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Bacterio logical studies by Lieu- tenants Gray and Tulloch of the H.A.M.C. Spread of

into

Unyoro and the Nile district.

104

the Government a grant of £50, a measure of assistance which cannot be termed excessive.

13. The work of the White Fathers among the sick was comparatively no more than a mere drop in the ocean, and the suffering and mortality continued unabated. The natives declined to believe in the agency of the tsetse fly, and the sick, in all stages, being permitted to remain in the infested radius, provided an ever-increasing source of infection for the flies. Millions of tsetse thus became inoculated and proceeded to transmit the disease to those who might still be unaffected.

14. Towards the end of 1904, Lieutenants Gray and Tulloch, of the Royal Army Medical Corps, were sent out by the Royal Society to replace the scientists who had first come out, and, during the ensuing year, they worked steadily at the bacteriological investigation of the disease. Doctor Tulloch, unfortunately, fell a victim to his devotion to duty and died of sleeping sickness in July last.

15. In November, 1904, Mr. Wilson, the Acting Commissioner, reported to the the disease Secretary of State that the disease had made its appearance in Unyoro, on the shores of Lake Albert, and at several places on the banks of the Nile. He believed that the fly would be found all along the banks of the river right up to Bor, and stated that no preventive measures appeared to be discoverable. A few weeks later, the medical officer in Unyoro reported 300 deaths. Captain Grieg, an officer of the Indian Medical Service, who had been associated with Colonel Bruce, travelled down the Nile and reported the presence of tsetse flies almost as far as Gondokoro.

16. In January, 1905, the Royal Society, in view of the alarming spread of sleeping sickness towards the Sudan, recommended the engagement of the services of an experienced zoologist who would investigate the natural history of the tsetse fly and of other biting insects which might also prove to be the means of trans- Arrival of mitting the disease. Professor Minchin was selected for this service, and arrived in Uganda in April, 1905. He pursued his researches during eight months and then returned to England. The results of his investigations have not yet be com- municated to this Administration, and we are, therefore, not yet aware that any discoveries of importance were made by that gentleman.

Professor Minchin.

from Entebbe.

17. In March, 1905, Doctor Moffat, the Senior Medical Officer, represented to the Commissioner that the location of the laboratory for the study of sleeping sickness was undesirable in Entebbe. He stated that a number of monkeys, rats, and other animals, artificially infected with trypanosomes, were being kept on the premises, and that tsetse flies, used for experimental purposes, sometimes escaped from the laboratory and were found in the houses of European officials in the neigh- Removal of bourhood. He, therefore, strongly recommended the removal of the laboratory to laboratory

a convenient place at some distance from Entebbe. Doctor Moffat's views were accepted, and the Imperial Treasury authorized the expenditure of £2,900 for the erection of a properly equipped laboratory on a site about two miles distant from the town. The buildings were completed in May last, but have never been occupied. Lieutenant Tulloch developed trypanosomiasis in March last and was accompanied to England by his colleague Doctor Gray, and the original laboratory in Entebbe was closed. It was hoped that other medical officers would have been forthcoming to carry on the studies of Doctors Gray and Tulloch, but in your Lordship's despatch, No. 197, of 19th July last,* I was informed that, the Royal Society being of opinion that the prosecution of therapeutic researches, with a view to the discovery of some effective remedy for sleeping sickness, could best be carried out in Europe, no further investigators would be sent out to Uganda. I was, however, directed to maintain the new laboratory in commission so that it might be available for future investigations.

Death of Lieutenant Tulloch.

Royal Society decides to send out

no more

investi- gators.

18. Reports received from Usoga and other parts of the Protectorate during 1905 indicated that sleeping sickness appeared to be rapidly spreading inland, and it became evident that more extensive researches were urgently needed. On the recommendation of the Royal Society, a scheme for an extended investigation was Scheme for adopted, and six medical officers were specially appointed in this connection. Doctor extended Hodges, who had already been much identified with enquiries into sleeping sickness,

investi.

gation.

• 21177: not printed.

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105

was entrusted with the organization of the scheme, and his subordinates were instructed to specially enquire into the distribution of the tsetse and of other biting flies; to note the spread of the disease; and to encourage the natives, as far as possible, to adopt such preventive measures as might be practicable. In view of the bearing of these investigations on the interests of the Sudan, a grant of £1,000 towards expenses was made by the Egyptian Government. The six officers were distributed in the various districts of the Protectorate, and their observations have been of considerable value. Glossina palpalis have been found in large numbers in the interior of Usoga, on the banks of rivers, and in swamps; also on the shores of Lakes Albert and Albert Edward. There are not many rivers on the banks of which tsetse flies are not found in abundance, and almost the whole length of the Nile, in its course through Uganda, is badly infested.

19. It appears, from such statistics as are available, that the mortality from sleeping sickness has been on the following scale;-

In 1900 there were 8,430 deaths; in 1901, 10,384; in 1902, 24,035; in 1903, Great

30,441; in 1904, 11,251; and during 1905, 8,003. This total of 92,544, mortality. however, only represents the loss of life, during six years, in the King- dom of Uganda alone. The mortality in Usoga, where statistics have not been available, has probably been quite as great, if not greater, and if we also include the deaths that have occurred from sleeping sickness in Unyoro, and the Nile district, it may be taken that the total mortality from this scourge, in this Protectorate during the last five years, has considerably exceeded 200,000. The total population of the affected districts at the outbreak of the disease probably did not exceed 300,000.

20. Having touched on all the salient points of the past history of this deplor- able subject, I will now proceed to indicate the present position, and what appears to be the outlook for the future.

21. The decrease in the number of deaths, in the Kingdom of Uganda since 1903, is not believed to be due to any diminution in the virulence of the disease, but simply to the reduction of possible victims in the affected districts. The natives have been almost completely wiped out everywhere along the Lake shore, and in the islands the mortality has been even more appalling. Buvuma, for instance, which, a few years ago, was one of the most thickly populated and prosperous of all the islands, counted over 30,000 inhabitants. There are now barely 14,000. Some of the Sesse group have lost every soul, while in others a few moribund natives, Depopula- crawling about in the last stages of the disease, are all that are left to represent tion of the a once teeming population. It might have been expected that, even though the Sesse negroes showed inability to grasp the theory of the transmission of disease by the Islands. agency of insects, the undeniable deadliness of the countries immediately bordering on the Lake shore would have induced them to flee from the stricken land, and to have sought, in the healthier districts inland, a refuge from the pestilence that was slaying them by thousands. An extraordinary fatalism, however, seems to have paralized the natives, and while deploring the sadness of their fate, they appear to have accepted death almost with apathy, and to have preferred to perish in their old surroundings rather than migrate to countries where the conditions of lift might possibly be uncongenial.

22. Professor Koch, who arrived in Uganda some weeks ago, and who is actively Arrival of prosecuting his researches on one of the islands of the Sesse group, is of opinion Professor that nearly every soul now remaining in the islands is infected, and that, unless Koch, some therapeutic remedy is discovered, all must assuredly die within a year or two. He is now experimenting with the use of atoxyl in large and repeated doses, and when I saw him, three weeks ago, was inclined to be hopeful of success. Natives suffering from sleeping sickness are flocking to him in hundreds, and he and his assistants are being worked to the limits of their endurance. It is needless to say that this Administration has offered Professor Koch help in every direction possible, and I am glad to add that our officers on the Extended Investigation Commission are working in perfect harmony with their German colleagues. Doctor Hodges has noted the effect of Atoxyl on Professor Koch's patients, and is sanguine as to the results. He points out, however, that in view of the protracted duration of the disease, and the variety of its phases, some years must elapse before any cure may be considered as permanent.

20876

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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results o investi- gation.

Action

the tsuts

fly.

Measure

recom- mended

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