170 



Casaux (J.). Considerations 6pid§miologiques concernant la fievre 

 r§currente au Tonkin. [Epidemiological observations regarding 

 recurrent fever in Tonkin.] — Bull. Soc. Med. Chirurg. de Vlndo- 

 chine, Hanoi, v, no, 4, April 1914, pp. 142-150. 



A number of observations are recorded on the epidemiology of 

 recurrent fever in Tonkin, where it has probably been endemic for 

 years, although not recognised until lately. Lice appear to be the 

 most probable carriers, as infection spreads only when people are in 

 contact with one another, and it is especially frequent in winter when 

 the natives are confined to their huts. 



KiNGENBACH (Dr.). Toumee Medicale effectu6e de Brazzaville a Pointe- 



Noire (Moyen-Congo et Gabon). [Report on a journey of Medical 



Inspection from Brazzaville to Loango (Middle Congo and Gaboon)]. 



— Ann. Hyg. Med. Colon., Paris, xvii, no. 2, April-May-June 



1914, pp. 361-387. 



The object of this journey of about 350 miles was, amongst other 



things, to obtain data as to the prevalence of sleeping sickness in 



certain districts which had not as yet been investigated. The area 



travelled over is divided from east to west into three districts — 



Bakongo, Bakunyi, and Kuilu — and is important as supplying the 



market of Brazzaville with fresh food and 'labour. In the first 



district, 1,393 natives w^ere examined and 17 found to be suffering 



from trjrpanosomiasis. Glossina 'paljmlis was found everywhere, 



especially on the river banks, but in consequence of the absence of 



large game, the fly areas are Hmited to the neighbourhood of human 



habitations. Few flies were captured because the journey was made 



in the dry season. Simulium larvae were found in almost all the water 



courses. Mosquitos of the genera Anopheles, Stegomyia, and Manson- 



ioides occurred, and in certain places numbers of Ceratopogoninae, 



while in ill-kept huts almost everywhere Auchmeromyia luteola chiggers, 



bugs and hce were common. In the second district, in 31 villages 1,064 



natives were examined, of whom 54 were found to be suffering from 



the disease, an average of 507 per cent., but in two villages the 



percentage rose to 19'5. 



Special reference is made to cases in one of these villages, Kinanga, 

 situate about 50 yards from a river bank and surrounded by large 

 banana plantations. The population was about 100, and the disease 

 is well recognised amongst them. There is no thick bush in the 

 neighbourhood of the village, but the banks of the river are covered 

 with tall vegetation. This village is regarded as presenting an excellent 

 example of " family contagion," which is held to account for the dis- 

 appearance of whole villages, and as supporting the evidence obtained 

 by the French sleeping sickness commission of 1907. In the Gaboon 

 the scarcity of the male population is said to be remarkable, the reason 

 being that the men have left the country to seek work elsewhere. In 

 33 villages 592 persons were examined and 21 found to be suffering 

 from trypanosomiasis, an average of 3'54 per cent. It is said that the 

 mortahty is not high. Glossina palpalis was common, as also mosquitos 

 of the genera Anopheles and Mansonioides. Similium larvae, as before, 

 were found in all the streams, and in this part of the journey the party 

 was greatly tormented by the bites of Ceratopogoninae. 



