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V. PREVENTION OF MALARIAL FEVER IN THE GAMBIA- 
DESTRUCTION OF MOSQUITOES 
Practical measures against malaria have already been briefly referred to in an 
curlier part of this report. It remains now to consider how far these measures are 
applicable to the conditions which obtain in Bathurst. For convenience we may 
consider them under two heads : — 
I. Measures for protection of the individual — individual precautions. 
1. Measures for the protection of the community. 
Preventive measures, including the prophylactic use of quinine and the various 
methods for the prevention of bites from mosquitoes, which can be adopted by every- 
one in the tropics, have already been carefully described and summed up by various 
writers, so that little need be said here. There is no doubt that the number of bites 
from the Culicidae in the tropics can be greatly diminished by the careful use of the 
mosquito net, and thus the risk of infection from malaria lessened. But even this simple 
measure, as other observers have said, is astonishingly neglected and abused in Africa, and 
this abuse, unfortunately, is greatest among the European traders and their clerks, where 
the chance of malarial infection is greatest. It is curious to note, after very careful 
demonstration in the way in which the net should be used, how soon one finds 
the nets of the Europeans acting as mosquito traps. In Bathurst a few ot the 
Europeans have anti-mosquito bedrooms ; they are on the whole good, but 
great care will be necessary to keep them free from holes, as they are made of 
mosquito netting ; also the 'boys' are very apt to leave the doors open during the day, 
thus allowing the entry of mosquitoes. I understand that Government will 
soon supply all the officials with a mosquito-room, and there is no doubt that with 
care they can be used with some measure of success. In this connexion it would be 
a great advantage if the ward at the hospital in which the European patients are 
treated were made mosquito proof. Mosquito nets over patients' beds are unsatisfactory, 
owing to the necessary disturbance which takes place in connexion with the treatment 
of the patient. Besides the precautions directed against mosquitoes, there is no doubt 
that exercise and fresh air helps one, and in Bathurst special facilities exist for such 
exercise. There is a fairly good road for cycling, driving, or riding ; and amongst 
games, tennis, cricket, and even football may be played. It is probable that it will be 
some time before the malaria mosquito investigations will be appreciated by the white 
man in Africa, and even when this desired result is attained, one cannot rely upon the 
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