534 SCIENCE IN AFRICA 



sickness, and until 191 9 this disease absorbed most of its attention; 

 since that date endemic complaints such as yaws, syphilis and 

 dysentery have been combined with the sleeping sickness cam- 

 paigns. The intensity of this work is indicated by the fact that 

 more than 3,000,000 people are examined annually, all positive 

 cases being recorded and persuaded to attend regularly at the 

 numerous treatment centres. For the period 1930-4 the result has 

 been a decrease of new cases to about 50 per cent, the actual 

 figures being as follows : 



1930 

 1934 



Natives examined 



3,824,097 



JVew Cases 



35^562 

 24,010 



Percentage of new 



cases to natives 



examined 



1-2 



0.63 



The FOREAMI represents a unique organization for anti- 

 sleeping sickness work, through which the population in the Bas 

 Congo has been examined regularly since 1931, all cases being 

 treated. In 1934 more than 38,000 lumbar injections were given 

 through this agency and the endemicity of the disease appears to 

 have been reduced from 2-45 per cent in 1931 to 0-97 per cent 

 in 1934. Dr. Trolli considers that the natives in the Congo have 

 now as much faith in the curing of sleeping sickness as they have 

 in that of yaws, w^hich renders treatment comparatively easy. 



In Nigeria a system of inspection and treatment has been partly 

 adopted from the French and Belgian territories. The campaigners 

 are divided into (i) a survey party, which makes a census of the 

 area in question, examines the glands of every individual, makes 

 blood slides of suspected cases, and marks all individuals giving a 

 positive result, and (2) a treatment party, which follows after and 

 injects with germanin or tryparsamide in every positive case. One 

 medical officer has with him a native nurse and about twenty 

 microscope boys, who are said to prepare and examine blood slides 

 more efficiently than Europeans. In Nigeria some 32,000 patients 

 were treated in 1933, 52,000 in 1934, 84,000 in 1935, and 62,021 



