122 



after the bite of tlie fly, have already been recorded. [See this Review^ 

 Ser. B, ii, pp. 13-16.] He regrets that it was not possible to put into 

 practice other measures desirable for the complete eradication of the 

 disease, and the following proposals were made to the Sleeping 

 Sickness Commission. 



With regard to the isolation of all infected persons, the Mission 

 have found that the only satisfactory method of isolation is to convey 

 attacked persons to places in the island where Glossina paljxdis does 

 not exist, and they have marked out certain suitable parts for these 

 segregation camps. Gangs of workmen under the direction of the 

 Medical Officer should be exclusively employed on sanitary work 

 under his direction. All animals attacked should be immediately 

 killed and all animals suspected isolated. Injections of atoxyl should 

 be given only to persons who have been bitten by Glossina. Any 

 labourer immediately on being bitten should leave his work and 

 receive an injection of 0"6 decigrammes of atoxyl [sic in orig.] the 

 dose to be repeated 48 hours later. All persons recently arrived in 

 the island should be kept isolated in the courtyard of the plantation 

 until instructions have been received from the Head of the Mission 

 as to whether they may work freely or not. Any suspected case should 

 be immediately isolated and means taken to confirm the diagnosis. 

 Newly arrived labourers should not be allowed to work in places 

 where the flies are numerous until they have been taught to realise 

 that the bite of the fly is harmful. Prophylactic measures applied to 

 labourers to extend as far as possible to domestic animals. All 

 tsetse-flies should be sent to the Medical Officer in the city, with a 

 note of the place in which they were caught. 



Dr. da Costa points out that these measures are only the old ones 

 in a somewhat different form, and he again expresses his regret that 

 in consecjuence of the non-approval of the proposals made on the 

 16th Feb. 1913, the labours of the Mission have been greatly hindered, 

 and it has been compelled to alter its plan of operations. 



He says that the decrease in the numbers of Glossina at all points 

 of the island where sanitation work has been carried out is an undeni- 

 able fact, and cites the following figures on the Sundi Plantation : 

 when the Mission began its w^ork, from 9,000-10,000 flies were caught 

 there every month. During last October, the number caught by means 

 of bird-lime was only 938, and in November fell to 380, in spite of the 

 fact that now 22 men are engaged on this work, 16 of them 

 exclusively, whereas formerly seven at the most were employed in 

 catching flies. In November last, he inspected the Plantation during 

 four days, especially the parts most infested previously, and not a 

 single fly was seen by the officials, although they passed the whole 

 day in the bush, and although at the time of their visit the 

 conditions were favourable for attack by Glossina. At Porto Real, 

 once the favourite haunt of Glossina, with a monthly catch of 7,000 

 flies, only 314 were caught in October 1913, and these on native 

 property on which the sanitary regulations prescribed had not been 

 carried out. In round numbers the figures for the w^hole island are, 

 in October 1912, 15,973 flies caught, and in October 1913, 2,311. 

 In spite of this imdeniable diminution in the numbers of the fly, 

 measures are still being actively pursued with a view to its more 

 or less complete extermination. Gangs of men carrying limed 



