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Experiments to Ascertain if the Domestic Fowl of Uganda may 
Act as a Reservoir of the Virus of Sleeping Sickness 
(Trypanosoma gambiense). 
By Colonel Sir Davip Bruce, C.B., F.RS., A.M.S.; and Captains A. E. 
HaMeErtTon, D.S.O., and H. R. Bateman, R.A.M.C. (Sleeping Sickness 
Commission of the Royal Society, Uganda, 1908-10). 
(Received November 12, 1910,—Read January 19, 1911.) 
Introduction. . 
Birds of various species are very numerous on the shores of Lake Victoria. 
Of these, cormorants, darters, herons (African grey and purple, and other 
species), ibises (glossy and sacred), fish-eagles, weaver birds (various species), 
terns (various species), gulls, geese (Egyptian and spur-winged), plovers 
(various species), pratincoles, storks, kingfishers and gallinules are the most 
common. These birds all inhabit areas where the Glossina palpalis are 
numerous, and some evidence is forthcoming that in Nature the fly feeds on 
avian blood.* | 
In view of the continued infectivity of the fly in the depopulated areas of 
the Lake-shore, it is clear that every effort should be made to ascertain the 
source of such infectivity. Search for a reservoir of the virus of Sleeping 
Sickness at once suggests itself, and to those acquainted with the fauna of 
the Lake-shore, an avian host would be included amongst the various species 
requiring investigation. 
Domestic fowls were employed in these experiments. They are readily 
obtained, easily handled, and the flies feed greedily on them. One species of 
trypanosome may in Nature only affect one species of avian host; therefore, it 
follows that whatever the result of this series of experiments may be, that 
result is only applicable to the fowl. The Commission trust that no wider 
significance will be attached to the conclusions set forth at the end of this paper : 
in other words, because a Uganda fowl isor is not a reservoir of Zrypanosoma 
gambiense, it does not follow that a cormorant, or other bird, is or is nota 
reservoir. It would have been better for this reason to have experimented 
with one or other of the various species of wild Lake-shore birds. The 
difficulties were, however, too great at the time these experiments were carried 
out. It is hoped that this paper will stimulate rather than discourage other 
workers to carry on this line of investigation. 
* ‘Roy. Soc. Proc.,’ B, 1910, vol. 82, p. 496, Table IV. 
