Transmission 21 



ment proscrire dans les pays contamines ; I'osage des bains est 

 indifferent." 



In 1908 in a brief note, " Le renvoij? d'un Collegien atteint de 

 Bilharziose est-il legitime?" in tbe Archives de Parasitologie, 

 he wrote : — 



. . . " il serait done tres utile de savoir ou le jeune homme 

 habite ordinairement. . . . quelle eau il boit ordinairement : 

 eau d'une source vive, d'un puits ou d'une citerne ? Y-a-til dans 

 cette eau des mollusques ou coquillages et pent o^ en obtenir des 

 specimens ? ]0e dernier point est de la. plus haute importance. 



La bilharziose n'est pas une maladie contagieuse. II n'y a 

 done aucune raison pour refuser de garder au lycee un jeune 

 homme qui en est atteint : il n'est aucunement dangereux pour 

 ses camarades." 



Hanson's opinion on prevention, as given in his " Tropical 

 Diseases " [328] in 1905, is as follows : — 



" Since analogy justifies the belief that the embryo of Bilharzia 

 on obtaining access to fresh water enters a fresh-water animal and 

 by it obtains access to another human host, it is evident that if 

 the embryo be kept from getting into the water or if drinking 

 water be boiled or filtered, the spread of the disease from man to 

 man would be effectually prevented. In the endemic districts 

 children in particular should be carefully and repeatedly warned 

 against drinking the water of ponds and canals. Provided rein- 

 fection be avoided by the exercise of prudence in the matter of 

 drinking* water, there is no necessity for sending the patients with 

 Bilharzia disease away from the country in which the parasite was 

 acquired."^ 



In a popular lecture to the Rhodesia Scientific Association [330] 

 in January, 1914, Sir Patrick Manson said, after briefly outlining 

 the development of the liver-fluke : " In a similar way I believe the 

 germ of Bilharzia disease, so common in this country, especially 

 in young people and probably contracted in bathing in pools and 

 rivers, is acquired and spread." 



Incidence of Bilharziosis in Egypt. 



The published statistics of the incidence of Bilharziosis in Egypt 

 have been based mainly upon hospitals records. Reliable statistics 

 are notoriously difficult to obtain in Egypt, owing to the ignorance 



1 In the fifth edition (1914) the above paragraph is slightly changed by the addition 

 of the words " or bathing in " after " repeatedly warned against drinking" and by the 

 deletion of the word "drinking " marked by an asterisk *. 



