Annual medical and sanitary report / Uganda Protectorate.

  • Uganda Protectorate. Medical Department.
Date:
[1920]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual medical and sanitary report / Uganda Protectorate. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/74 (page 11)
    There has been Plague at Kampala and Jinja throughout the year, odd cases occurring after an interval of a week or ten days. But the number of cases of C.S.Mb and Smallpox has decreased in both these stations. Entebbe has kept free from all three diseases. The following Table shows the number of cases of Plague, Cerebro-Spinal Fever and Smallpox in the Townships and surrounding districts of Entebbe, Kampala and Jinja, for the last six years. Table A. Plague. Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis. Small-pox. 1915 191(5 1917 1918 1919 1920 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 Entebbe Cases ... 2 36 1 18 14 41 8 16 151 37 Deaths... . . • 1 33 ... * . . 1 7 7 • • • • . . ... 4 4 3 38 9 ... Kampala Cases ... ... 238 122 8 72 . . . 21 141 3 ... 3 46 40 331 414 27 ... Deaths... ... 216 110 3 62 , . . 13 106 1 ... 3 9 9 67 128 ... ... Jinja Cases ... 1 62 8 15 87 1 18 4 3 8 2 41 24 113 140 1 4 Deaths... • 1 54 7 15 85 1 15 4 3 8 14 7 30 47 ... ... Total Cases ... 1 302 166 23 159 2 57 159 6 8 5 128 72 460 705 65 4 Deaths ... 1 271 150 18 147 2 35 117 4 8 3 27 20 100 213 9 ... Communicable Diseases. 1. Mosquito or Insect Borne. Malaria.—4,490 cases were treated with 17 deaths as compared with 4,352 cases with 10 deaths in 1919. 1,516 cases with 7 deaths occurred in Kampala, where the diagnosis is confirmed by slide examination in every case. Blackwater Fever.—49 cases with 5 deaths were returned from Government Hospitals, and 7 cases with 2 deaths from the Church Missionary Society’s Hospitals. This shews a decrease in the figures for 1919 of 19 cases with 7 deaths in Government Hospitals and 8 cases with 4 deaths in the Church Missionary Society’s Hospitals. A full report on this disease is given in Appendix I. Relapsing Fever.—Continues to shew an increase, 244 cases with 2 deaths being treated as compared with 143 cases with 4 deaths in 1919 and 65 cases with 3 deaths in 1918. This is not necessarily a proof that the disease is on the increase in the Protectorate, but an increasing number of natives from the outlying areas where this disease is endemic now come under the Medical Officers at the Government stations owing to the large increase in Kasanvu labour. The temporary camps on the main roads are systematically destroyed and a new pattern porters’ camp is now on trial in Ankole. In the endemic area which is practically untouched and practically never visited by a Medical Officer, the effects of this disease are undoubtedly very serious. Trypanosomiasis.—153 cases with 12 deaths were returned as against 51 cases with 8 deaths in 1919. 139 of these are from Bukedi district and include suspected cases as well as those in which the trypanosomes were found. This large number is due to the systematic hunt for cases made among the general population living in the neighbourhood of the Mpologoma infected area, over 10,000 people having been examined. There is little doubt that large numbers of cases and deaths are occurring and have occurred for years in the neighbourhood of the Nile from Lake Albert to Nimule, and as G. palyalis occurs on almost every river for miles inland (they have been caught close to Arua) the need for additional medical staff and supervision can readily be understood. It is hoped that during 1921 Dr. Carpenter will be enabled to complete a thorough survey of the whole Protectorate. One case occurred in a European Official, while at Gulu, but the infection was probably contracted in the Mpologoma area where he had been on tour with the Acting Senior Medical Officer in charge Sleeping Sickness Measures. He was treated by Dr. Marshall on his way home and recent reports on his health are satisfactory. Dr. G. D. Hale Carpenter arrived from leave on 19tli September, 1920, and took up his duties as Senior Medical Officer in charge Sleeping Sickness Measures. Before the end of the year he made an extended tour of the infected area in the neighbourhood of Lake Edward, Lake George and Lake Katwe.