Experiments to ascertain if the domestic fowl of uganda may act as a reservoir of the virus of sleeping sickness (Trypanosoma gambiense)

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 theGlossina 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.