June 24, 1509] 



NA TURE 



495 



SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IX THE SUDAN. 



IT is hardly possible within the short compass of 

 this review to give more than the briefest account 

 of the contents of the very interesting volume referred 

 to below.' One of the most important subjects from 

 the point of view of the maintenance of stock and 

 transport is animal trypanosomiasis. Thus, in camels 

 in the French Sudan we have the disease known as 

 Mbori ; in dromedaries of the Upper Niger, le Tabaga ; 

 in Algerian dromedaries, El debab. A camel disease 

 is also noted in this report at EI Obeid, Kordofan, 

 and another occurs in the Sinai peninsula close to 

 the Mediterranean. The elucidation of the problem 



also exist, but researches on this point are at present 

 not far advanced. 



Another disease not of insignificance is spirochsetosis 

 of domestic fowls. It exists in poultry, geese, and 

 guinea-fowl, and probably will be. found common in 

 wild birds, as ten years ago the present writer en- 

 countered spirochsetes in birds in West Africa. The 

 disease is, so far as is known, transmitted by ticks, 

 of the genus Argas, which abound in the hen-runs. 

 An important peculiarity of the hen spirochaete is the 

 abundance of intracorpuscular forms of these para- 

 sites, a condition which does not prevail in other spiro- 

 chete diseases. 



DinUs of the White Nile, >ho' 



■t'le "Th'rd Report of the Wellcome Research Labora'ories i 

 College, Khartoum. ' 



of the specific character of these trypanosomes and 

 the mode of their transmission is not an easy matter. 

 Trvpanosome diseases are by no means confined to 

 camels, but we find them also existing in horses, 

 mules, and donkeys. The losses from these diseases 

 appear to be considerable, but at present little can be 

 done in the way of prophylaxis. 



The report indicates that investigation into these 

 various forms is being prosecuted on all sides. 

 Different kinds of piroplasmosis (red-water) of cattle 



1 Third Report of the Wellcome Research Laboratories at the Gordon 

 Memorial College, Khartoum. By Andrew Balfour. Pp. 477. (London : 

 K.-iilliere, Tindall and Cox, for the Department of Education, Sudan 

 t, Khartoum, 1908.) Price 2ts. net. 



NO. 2o6g, VOL. 80] 



To turn to human diseases, it is uncertain at presenv 

 whether sleeping sickness exists in the Bahr-el-Ghazal, 

 but unfortunately there is a possibility, if not prob- 

 ability, of it being introduced from the Congo Free 

 State. A useful suggestion is that chiefs should be 

 paid for keeping the watering places near their 

 villages free from trees and scrub, the haunts of 

 Glossina palpalis. 



Kala-azar, an e.Ktremely fatal disease, occurs in the 

 vicinity of Abyssinia. The disease also exists in the 

 Kassala pro^-ince. A disease known as " Egyptian 

 cirrhosis of spleen and liver," which closely resembles 

 kala-azar, but the nature of which is unknown, is also 

 recorded. 



