Preliminary report on the tsetse fly disease or nagana, in Zululand / By Surgeon-Major David Bruce.
- Bruce, David, Sir, 1855-1931?UNAUTHORIZED.
- Date:
- 1895
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Preliminary report on the tsetse fly disease or nagana, in Zululand / By Surgeon-Major David Bruce. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![G7 To return to Nagana, what do we know of the disease ? We know that it is caused by the entrance into the blood of a minute parasite which multiplies there and causes death. That this parasite exists in the blood of many animals and that it is conveyed from animal to animal by the Tsetse Fly, or by the eating of the raw flesh of animals affected by the disease. We also know that the disease is limited to certain tracts of country having certain physical features, but that its distribution in these tracts is very variable. We do not know how the parasite causes death, but surmise that it may do so by the poisonous actio]) of some substance or substances elaborated or secreted by it, or by producing a progressive haemolysis and anaemia, leading to a form of auto-intoxication. We do not krunv all the animals in which this parasite may exist, but judging from the number of domestic animals in which it is fatal, we may consider that it has a wide range. It may exist not only in the koodoo, wildebeeste and other big game, but it also may exist in the wild cats, rats, birds, and even fish of the Fly Country. We do not know whether there are other species of fly which convey the disease besides the Tsetse, but this perhaps is a minor consideration. We do not know of any method at present of isolating the hypothetical poisonous substance elaborated by the hamiatozoon so as to be able to study it or to render animals immune to it by gradually increasing doses. No experiments have, as far as I am aware, been made in this country in the direction of studying the effect of the serum of animals in whose blood the hsematozoa have been numerous. Dr. Lingard has, however, made a few with a negative result in Surra. As treatment of disease by means of serum is very popular at present and I may be blamed for not having entered more into this aspect of the subject, 1 give Dr. Lingard's results in extenso. THE SUBCUTANEOUS INOCULATION OF BLOOD AND ITS DERIVATIVES IN ITS DIFFERENT FORMS, OBTAINED FROM ANIMALS SUFFERING FROM, OR WHICH HAD LATELY SUCCUMBED TO, SURRA. A serk-s of experiments were conducted in order to test the efficacy or otherwise of the blood serum as a protective agent against inoculated ' Surra/ or in other words to ascertain whether any substance capable of conferring immunity against the disease was present in it when obtained from animals in whose circulation the ha;matozoon of Surra had been swarming for some days previously. In the first series fresh blood containing numerous htematozoa was drawn from the horse immediately after death into sterilised glass vessels, and set aside for several hours in order to allow of the serum separating. The serum was then transferred to one of M. Pasteur's filters, and forced through a porcelain cylinder. Three rabbits and two guinea pigs were then subcutaneously iujected with varying quantities during a period of three days. On the evening of the third day each animal received subcutaneously 0/2 c.c. of blood containing numerous h;ematozoa another animal in each case receiving a like quantity so as to act as control experiments. Babbit A, which received 3'0 c.c. serum after inoculation with the soiled Surra blood, survived the •' fiist appearance of the luematozoon twenty-four days. B received C'O c.c. serum ; survived twenty-two days. C received 90 c.c. serum ; survived forty days. The control animal survived forty-seven days. In the case of the guinea pigs— X received 6'0 c.c. serum, a,ud survived the first appearance of the haematozoon after inoculation with the soiled Surra blood thirty-four days. Y i-eceived 6-0 c.c. serum, and survived sixty-six days. The control animal survived the first appearance of the hasmatozoon in the blood eighty-four days. TABLE XIX. Animals. Date of Sub- cutaneous Injections. Quantity of Horse Serum Injected. Date of Inoculation with Blood containing the Haimatozoa. Quantity of Blood Inoculated. Date of the first Appearance of the Hoematozoa in Blood. Date of Death. Number of Days elapsing between Inoculation and Death. c.c. c.c. d. sr. y. D. 51. T. Rabbit A 30 0-2 18.12 90 10.1.91 „ B 60 0-2 18 12 90 8.1.91 ., C 90 0-2 18.12.90 2G.I 91 Control .. .. 02 Guinea-pig X 02 20.12.90 22.1.91 Y .. 0-2 20.12.90 23.2.91 ,, Control 0-2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21364655_0141.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
