184 



ill oilier parts of the district. The extent of infection is small 

 considering- the total native population and the fact that natives 

 are freely bitten by tsetse in their lands and around their 

 villages. 



There is some difficiilty in believing' that the trypanosome 

 which aft'ects man in this limited area is the same as that found 

 in sheep and goats in other parts of the ily-area. Sheep and 

 goats have always died between the months of November and 

 April after varying' periods of illness and small stock have 

 never existed over two rainy seasons, while the infection of 

 human being's, if not of recent origin, is at any rate even now 

 extremely sporadic. The frequent wholesale destruction of 

 herds of small stock would presuppose a periodical heavy infec- 

 tion of fly. 



A brief description of the character of the country in the tiy- 

 belt is given and the author states that about Manzatuba in the 

 north-east, which is considered the highest point, is strangely 

 enough the place at which the largest number of tsetse are to be 

 found. He says that it is a much argued point whether fly 

 will disappear with the disappearance of game, but any scheme 

 lor (lie extermination of fly within the small fly-belts of Southern 

 lUiodesia slioald include either the extermination or the driving 

 biick of game, lie is of opinion that more would be gained by 

 deforestation from without inwards, breaking up large tracts of 

 ground and putting it under cultivation. 



Theiler's observations in Zululand, Egypt and Uganda raise 

 a doubt in the author's mind as to whether TrijiHinosoina 

 rliodesiense can any longer be regarded as a specific trypanosome 

 dangerous to man, transmitted by Glossina mors i tans, and exist- 

 ing only in Northern and Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. 



Dr. H. A. MacKenzie travelled through the adjacent fly- 

 belt on the Umniati River, which is 60 miles long by 40 miles 

 lu'oad and has a total population of GOO natives. He found 

 no cases of human trypanosomiasis and only one sheep infected. 

 Dr. Stohr investigated the fly-belt to the north of the Lomagundi 

 district and failed to find any cases in human beings. 



A medical Station was established at Fundu for the examina- 

 tion of natives travelling south who were detained under medical 

 supervision for 14 days, and last year 7,000 passed through the 

 station and no case of sleeping sickness has been reported in any 

 Southern Rhodesia mine nor among any Southern natives 

 working elsewhere in Southern Rhodesia. 



'IMie present policy for dealing with trypanosomiasis in the 

 Sebungwe district is to remove all natives from this and the 

 adjacent fly-belt on the Umniati to fly-free areas, which steps 

 Avill check further local spread of the disease. As regards 

 dealing with the fly, the eventual policy is not yet decided, but 

 it is proposed for a start to withdraw the game laws for the 

 area lying to the east of the Sengwe and west of the Umniati 

 rivers, and to throw the country open for shooting. The reduc- 

 tion of game in this area will prove a criterion as to whether 

 in consequence of this the borders of the fly-belt can be limited, 

 or the flv driven back. 



