SLEEPING TO DEATH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3, 26 January 1899, Page 4

SLEEPING TO DEATH.

Two. natives suffering from " sleeping sickness," or " negro lethargy;" were taken to one of the London

hospitals from the Lower Congo last Septcn;her for tic purpose of giving the medical authorities and students at Honie an opporirnifcv to study a, disease that is not found cuts'cb the strip of African coast line lying between Senegal andLoanda. As the s<---nv,d na:nc of the disease implies, it is practically confined to negroes. There have, so \ur, bc?.n no authentic cases of purc-breti whites men beina: attacked, though the "s'e'eness" lias )>2en met with in Moors n-J liftlf-brals. It is through the instru•nentnlity of Dr o rattan Guinness that llrtiro patients — one aged about twenty, wit'--the cuphonioiis name of Eli Mbo£o ; and I the ether a boy of eleven or thereabout. I Tonda. M'ailoc—^-havo been sen-t to Engla:id. 1 The elder, until abcut sixteen mouths ;igo, f YK3 rC2is?lu»bl3 iv i.U village of Mbahzn

Mautcka, oh the Lower Congo, as an extraordinarily active, self-reliant and intelligent young man., Then .he was sei__.d with the sickness, and began, to be listless and vacant minded,. and lost all interest in his former occupations and amusements. Since his arrival in London, no change has become apparent in his condiiion, and qow he spends most of his time in a semi-coma-tose condition, rousing only for meals or if spoken to. A feature of his illness is tht expression of deep melancholy which marks his features. He is able to give apt and int-Uigont answers to questions, but neve, speaks a.*, unnecessary word, and appears to doaa almost continually. With the younger patient, on the contrary, there has. been a distinct improvement, so much, indeed, that the physicians have been tempted to believe that he is not suffering from the disease at all. Dr. Patrick Manson, win. has devoted a great deal . of . study to tht subject, says that the sickness gradually overpowers the victim, and eventually makes him completely bedridden. Sometimes a change for the .better is apparent, but that is only temporary, the lethargy invariably returns, and the disease advance-.-to tho inevitable and fatal issue. Tlie last stages are marked by tetanic spasms anu extreme muscular prostration. The sickness, may run its course in tlu*ee months or it may last for as many years, but so far a* is. known nine months is about the average time. It is to *be hoped, that careful observation of the two cases now in London will lead to the discovery oi some effective remedy for the disease.