AFRICA'S SCOURGE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 36, 6 November 1907, Page 7

AFRICA'S SCOURGE.

SLEEPING SICKNESS. •THE CROCODILE AND THE FLY. WAR ON THIS SAURIAN. BY TELEGHAni —I'ItESS ASSOCIATION—COI'TRIOHT. London, Novembor 4. Professor Koch spent eighteen months on Sezso Islands, Lake Victoria Nyanza, studying tho sleeping sickness. ' Tho professor declares that' tho inscct' " glossina palpalis " sucks Jhe blood ,of tho crocodiles and thenco spreads tho germs of sleeping sickness along the banks of tho) streams. Ho recommends the destruction of • tho crocodiles and tho removal of hushea i whero they lurk. ■ ' ' NEW. FIELD OF RESEARCH:,' l HIBERNATING ANIMALS AND INSECT 5 , DISEASE CARRIERS. | (by telegraph.—ntEGo Association.) • [ Auckland, November- :5. i Tho deadly African'.lethargy or. sleoping ! sickness is caused by'trypanosomes conveyed, [ by tho fly Glossina Palpalis. This fact, said ; the District Health Officer (Dr. J. S. Purdy) 5 to a Press representative to-day, has been j known for at least three years, i A commission, consisting of, representatives of tho Royal Society and of tho Lister Institute, and officials 4 of the Schools of Tropical Medicine of London .and Liverpool, presided i over by Colonel, D. Bruce (Royal Army Modical .Corps), fully investigated tho. whole subject of' insects as carriers of diseaso, in which Dr. Purdy is an enthusiast.' It is entirely a new field of research which has been oponed up, arid it has- shown new sources of danger which have suggested tho adoption • of preventive measures which would have soomed ridiculous only a generation ago. With regard to the part it. is suggested that crocodiles play, Dr. Purdy states that it was no' doubt a. very feasible theory that the crocodile was an intermediate bearer, but it would bo difficult to pronounce a definite opinion as tb tho crocodile being tho intermediate ' bearer of the 'parasite until further dotails were forthcoming as to Professor Koch's researches. ■ It was possible that hibernating animals like tho cfocodilo, tho hedgehog, and others might bo specially i susceptible to trypanosomes. . Tho now- element in the Professor's pro-' ! nouncciucnt appears to bo tho crocodile, Pre- ' viously the disease had been traced to tho fly "glossina. palpalis," and tho fly to the waterhole, but apparently not to that notorious ■ sleeper the crocodile.' As showing how tho attack had reached watersido vegetation, v.-o liavo tho decision of tho British Government, pub- ' lished iii July, "that all landing-stages along , tho shore of : the Victorian Nyanza shall bo i freed from tho preseneo of the tsetse fly by 1 means of a complete.;clearness of all vegeta- . tion. JPords, ferries, audi ivaterholes will be • similarly dealt with, and it is hoped that by i constant, and consistent efforts in this direction sleeping sickness will gradually bo stamped i out in Uganda. The chiefs aro working loyally/ 1 with tho Government inihelping to stamp out the disease. ~ . . The natives aro to bo removed from the fly-infested district on tho shores of Lake Victoria to healthy locations 1 inland. T|io sick are to be placod in segregation camps, where they will undergo-the socalled atoxyl treatment. It is estimated that ' some 20,000 persons will havo'to be dealt with in this manner. ' Atoxyl is a preparation ot • arsenic, which, it is claimed, destroys,/ho • germs of. tho disease'. An expedition is now i at work'in north-west Rhodesia seeking, to provent tho" spread, of sleeping. sickness into districts hitherto uninfected.- : ■ ; .