GAME ANIMALS AND DISEASE IN AFRICA 3 
THE QUESTION OF THE RELATION OF GAME 
ANIMALS TO DISEASE IN AFRICA 
By R. B. Woosnam, F.Z.S., Game Warden, British East Africa. 
The subject of the relation of game animals to the diseases 
of man and domestic animals in Africa is a very complicated one, 
and one the importance and scope of which can be adequately 
understood only by studying the problems of the whole 
continent and not those of a single district or Protectorate. 
Now, there is a very important point in this subject which 
I should like to draw particular attention to, for it is most 
essentially important with regard to the preservation of 
game, on account of the rather general opinion that the game 
animals should be exterminated in many parts of Africa as a 
means of stamping out certain diseases. This point is the fact 
that, up to the present time, far too much attention has been 
concentrated upon game animals, while the possibility, or, as it 
is recently coming to light, the certainty of other wild animals 
being equally implicated has been almost entirely overlooked 
by the general public. 
There are certain diseases in which the possibility must be 
taken into account of not merely game animals acting as 
reservoirs or hosts or distributors, but also other wild animals. 
These may be roughly classed as — 
(a) The Trypanosomiases (or Tsetse-fly disease). 
(b) The Piroplasmoses (East Coast Fever, &c.). 
(c) Rinderpest and Gastro-Enteritis class. 
(d) Intestinal parasites. 
(a) Of these far the most important in relation to game 
are the trypanosomiases, and it is to this subject that the 
present paper is devoted. The East Africa Protectorate is 
not nearly so seriously affected by this class of diseases as other 
parts of Africa, because the districts which are infested by 
different species of tsetse flies ( Glossina ) are not those which 
are suitable for white settlement, as will be seen from the 
accompanying map. Probably the best idea of the position of 
B 2 
