TICK PLAGUE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 302, 21 December 1937, Page 14

TICK PLAGUE.

YOUNG BOY VICTIM? NO POWER TO USE LIMBS. INSECT SMALL BUT DEADLY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, December 17.

There is a small boy. three years old, at present in the Children's Hospital at Camperdown, Sydney, who has l>een attracting the alarmed attention of several of our medical men for some time past. He was brought to the hospital apparently suffering from a form of infantile paralysis, but a3 the malady developed he showed all the signs of tick poisoning—that is, he behaved verv much like an animal bitten by a tick, having lost for the time the power to use its limbs or co-ordinate its movements properly. 1 An X-ray examination failed to reveal I the intruder, but at present the doctois are convinced that this is a case of "tick." and they are watching closely to prevent any fatal development. For there are (Several authenticated instances of the death of children from the attack of ticks, and so little is known of the precise nature of the toxin or its antidote that all such cases need very careful observation. The tick, a small insect found in scrub and brushwood—its natural host is the bandicoot, one of our indigenous rodents —is particularly dangerous to dogs and small children, but it also attacks adults and cattle. Burrowing under the s-kin. it causes first uneasiness, then, unless removed at once, a painful sore, and for I the human victim the sequel may be I positively dangerous. However, apart I from temporary discomfort. people usually circumvent the activities of the tick without serious injury. Not Found Inland. With do«* it is not so. They are peculiarly liable to the attacks of this insect, and if it retains hold upon them for three or four days paralysis and death will surely supervene. Happily the tick, which causes so much trouble to dogs ami human beings in this State is not found inland or anywhere more than 20 miles from the coast, but within those limits, however, it can cause a terrible amount of damage. This spring happened to be damp and warm, and it was therefore a bad tick season. All the North Shore suburbs suffered severely, the veterinary surgeons in this district estimating that at least 1000 dogs died within a very few weeks. The only preventive available for dog owners is to examine their pete daily, running the fingers carefully over them; and the only effective remedy is a serum prepared from dogs rendered immune by many previous bites. Unfortunately, there are few such dogs to be found, and an official from the Commonwealth serum laboratory spent some weeks lately on the Hawkesburv before he could collect even three dogs adapted for this purpose. In this way, it is said, about 75 per cent of the I animal* attacked can be saved. The | difficulty is that the attack is not as a rule noticeable, nor can the presence of the insect be easily detected till the danperous symptoms appear, and then it is usually too late.

Menace to Cattle. | Of course, the cattle tick which infects the stock districts in Queensland and the Far North, generally represents a different and more serious problem. Its I depredation* are the worst danger that ' cattle men and stock raisers have to fear in that part of Australia. Money has heen spent in the most lavish pro- i fusion—literally in millions in the I almost hopeless effort to keep the plague I within bounds. Tick hoards are among the most important of local bodies in the Northern Territory and Southern Queensland, and they have to compel 1 graziers to dip their stock at regular intervals— every 14 days for 12 mouths at least, in areas where ticks have been eradicated. ! Ihe public outlay on these purposes even in New South Wales is enormous. This month the LNinore lick Hoard called for tenders for the construction of 113 new cattle <li|is. at a cost of over £2.).0((0. These dips are exacted to meet the requirement« "f two small districts, covering a total area of 1(180 square miles 40 miles each way close tn the Queensland border. These figures may give some idea of what the tick plague means to the man on the land. Even in Sydney's suburbs the tick can i make life unpleasant for men and women, and may even kill babies as well a-- dogs if their guardians are ignorant or careless. i