Yellow fever in the Gambia / by G.M. Findlay and T.H. Davey.

  • Findlay, G. M.
Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Yellow fever in the Gambia / by G.M. Findlay and T.H. Davey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Vol. XXX. No. 2. July, 1936. 151 YELLOW FEVER IN THE GAMBIA. II.—THE 1934 OUTBREAK. BY G. M. FINDLAY AND T. H. DAVEY.* Wellcome Bureau of Scientific Research, London ; and Sir Alfred Jones Research Laboratory, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Freetown, Sierra Leone. In a previous communication (Findlay and Davey, 1936) a brief historical account was given of the various outbreaks either of yellow fever itself, or of diseases closely resembling yellow fever, that had occurred in the Gambia since its discovery by Europeans 480 years ago. In the present communication observations are recorded on the epidemic that occurred in Bathurst during the last 3 months of 1934. A few preliminary details in regard to the town may not be without interest. Bathurst, the capital and only town of any size in the Gambia, was founded in 1816 on the island of Banjola, thereafter renamed the island of St. Mary. The site of the town was apparently selected on strategic rather than on sanitary grounds for the island, 13° 27' N. latitude, 16° 34' W. longitude, is in reality little more than a sand-bank approximately 3J miles long and \\ miles broad. The island lies 18 miles from the mouth of the River Gambia which is here some 2J miles wide ; it is bounded on the north by the main stream of the river and is separated from the mainland to the west by a narrow channel, Oyster Creek. The island has an area of approximately 2,500 acres, but a large part is swampy and during the rainy season water-logged, since the highest point on the island is only about 6 feet above sea-level, while much of the island is from 3 to 4 feet below sea-level. Even in the middle of the dry season subsoil water can therefore be reached by digging down a few feet. As a result *We have to express our sincere thanks to His Excellency Sir Arthur Richards, K.C.M.G., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Gambia, without whose sympathetic aid the investigations here described could not have been carried out. Our thanks for many kindnesses are also due to Captain H. Oke, M.C., Colonial Secretary of the Gambia, the Commissioners of Provinces, Dr. H. J. Bermingfam, Actirg Principal Medical Officer of the Gambia, Dr. Lockhead and Dr. Scott-Johnston, as well as to Mr. Erik Jonson for permission to publish the aerial photographs of Bathurst.