EGYPTIAN BILHARZIOSIS. 



Inteoductory. 



The lesions of bilharziosis are raainl_y due to the damage caused 

 by the hard-shelled eggs of the parasite acting as foreign bodies in 

 the tissues. Once the eggs are laid it is impossible to destroy them 

 by treatment owing to the chitinous nature of the egg-shell. The 

 effects continue with ever-increasing risk of complications and 

 sequelae for a number of years ; until, in fact, the eggs succeed in 

 escaping from the organ, bladder or bowel, in ^vhich they are 

 deposited. 



The only mode of dealing successfully with bilharziosis is 

 to prevent its spread to uninfected persons. 



The great economic loss resulting from widespread bilharzial 

 infection was commented upon by Lord Kitchener in his annual 

 report on Egypt for 1913, and the view is therein expressed that 

 " it is high time that serious steps should be taken to prevent 

 the continuity of infection that has been going on so long ni 

 this country." 



The intractable character of the disease and the corresponding 

 financial burden can be graphically illustrated from the experience 

 of the Army. During the Boer War six hundred and twenty- 

 five men were infected with bilharziosis in South Africa. In 

 1911, three hundred and fifty-nine of these were still on the list, 

 exclusive of those meanwhile permanently pensioned. The cost to 

 the State for " conditional" pensions for these three hundred and 

 fifty-nine men was about £6,400 per annum. The "permanent 

 pensions" already allotted amounted to an additional sum annually 

 of £4,400 [128]. 



In the Nile Delta, bilharziosis is much more widespread and 

 more severe in its manifestations than in South Africa. With 

 the concentration of troops in Egypt it became desirable that the 

 preventive measures taken against this disease should be made with 

 a clear appreciation of the factors and the conditions under which 



