Page:Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, volume 1.djvu/39

Rh others; 2. Atoxyl and strychnine—van Campenhout; 3. Atoxyl and sublimate. The last-named treatment has recently been worked out in the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and the results obtained on rats are very promising.

We who have been working in the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine found that in infected rats (Trypanosoma brucei), one part of which were treated with atoxyl alone, and the remainder with atoxyl followed by mercury, the first lot generally had relapses in from sixeeen to twenty-five days, while a great number of the animals treated with atoxyl and mercury are still alive, some after a period of nine months. These results are certainly encouraging. In our treatment we used at the beginning to give high doses of atoxyl in order to drive out the parasites entirely, and it was found that if sufficient atoxyl were administered the parasites (Trypanosoma brucei) would disappear in rats for from sixteen to twenty-five days. A disappearance of the parasites for a similar period was also observed in guinea-pigs and rabbits. Mercury was then given, and the treatment stopped. In the bigger animals this double treatment should be continued for some time.

With regard to sleeping sickness, we would like to suggest, as a routine treatment, that one cubic centimetre of a 20 per cent, solution of atoxyl should be given daily for one week, followed by one cubic centimetre of a 1 per cent, solution of sublimate four times. This treatment should be repeated and continued for an extended period, and, of course, may require occasional modification. It would perhaps be possible to give mercury in the form of pills. The theory of the action of mercury in this treatment has been discussed in a paper published in the Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, vol. i, No. 2.

It has been found that the toxic effect of atoxyl can be