i2 THOMPSON YATES AND JOHNSTON LABORATORIES REPORT 
II, INOCULATION EXPERIMENTS WITH TRYPANOSOMA 
GAMBIENSE 
Strains of Trypanosomes Derived from Man 
In May, i 904, a preliminary note was published on a comparison of the animal 
reactions of various strains of trypanosomes derived from sleeping sickness cases in 
Uganda and the Congo Free State, strains from native fever cases from the same 
regions, with the original strains of trypanosomes brought back by Dutton and 
Todd from the Senegambia. Two Gambian strains were derived trom natives 
suffering from the so-called ' Trypanosoma or Native Fever ' ; the third was from a 
European who had died from trypanosomiasis. The strain obtained from the boy at 
Gunjur has been the principal Gambian strain employed, though the other two have 
been used to some extent. It is the 'Gunjur' strain which was sent to Professor 
Laveran, and also to Colonel David Bruce ; from the latter we obtained Uganda 
sleeping sickness strain and Uganda native fever strain. From our expedition in the 
Congo Free State we have secured a large number of strains. We have been able to 
obtain fresh strains of trypanosomes from two cases of sleeping sickness and three 
native tever cases which had been sent from the Congo Free State to Liverpool for 
observation and treatment. We have also been able to procure a strain from a Euro- 
pean who had returned from the Congo suffering from trypanosomiasis. It has been 
of great assistance to us to be able to compare strains derived from so many sources, 
and especially to be able to procure strains in their first passage through an animal and 
to compare them with those strains which had been through several hundreds of 
passages, and finally to compare them all with the parasite in the blood or cerebro- 
spinal fluid of a case suffering from the disease. In our report in the Lancet 1 we 
gave in detail the results of the inoculation of many of these different strains. 
Dutton and Todd have already published their results with the Gambian strains, also 
a short account ot the animal reactions with various strains from the Congo Free 
State. Laveran and Mesnil have published their findings. Drs. Brumpt and 
Wurtz have recorded the results from strains derived from French Congo cases. 
All groups of observers have come to the conclusion that the trypanosomes found in 
cases of sleeping sickness are identical with the trypanosome found in the blood of a 
European, and described by Dutton in 1902. It would, therefore, seem unnecessary 
to reiterate any of the findings were it not for the publication by Plimmer of a com- 
parison of the Gambian fever strain (Gunjur) and the Uganda sleeping sickness strain, 
i. Lancet, May i+, 1904, p. 1337. 
