Volume 1

Sleeping sickness in the Lado of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan / by Albert J. Chalmers and W.R. O'Farrell.

  • Albert John Chalmers
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sleeping sickness in the Lado of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan / by Albert J. Chalmers and W.R. O'Farrell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    274 of publication in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. lxxi, 1903, p. 501. In the meanwhile Kruse, as Castellani points out, had suggested the name Trypanosoma castellanii in the “Sitzungsberichte der Niederrheinischen Gesell- schaft fiir Natur und Heilkunde zu Bonn,’ dated May 18, 1903, because this is the first name to appear in print, while the name 7. wgandense was only read before the Royal Society on May 14, 1903, and did not appear in public print till later. Therefore if, by any chance, the trypanosome found by Castellani in Uganda should prove to be different from J’. gam- biense. Dutton 1902, its name would be either T. ugandense Castellani 1908, or, as it appeared in public print slightly earlier ; T. castellanit Kruse 19038. The differences between these two trypanosomes is not recognized at the present time because morpho- logically they seem to be identical. Matters remained in this position until the year 1910 when Stephens and Fantham advanced the view that the trypanosomes found in cases of sleeping sickness in the Loangwa Valley in Rhodesia belonged to a new species which they called— Trypanosoma rhodesiense Stephens and Fantham 1910. Whatever views may be held concerning this species, 20 one has ever doubted that it was different from T. gambiense, in the broadest sense of the word, and some of the experiments which will be described below show how very different it is from . the trypanosomes of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Mongalla Province (Old Lado Enclave), and which, from epi- demiological and other reasons, is thought, by the present writers, to be probably the same trypanosome as that found in the Congo and in Uganda. In 1913 Scott Macfie described a new trypanosome in cases of sleeping sickness in Southern Nigeria, separating it from 7. gambiense and T. rhodesiense (a) Its morphological features. (6) The peculiar symptoms of the disease produced by it. (c) The slight mortality it causes in animals. This trypanosome he names :— Trypanosoma nigeriense Scott-Macfie 1913. Thus in differentiating a human trypanosome, it has to be compared with :— (1). TZ. gambiense Dutton 904 (2) T. castellanii Kruse 1903, similar. (3) T. rhodesiense Stephens and Fantham 1910. (4) T. nigeriense Scott-Macfie 1913. To this point we shall return in the discussion of our observations. - Sleeping Sickness in Countries adjoining the Lado Enclave-—The countries which adjoin the Lado Enclave and which are known to be infected with sleeping sickness are :— (1) Belgian Congo, (2) Uganda, and it is necessary, for the purposes of this paper, to review the known conditions of the disease in the (Sept. 15, 1914. parts of these countries which lie in proximity to the frontiers of the Lado. MY (1) The Belgian Congo.—In order 4B understand - arrived in the Belgian’ Congo and Uganda it is necessary to review briefly a few of the known salient points with regard to the general history of the disease in Africa. The reader of this note is asked to observe carefully that _ any dates merely signify that those are the periods during which the disease was definitely recognized at a given place and do not mean that the disease had just arrived in that locality. If it is realized how difficult the diagnosis of sleeping sickness may be and how necessary it is to confirm its presence, in the early stages, by gland puncture and the microscopical recognition of the trypanosome it will be obvious that it could be easily overlooked for years in a place in which it was present. Lastly it may be remembered that, as a rule, a native, out of politeness or fear, will say anything and agree to anything he thinks is required, and hence misleading evidence may be received as to absence from or the duration of sleeping sickness in a place. With these preliminary remarks we will review what is known of the principal points of the history The earliest recorded case of sleeping sickness is 1373-74; at that time, it is stated, the disease was very common in his country, which was situate in the In the year 1721 John Atkins, Surgeon in the Royal Navy, made a journey to the Guinea Coast, touching at Sierra Leone, places on the Gold Coast, Dahomey and Cape Lopez. As a result of his observations he says :— «‘ Whydah slaves are more subject to smallpox and sore eyes; other parts to a Sleepy Distemper, and to Wind- ward Exomphalos’s.”’ ; He also mentions “the Sleepy Distemper’ in his other book entitled “ The Navy Surgeon.” In 1803 Winterbottom recognized the disease as being common in the natives about Sierra Leone and gave an account of the disease, especially emphasizing the importance of the presence of enlarged glands in the neck for early diagnostic purposes. Sleeping sickness was known to exist on the Congo when Bordier wrote in 1884. When Corre wrote his justly celebrated book in 1887 it was recognized to extend from the Senegal If it is realized that, at that time, hardly anything was commonly known about West Africa Congo, it will be apparent that this only indicates the fringe of the distribution of the disease. A curious point is to be noted in these old writings, and that is, the persistency with which the authors dwell upon the endemicity of the disease. Thus Corre says :— ‘«‘ Endémie trés limitée, et ne prenant jamais la forme épidémique.”’ Another feature of the disease which appears to have been missed is its duration. Again quoting from Corre :— aaa? ‘‘On aurait vu des individus atteints deux, trois, cing ans apres avoir quitté les centres endémiques.”
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