The Gambian case (1988)

[Music] [Music] I'm [Music] [Applause] [Music] going to [Applause] [Music] Well, hello Dutton. Welcome to Brist. It's very good of you to come so soon after such a long journey. I'm glad to be back on dry land again. It's been pretty tiring journey. Oh, come sit down. Make yourself comfortable. Okay, bye. Let's have that tea now. I can't tell you how obliged I am to you for coming and how pleased I am to meet you. You've been making quite a name for yourself these last few years. You know, one day I shall be telling my grandchildren that I met the great Everett Dutton. Now go away, Broady. There's no tea for you today. Come on, Broaddy. There's a good dog. Oh, don't let him be a nuisance, Dutton. He thinks he's invited, too. Given half a chance, he leave us with nothing to eat. It must be nice having a dog here. We used to have one at home, but now I seem to be so busy and away so much, I couldn't possibly give an animal a decent life. I envy you. Well, this place has its drawbacks, too, you know. But I'm glad to have Broady with me. Sugar. No, thank you. Well, now tell me how things are at home. The usual glorious weather, I suppose. Don't tell me you're having a drought in Liverpool. No, we've had our standard quot of rainfall, though it did turn extremely cold just before we sailed. They were talking about snow for Christmas. A bit different from this place. Very. But you seem to be well settled in. You got a nice place here. It's not so bad, you know. Pretty standard really. And are you kept busy here? Oh yes, is a pretty steady flow of patients. Mostly straightforward. But at least one has proved to be unusually interesting. And that would be the master of your steamer. Yes. My friend Kelly's been worrying me a lot. I'm hoping you can shed some of your Liverpool light on the situation and tell me what the devil is the matter with him. Exactly. What is it that's so unusual about this Chuck Kelly? Well, excuse my bad manners. Go ahead, Don. They're quite tasty today. In your honor. Well, now it all began about 6 months ago, early May to be exact, when I admitted Kelly to the Victoria, pretty sure that he was suffering from a bout of malaria. He was u bit feverish, feeling rott and so on. His usual story, he said when he had a go of it. I'd seen him around the town, you understand. 40ish and tough as nails, I would have said, apart from the mia. I remember his story so well. He'd been working round the clock the previous weeks and in some pretty bad weather, too. The army had had some sort of maneuvers in the early months of the year, and he'd been transporting men and equipment back and forth day after day [Music] [Music] without Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Well, no. Having examined him, I still thought it was malaria and started him off on Queenin. But after 2 or 3 days, Dutton, it was obvious that something odd was going on. His fever was not responding and he felt not a tiny bit better. He began to be out of the ordinary tired, puffy around the eyes. Naturally, I had had a good look at his blood and more than once, but I never saw a single malaria parasite on any of the slides. But and now I come to the main reason for getting you here. What Kelly's blood did contain in the fresh preparations was a number of very strange, very active wormlike bodies dashing around all over the place. Looked again and again. They were still there. Quite unlike anything I'd ever seen in anybody's blood before. Well, at the time, I just couldn't believe my eyes. I mean, that what the devil are they? I'm no expert on blood parasites. Though wager, whatever they are, they're the cause of Kelly's fever. At first, I thought they were Feri. But these little devils are really nothing like Manson's parasites. At the time, I just couldn't help thinking that the peculiar course of the disease resistance to Quinny is somehow due to those little worms. And I still think it anyway. As Kelly was due to go home on leave this summer, I told him in no uncertain terms that it was very important that he consulted your colleagues in Liverpool when he got there. Find out what they thought and let me know it as soon as possible. Well, I didn't hear a word either from Kelly or or Liverpool, so I couldn't really write to anyone and give my findings. I didn't even know if anyone had seen him. I can't blame poor old Kelly. But what I don't understand now that he's back, and I know that they did see him, is why nobody found those words in his blood. Maybe they didn't take fresh preparations. I don't know. But anyway, you're here now and I can show them to you. It's an extraordinary story. I'd like to see this man. Well, he's back in Baurst looking pretty poorly despite his leave. Very puffy around the eyes and ankles. Very easily fatigued and short of breath. Oh, you wouldn't know. He had a bout of pneumonia in the boat coming over. Quite atypical according to Maxwell Adams who was looking after him. Coughing up a lot of blood in his spit. Trouble is I won't be able to see him right away. I I'm booked to go up river tomorrow morning. I'll be away two weeks doing some preliminary work on this malaria study. So uh I'm afraid it'll have to wait till I get back. I'm so sorry. Perhaps you could arrange for us to meet him on the 18th in the afternoon. Say, what a pity it's so far away. Yes, of course. I I lay it on for Yes. But I was going to suggest that maybe we could uh just drop into the ward now and uh say hello to Kelly. Oh, what an excellent idea. It will give me a chance to introduce myself to Kelly and then I can get an early night before setting off tomorrow morning. I think that would be very wise. It's just in here. I'm sorry to disturb you, Mr. Kelly, but I brought along Dr. Dutton to see you, who's just arrived in the colony to do some important work. I've asked him to take a look at you because I think he may be able to help us. Hello, Mr. Kelly. I understand from Dr. Ford you're doing rather better now. Not too bad, doctor. Good. But I'm afraid I'm going up river for a couple of weeks, so I shan be able to see you till I get back. Dr. Ford thought it would be a nice idea if I introduced myself before I went away. Thank you very much, doctor. Good, then. Look forward to seeing you in two weeks time. And you make sure you get a good night's rest, Mr. Kelly. H. Ah, Brody. Does anyone call today? No, sir. Good. Now let me know when supper is ready. Yes sir. You're trying to tell me you want a drink, too, Roy. It's strange. What was it, Kelly said? [Music] I pretty love this country up and down. Was the ship overloaded with men and all as hell with the raining all the [Music] time. Those flies heat everywhere. ever admit it to myself. I I just want a bit of Kip and I'll be back to self. You're not ready, sir. I'll be there right away. Just once more. Well, thanks. That's enough. Sister. Ah, Dutton, you beat me to it. Forgive me. I had the chance to get started a little early and Sister Watson seemed to think that your patient would be perfectly safe in my hands, so I took the chance to get ahead. I've almost finished. All right, now Mr. Kelly. Yes, that's fine. The only thing that remains is to take a little of Mr. Kelly's blood. Good. You'll find it all ready for you over there on the table. Well, now, Mr. Kelly, you're certainly getting royal treatment today. I hope it's not turning you too much. I'm all right, daughter. Don't you be worrying. I know I'm in good hands. Now, we're just going to take a little blood from your finger as I've done many times. It's all right, doctor. That's fine, doctor. You know, Mr. Kelly, your finger must be getting to be rather like a pin cushion. Now, just one more squeeze. And that's it. There. That wasn't so bad, was it? It's nothing at all. Dr. Ford, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but Mr. McKenzie has just arrived. Oh, bother. I've forgotten about him. Well, I better see him after he's come all this way. I'll be as quick as I can. I hope it won't take long. Let me try and make you a bit more comfortable, Mr. Kelly. Then, uh, that's more like it. Have to see my favorite patient gets the best attention. Oh no, sister. With a name like Kelly, I know all about the blown. So do nursing sisters. Mr. Kelly, you behave yourself now and have a good rest. I'm in the office if you need me. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Good day. I'm so sorry, D. You must forgive me for keeping you waiting. You know what your wriggly worms are, don't you, F? Without a shadow of a doubt, they're tripping. I've got three in the field now. Have a look for yourself. Trippings. I knew all along there was something quite out of the ordinary. And you think they're also responsible for Catt's fever? It's very much on the cards. They're almost indistinguishable from the ones David Bruce found in diseased cattle a few years ago. The trips get carried to the animals by the sets fly. I wonder if the small sets here on the river could be the carrier of the parasite that's got into Kelly's blood. Bruce himself, you know, had never seen trips before. And like you, his first thought was that they were Valeria. So, you're in good company. Ford, let me tell you, nobody has found trips in the blood of a white man before. Now, I congratulate you on your most important discovery. We must let them know at home as soon as possible. Well, Mr. Kelly, you certainly picked yourself an original disease. Let us hope that we'll now be able to see you well on the road to recovery. Thank God. That's all that matters. But can you tell me where I picked it up? Oh, you got bitten by a little fly. That's what happened to you. Is that poison me? Well, yes, in the manner of speaking. How long before I go back to work, doctor? Well, you all need to take some medicines and uh stay in bed for a while, but don't worry, you'll be well looked up. Anyway, you've had quite enough excitement for one day. We leave you in peace. I'll be seeing you again with Dr. Ford over the next few days. You'll be getting sick of the cycle. God bless you, B. I'm a lucky man. Good luck, Mr. Kelly. Get some rest. I'll see you later on, Mr. Kelly. And the sisters in her office, if you need to. This has been a most exciting day, Ford. Oh, indeed. Not so good for for Lord Kenny, though. I fancy. What? Rotten luck for her. Oh [Music] well. Kelly's treatment was continued with gradually increasing doses of arsenic and five grains of quinine daily. Although he still had some symptoms of his fever, it was thought that it was probably best to let him return to duty in the new year. A year later, poor soul, he died from his disease. Dutton continued his work in West Africa and found tripppinosomes and other cases of fever in the Gambia and Congo. At the end of 193, he set out on what was to be his last journey. In a letter written on February the 9th, 195, he outlined in great detail work he was doing on tick fever. 3 weeks later he was dead from the disease he was investigating when he was only 29 years old. I believe more than a thousand Africans attended his funeral in Kasongo. His obituary notices in both the Lancet and the British Medical Journal were certainly more than a page long. Although I shall always be grateful to him for his help, I have to admit that at the time there was some confusion as to whose discovery it was. Well, it's all in the past now. I stayed on in West Africa for a long spell and was fortunate to still have a few years left when I returned home. As for my discovery, well, if only I'd realized how near I was to finding the cause of sleeping sickness. Heat. Heat. [Music]