A NATURALIST ON 

 LAKE VICTORIA 



CHAPTER I 



SLEEPING SICKNESS 



In this chapter a general account will be given of the 

 history and symptoms of Sleeping Sickness as it was 

 known during the epidemic in Uganda. It may be said 

 at once that the disease is entirely confined to tropical 

 Africa, nor does there seem any reason, as will be 

 explained later, to fear its spread beyond Africa. 



In a few words it may be said that the cause of the 

 disease is a minute unicellular creature, called a Trypano- 

 some, belonging to the lowest order of animal life, which 

 is as it were inoculated by the bite of a blood-sucking 

 fly, the " Tse-tse," or Glossina. 



A common history given by patients who suffer from 

 Sleeping Sickness is that they have been in a country 

 where they were much bitten by Tse-tse flies, and that 

 after a few days a painful swelling has appeared on the 

 neck, accompanied by high fever. The swelling may 

 appear to be on the point of becoming an abscess, but does 

 not do so, and gradually subsides. It is probable that 

 this represents the site where the fly which was the 

 cause of the infection actually bit. The fever may 

 subside in a few days, and recurs at irregular intervals 

 lasting weeks or months : it often reaches a high point 

 attended with delirium. 



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