some of the other species of tsetse, is usually found to remain within a few yards of water, but in deep forest it may be found at a much greater distance away. What connection has this fact with its search for blood? What animals does it bite (probably all), or has it any preference? (In the Congo it has been noticed that it is specially partial to pigs.)

9.

No conjecture can be hazarded as to the direction in which sleeping sick- ness (human trypanosomiasis), is likely to spread till the fly areas are known, and until it is known whether or not those areas are permanent or migratory or change in any way.

10. The tsetse fly does not lay eggs. Its single ovum is retained and hatched in the body of the mother.

The resulting larva is also retained, being nurtured on blood by a special placental arrangement. When fully developed the small white maggot-like larva is extruded upon the ground or elsewhere, and then, in some suitable crevice or other spot, turns within a few hours into a dark reddish sequented pupa, also about quarter-inch long and oval at both ends.

11. Glossina palpalis is the name of the tsetse fly which conveys human trypanosomiasis from man to man, and is the only one hitherto found in Uganda.

Glossina morsitans is the name of the tsetse which conveys the disease called Nagana in South Africa, a form of trypanosomiasis in cattle. It is smaller than Glossina palpalis.

Glossina fusca is the largest species, and is light in colour the legs being specially light. It is peculiar in that it sometimes bites at night, and may be found in the tent in the evening. Its bite is specially severe, and may raise a large discolour as big as half a hen's egg.

There are five other species of tsetse fly known in Africa.

Hoima, September 10, 1905.

HUMAN TRYPANOSOMIASIS (Sleeping Sickness).

C. CHRISTY.

No mapping of any area in which this disease is supposed to be prevalent is

in any way possible in Unyoro.

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