The Presence, Type, and Possible SittNificance of Lactose- 

 Fermenting Bacilli in Surface Waters and in the F.eces of 

 Man and certain Domestic Animals in the Sudan together 



WITH A consideration OF THE EFFECTS OF SUNLIGHT AND EaRTH 



Burial on these Organisms 

 Preliminary Note 



BY 



Captain R. G. Archibald, M.B., R.A.M.C, attached E.A. 



Pathologist and Assistant Bacteriologist 



Wellcome Tropical Eeseareh Laboratories, Khartoum 



It is still more or less an open question, whether the standards of purity for water- 

 supplies set down by sanitarians in England and America should be adopted in tropical 

 towns and districts. The conditions which in the Tropics influence, more or less, the standards of 

 purity of a water-supply are often so different from those obtaining in temperate climates P"'""y 

 that it is still a doubtful point whether the strict standards which are adopted in England 

 are at all applicable to tropical climes where the water-supply is often derived from shallow 

 wells and rivers exposed to a considerable amount of fascal contamination of both human 

 and animal origin. In England, the dangerous pollution that is most common in rivers has 

 its origin chiefly in sewage from large towns, and that form of pollution is mainly derived 

 from man. 



If samples of water taken from shallow wells or rivers in the Tropics are subjected to a 

 few simple tests for the presence of feecal contamination, the results will often show such a 

 state of things that no analyst in England would ever consider the passing of such water as 

 fit for human consumption, and yet the water from these sources is used daily by both 

 Europeans and natives alike without any ill-effects to health so far as can be told.* The 

 question naturally arises, whether, in the face of these existing conditions, one would be 

 justified in using the European standards of water purity as a guide, or whether some 

 modification of the European standard could be generally employed in tropical climes. 



Eecently, Clemesha, Aiyar and Mudaliyar,' carried out a series of extensive tests on a observations 



large number of water-supplies in India. Their researches were of an elaborate nature ; °" '"dian 



water-supplies 

 not only did they conduct the ordinary bacteriological and chemical examinations of these 



water-supplies, but they also tested the effects of sunlight and storage on the various groups 



of organisms isolated by them. Their experiments were of such a practical nature, that it 



would be well if sanitarians in other countries would take up similar lines of research, and 



the results obtained might materially assist the medical officer of health in the Tropics in 



arriving at some conclusion as to the purity or otherwise of the water-supplies for which he 



is responsible. 



* The proviso is necessary as the correctness of the Mills- Reiucke phenomenon may yut be proved. (I'ide 

 Journal Infeetioiis Diseases, August 24, 1910.) 



> Clemesha, W., Major, Aiyar, T. S., and Mudaliyar, V. G. (1908), "A study of the bacteriology of 

 drinking-water supplies ia tropical climates." Animal Report of tftc Kiiuj Itistitute of Frcvcittive Medicine, 

 Madras, for 1908. 



