CHAPTER II 



UGANDA'S SCOURGE : SLEEPING SICKNESS, OR 

 ^HUMAN TRYPANOSOMIASIS 



MANY of the fairest parts of the earth are unfit 

 for the homes of Europeans on account of the 

 presence of noxious insects, by whose bite deadly 

 diseases are conveyed to the unfortunate victim. 

 Among the pestiferous insects are such flies as the 

 Glossincz, or tsetse flies, responsible for the deaths 

 of thousands of natives of West, Central, and East 

 Africa, and for enormous monetary losses in cattle, 

 horses, mules, and camels in Africa generally. 



The minute animal parasites responsible for the 

 diseases known as " sleeping sickness " in man and 

 " fly-disease," or " nagana," in animals are known as 

 trypanosomes. The first-known trypanosome was 

 described from the blood of a fish some seventy 

 years ago, and since that time many members of the 

 genus Trypanosoma have been recorded from various 

 hosts. As its name implies, a trypanosome is a 

 small organism with a body capable of executing 

 screwlike movements. The movements are rapid, 

 and are of a peculiarly graceful, billowy character, 

 for the trypanosome is provided with a lateral fin- 



19 



