, 1912-10-09
THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST SLEEPING
SICKNESS IN GERMAN EAST AFRICA.
journal American Medical Association.
April 20, 1912.

for the imperial colonial Office, has returned
from his long tour of investigation III Ger
man East Africa and a few days ago deliver
ed a~,lecture on the campaign against sleep
ing sickness in that country. The oldest
focus of the disease is in the Bukoba region,
west of Lake Victoria, where the infection is
not Indigenous, since the GI0SSjn0 P0lpH5s
does not occur in that region; the disease
was imported by natives who went from
there to Uganda to get work. The plan OF
Robert Koch. who introduced IN Kigarama
the first sleeping sickness camp. consisted in
collecting the patients and keeping them to-
gether until their cases terminated in recov-
cry or death, in order to hinder a further
spread Of the disease by preventing sleeping
sickness patients from wan lering into dis
tricts in which the GOSSina p L0QLS does
not exist. This has been successful in that
district as ph physicians have been able TO make
the stay Of the natives in the camp agreeable
ana their chiefs (Sultune) have Influenced
the population i'll their favour; 800 patleuts
were gradually collected In two camps, part
of whom were cured by means Of aloxyl, but
the majority, in spite of treatment, have died
50 that there are now only 800 patients in
the camp, of whom 200 can be treated as
ambulaut patients. AS it is forbidden to go
to Uganda to look for work, there is a pros
pect that this focus will be extipguished ia
the course Of a few years. 70 the east OF
Lake Victoria on the Mori River, sleeping
sickness fourishes among the WtGai, where
1000 sick with it have been discovered. 1t
has been founi difficult in his region to
concentrate the patients in camp because
the people belong to Il formerly very warlike
race, who have been accustomed to wander
about the country rs nomad herders of cat
flo EnrflornnOpo ~ -, Il H1n,1lt fn ,1ofnin -,
camp those Who have the disease in a mild
form, as they do not feel sick. Therefore,
only the severely sick and delirious, who
came Of their own free will or were brought
to the camp by their relatives, were received
while the essential fight is with the HoSSiaG
files. AS these insects love the shade and
dampnes8 and therefore frequent the bushes
on the shores of the lake and river, q sys-
tematlc clearing Of the banks has begun.
In districts where only a few people were
living, the inhHbitauts were removed to
places where non of these flies existed. In
the opinion Of the lecturer, such progress
has been made through these measures that an
Infection with sleeping sickness is impossible
on Lake Victoria. At his visit in that region
hfty-three patients were i'll camp, while the
others were being treated as ambulaut pa
tlents. The largest focus, with 1900 sick, is
round on Lake / anSanlKa among the very pO-
pulous Urandi, who are only slightly upder
German infuence-they pay no taxes-and
oppose isolation by b~etaking themselves to the
woods. For this reason the same system
was successfully introduced as among the
Wagai, the patients being treated as ombu-
liant patients, until they We're severely Ill,
and receiving two cents for each double in
lection OF atoxyl, while the village elders
also received q small present for each patient
they brought in. The physicians practicing
there succeeded III q short time in securing
the confidence OF the people. who were at
first very shy, the physicians thus proving
pioneers of civilization in the best sense of
the word. Systematic work was done also
in clearing the bush and destroying the
reeds along the shores of the lake and the
river and, in common with the Belgians, on
the river that forms the boundary of Belgian
Congo. Half of the work is already done.
The expense for each band of 800 labourers
amounts to 800 rupees, but this is richly re-
paid by the preservation of many human
lives. Difficulties arise partly on account of
the configuration of the rocky shores of the
lake and on account of the extensive forests