176 



poicilia, Pse^idoskusea multiplex, Mansonoides uniformis, a new species 

 of Lophoceratomyia found in crab-holes, Culex fatigans and Stegomi/ia 

 fasciata, 



Wanhill (Lt.-CoL). Relapsing Fever : A rough but effective Method of 

 dealing with the Louse in India. — Jl. R.A.AI.C, London, xxxiii, 

 no. 2, August 1919, pp. 178-180. 



A simple method of dealing with lice infestation, which proved 

 successful in India during an outbreak of recurrent fever, is recorded. 

 All the men of a mule corps depot, being badly infested, were marched 

 to a river twice daily to wash themselves and their clothes. Having 

 washed their garments, these were placed on the hot sand to dry in 

 the sun, then taken to another spot and well shaken. The sand, 

 under the mid-day sun, was too hot to touch with the hand ; the 

 living lice were therefore removed by the washing and killed by 

 exposure to the sun, while the eggs were desiccated by the same agency. 

 The men's tents were each day turned inside out and exposed to the 

 sun. Whenever caste permitted, the hair was cut short and the head 

 scrubbed in the river. By these simple methods infestation was 

 stamped out. 



Manson (Capt. J. K.) & Thornton (Capt. L. H. D.). East African 

 Relapsing Fever.— J/. R.A.M.C., London, xxxiii, nos. 2 & 3, August 

 & September 1919, pp. 97-116 & 193-216, 2 plates, 20 charts. 



These notes and observations are the result of examination of some 

 1,500 cases of relapsing fever among natives of almost every tribe in 

 East and West Africa. Europeans when exposed to infection very 

 readily acquire the disease, which in their case runs a severe and 

 protracted course ; probably however owing to the care taken to 

 avoid infection cases among them are rare. West African natives 

 show a very considerable liability to infection and contract the 

 disease even in quarters that are but lightly infested with Ornithodoras 

 mouhata. The type of disease is very similar to that observed in 

 Europeans, though severe complications are seldom met with. The 

 readiness and severity with which West African natives acquire the 

 disease in East Africa, particularly when contrasted with the com- 

 parative immunity of certain East African groups, rather indicates 

 the possibility of the East and West African fevers being due to 

 distinct spirochaetes. East African natives on the whole take the 

 disease in a modified or less severe form. Natives living along the 

 coastal areas and caravan routes seem to have gained a large degree 

 of immunity by the time adult life is reached. 



The relation between the disease and the distribution of 0. moubata 

 is very marked. Wherever the tick occurred cases of the disease were 

 always found, and an increase of the former was observed to precede 

 any large increase in the cases of disease. The possibility of there 

 being other carriers of the fever is not denied. While numbers of 

 fleas, lice and bed-bugs have been examined microscopically without 

 any trace of Spirochaeta {Spirillum) duttoni being found, it is possible 

 that infection may be directly conveyed by the bite of any of these 

 insects from an infected to a non-infected person. The same may be 

 true for biting flies and mosquitos, though there is no evidence of the 



