SCHISTOSOMIASIS o01 
Cases TREATED IN THE BELGIAN Conco 
In January, 1927, the Expedition left with Dr. C. C. Chesterman, of the 
Yakusu Mission, near Stanleyville, on the Congo, a supply of sodium antimony 
thioglycollate, and also some antimony thioglycollamide. Samples of the drugs 
were examined by Messrs. Hynson, Wescott and Dunning, after having been 
carried for more than a year in Africa, and were reported on September 26, 1927, 
to have undergone no deterioration. 
Trial of the drugs in the treatment of schistosomiasis at Yakusu was entrusted 
by Dr. Chesterman, during his absence, to Dr. K. Waller Todd. A letter from 
Dr. Todd, dated February 10, 1928, gave a brief preliminary report indicating 
prompt and favorable effects of the drugs, and no accidents, in a score of cases 
of schistosomiasis, but he reported that some of the drugs finally appeared to be 
changing. He forwarded samples of each drug to be tested, and these were sent 
immediately to Messrs. Hynson, Wescott and Dunning for examination. They 
reported on April 18, 1928, that the samples of both drugs had undergone decom- 
position.t A subsequent letter from them states that the solution of antimony 
thioglycollamide (which they market in 0.4 per cent solution in ampoules ready 
for use) ‘‘is indefinitely stable, and would very probably be satisfactory for use 
in the tropics, but the antimony (sodium) thioglycollate solution undergoes 
gradual decomposition within a comparatively short time.”’ 
CONCLUSIONS 
(1) Antimony sodium thioglycollate seems to have had a markedly beneficial 
effect in a case of schistosomiasis, in which it was used by the writers in Liberia. 
(2) Antimony sodium thioglycollate and antimony thioglycollamide were both 
tried in schistosomiasis by Dr. K. Waller Todd, at the Yakusu Mission in the 
Belgian Congo. A preliminary report from him indicates prompt and favorable 
action by both drugs, and no accidents. 
(3) The drugs put up in powdered form in capsules withstood the climate 
of tropical Africa for more than a year, but some of them finally deteriorated.' 
(4) Antimony sodium thioglycollate in solution soon begins to decompose, 
but the solution of antimony thioglycollamide, which is marketed in ampoules by 
the manufacturers, is believed by them to be stable, and to be suitable for use in 
the tropics. Antimony thioglycollamide in powder is probably stable when not 
mixed with sodium citrate. 
(5) Because of its relatively low toxicity, and because of the success with 
which it has been used in granuloma inguinale, and thus far in schistosomiasis, 
it seems probable that antimony thioglycollamide can be used effectively and 
advantageously for the treatment of the various tropical diseases in which 
antimonials have proved useful. 
1 The deterioration was attributed to the presence of the sodium citrate which was mixed with the 
antimonials in the capsules. 
