Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-03-16
he SLEEPING SICKNESS
BY FREDERIC j. HASKIN.

At lecture recently delivered in Wash
ington before the National Geographic So
| ciety, the speaker made the statement
that when the duke of the Abruzzi landed
in Africa for the purpose of ascending the
Ruwenzori the only danger he feared was
the sleeping sickness. In view of the
fact that this dreadful malady is trans
mitted by the bite of the tsetse fly, the
question arises: Will Theodore Roosevelt
run more risk from the poisonous stab
If this insect than from the lion which
can enter a sleeping car and fell its vic
tim with one blow of huge paw?
The first printed record of the disease
appeared in 1903. Later it was discovered
! in Brazil and the West Indies Scientists
toyed with it, and novelists used it for
the purposes of their plots. Only when it
affected his commercial enterprises, did
the white man begin to investigate it in
earnest With the completion of the rail-
road connecting the eastern coast of Afri-
: ca with Lake Victoria, the full horror OF
the disease became known to the English
people Formerly limited to West Africa,
1T seemed to have quietly followed the
trade routes of Central Africa. Between
, the years 1901 and 1906 over 100000 natives
died. The traffic of the region suffered to
such an extent that the entire India rub
Der trade of the Sese Islands had to be
= abandoned.
The symptoms of the sleeping sickness
are recognized by the natives themselves
i and the inevitable issue calmly awaited.
A low fever, headaches, lustreless eyes
and a general apathetic appearance indi-
cate the first stages. Later come difficulty
of motion, tremulousness, lethargy, and
! insensibility, ending in death. The dura-
/
TO twelve. 1t seldom attacks white peo-
pie but one noted instance attests its
malignity. DR.. Tulloch, like DIR. Walter
Reed, of yellow fever fame, became
martyr to science. He died of the sleeping
sickness on June 20 1906, having contract
ed the disease during the course of his in
designations.
! When England in 1902 awoke to her
duty, scientists differed greatly as to the
cause of the fatality. The poisonous root
| of the manioc, a staple article of food,
was one belief; bacteria another. One ex-
] pert declared that the disease was caused
, by thread worm akin to the vinegar eel.
Others thought certain fish produced the
evil.
! The foreign office, anxious to have the
matter thoroughly investigated and hav-
! ing no funds for such purpose, appealed
! to the royal society for aid. The latter
sent out three medical men, and to the
present day has supported a sleeping sick
/ ness commission. To one of the first three
men, Dr. Castellani, belongs the credit of
discovering the trypanosome (animal or
ganism), although he die not place it as
| the actual cause of the disease. 1t was
/ left to DR.. David Bruce, sent out the next
year as director of the sleeping sickness
commission, to prove that the little or
gaTiism, since called trypanosoma gam
| biense causes all the trouble; that ii is
carried by a species of tsetse fly known
as glossina palpalis; and that it can exist
in the human blood without causing any
| inconvenience. AS long as it does not
make its way into the cerebro-spinal fluid
and thus to the brain, no damage is done.
The immunity of Europeans is due to
their habit of wearing clothes, and their
lgeneral precautions against flies, mos
quitoes and the like
! Unfortunately DR.. Bruce was soon
obliged to return to England, and there
are still many questions unanswered.
! Such problems as the prevention of the
disease, it's cure, the reservoirs of the
| trypanosomes, the place of deposit of
the pupa of the tsetse fly the duration
of the infection in the fly are all await
ing solutions. Germany and Belgium
|
is doing threefold work, being represent
ed by the army medical department, the
Royal Society of London, and the Liver
pool School of Tropical medicine. In or
der that the field should be covered by
J cooperative measures of the countries in
terested, an international conference was
| held. 1t took place in London in June,
1907. 1t was called the first conference,
indicating that the participants realized
that the battle had only begun. The re-
port is published in both French and
I English and the protocol opens thus:
1.-The governments of Germany, the In
dependent Congo State. France, Great
Britain, Italy, Portugal and the Soudan
| having resolved to proceed to the con-
sideration of the measures to be taken
to combat the sleeping sickness in trop-
ical Africa" etc. Lord Fitzmaurice, the
president, in his opening address made an
admission which hitherto no one had
dared to whisper: Already" he said,
mot a few Europeans have died of the
! disease, any many of those still alive
are known to be affected"
| The conference adjourned after passing
certain administrative measures likely to
facilitate experiment and assist proven
ton. Not the last among them was the
| establishment of a central bureau in Lon
don, to which all information should be
sent and which would, from time to
time, publish pamphlets on the subject.
Another resolution covered the prepara
ton of an official map indicating the
affected areas. Again, all missionaries
going to Africa, were to be invited to
take certain courses in one of the tropi-
cal schools of medicine.