The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-02-15
AN AFRICAN TERROR.
THE TSETSE fLY'S BITE is SURE
OEATt' TO ANIMALS.

No Effect Upon Man.
A pest that fatally atficts animals.
but not man. and has thus far been
confined to central and southern Africa.
is the subject of II report to tho Royal
society. in England. bya committee ap-
pointed to investigate the matter. The
disease in question is the result of a
bite by fly scarcely larger than the
common house fly, and though its prog
rcss is somewhat slower than that of the
poison from snake bite the effect is
equally deadly to OK. horse or dog. A
sting like that of II mosquito leads to
symptoms resembling those of IL cold.
and the animal grows steadily worse
until it dies, perhaps week or ten days
after the tiny wound WAS inflicted
The Importance rf Il maladv of this
sort was so apparent that the Royal So
cicty appointed committee to study
lis nature and 10 ascertain. il possible
whether any cure ruiii,l IL, t"r.nl X
good deal of interesting Information i
presented III ;la report, "uf a.: .',. III
si'iir OF so:i.c uvi-ilul aaA lnurnu@n cs-
lFriir,nt. 10 rriHt, y hl~ rt,n iutfai
,,r ,hr dis .i~. II. iA,.~t tii..i ...its.e.
Gun recommend ~ ,,,- .if c.l.iil..,.
;l,ce ~ ~" l.r t,ei!s 81. ..-,'it ,s.r Il
- !,y ,hn .iit,.,. Mi.i. l., r-.-t il
riMe :n..4.,l, .,tr ,li r@fU i...
~ i,.tr ~ ini st,ip ffiet .ii} ...us.r~
i.ti nil, f. ,iliAv .ll ..l,..
'rAei',ts. iiA snrA i, ... & i,
j'ul,lii", ...,,i lin!.ll..i,:.ir. l,a j., .n-m
il4ia. ,itiHaliy - ,i.nlt ..~ a.l
flpliu'.5 li.' Ssll 4 tptnMln ,l's,;,i .,..l
ln,son into .hr VEINS of i:.,.r Victims.
liz iii i;rh'ri ,.i;.liin., AGENT il in,l III.
stances aiiilci.a /" i".; living ~ .aisi~iii.
Il niiclobr. characteristic IN tlirnl.cc.i-r
"i lu;il.llinl f,v.r and il :i,"r'iltl. o.. l.
stran5c ami fatal tS,isr iis,:lSc The
existence cf ihc latter parasite WAS dis
covered by Surgeon Alni"r Brace several
years ago. after Il careful study uf The
sc.llrsc. The fly is SO abundant a.d
lrrniciomsly active in some regions that
they cannot be inhibited lv horses and
cattle 1t is IL curious fact. thuugli. than
man appears to be entirely unaffected
by its bite.
The great advances made within the
last few y.ar5 iii hactcriulu::y naturally
sa";:"-t'! 10 the Royal sr';,tr imyvsli-
Gg; Il. Il In" Df cxinriincn from which.
al III" outset. il VIZ, lt.l>unanir 10 va-
liect iilcl,. The first step W., IL obtain
specimens nf ,hr micr.,ir, llr ms; VA.
10 ,.o.. into his lla',;.> anl rc,a;i,ol-
.lnls ana i,.r 'ih!ri W;s r., .,i,...
r.3n j., d,,ir il tllr WAY rf i,lm.l, ,lii.
an ,itrsin iro.n liz r,isun
TN Hiisrf vai.,. Il iv.ie -lln Il
from ,ir li"a! uf e '..s; ii..f l.at j.. ,n
i.,fc'A Wlih tir ii t:,~ o. K, W.
j'j..r iruin -iiri.;. t'fl:n.o- ,.,ar tli,a.
ll''i. IN IN. ii -.;.l ii..iii,.. Variants
animals - - .,u,lin;., wi'i. 'ip lf.%-
',i;os ;iii'l attempts w,i'v mace 10 ,.rG
,iurr II srIilil Sycil SIS j.. ,.i:,;nrti i,T
s'iii.c bite. diiith, :'ia AID t,,al.,,s. tI,nt
would protect anilnal, ;l;;i i;ni not
irwn attacked ulli oii ii,u~, which
hai. But tllc sysgein which weeks 81,
admirably with fow vi the ,c,; known
ciiicacious with that which results
from the bite OF the t>ri-.. fly. Several
carnations OF tic stand methods were
tried withort success. l. fl om diseased
animals was inicctc,l for Instance Su
We're preparations containing the para
sites of kindred 1nnlndic> Dieting was
also resort,d IL. but yielded no Iallia-
tive effects.
The inquiry Of tho committee was
carried on in such comprehensive
manner as to include a comparison with
the tsetse infection of somewhat similar
phenomena noticed among rats in India
and elsewhere. Koch is said to have at
tributed plague prevalent among In
dian rats TO the tsetse parasite. The
Royal society committee does not con-
slider the point established. but the
identity of the African maia,iy with
one observed in Algeria is more prob
able
One part of the investigation conduct
ed by the committee related to the kinds
of animals that are subject to the pest
under discussion. To obtain informa-
tlon on this point, cats. dogs, rabbits,
mice. rats. guinea pigs and even hedge
hogs We're inoculated. They proved sus-
ceptiblc to the disease. at first it was
suspected that the guinea pig was inn
munc, but while it responds more slow
ly than some other animals to the poison
it succumbs eventually. No recovery oc-
Cured after the parasites had once got
into the creatures blood. Not only does
VII ii'i ot VIC iii consequence III al ISttSt
fly bite, but Il hybrid of the zebra and
ass does too. No hope of finding sub
stituto for the noblcr animal that would
be proof against the disease was afford
ed by this test. Here. however, are
two or three comforting facts, although
they have little practical bearing on
the problem presented. 1t seems proved
that the disease cannot he communicate
cd by eating the flesh OF an animal
which has died from it unless some
lesion exists in tho mouth or food pas
sagcs. In other words, the poison must
be injected into the blood The virus
rather quickly ceases to be infcctivc.
Blood drawn from u living diseased ami
NAL loses this i'll three or four days at
most, but material taken from dead
animal seems to be powcrlcss after
about "a hours.