CONTROL OF HYDATIDS

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28556, 9 April 1958, Page 7

CONTROL OF HYDATIDS

Call For Care

All dog owners who feel a sense of duty to the community must ask themselves whether they are faithfully and regularly carrying out the very necessary precautions to rid our country of the horrible scourge of hydatids, says an article in “ Health.” the official bulletin of the Department of Health.

One act of omission could mean another victim to hydatid disease. A middle-aged Hauraki Plains man. who as a youth had worked for several years on a mixed farm, developed a swelling in his abdomen. He consulted his doctor, who in time diagnosed the complaint as hydatids, although it was many years since the man had worked on a farm He was operated on for the removal of the hydatid cysts. Within several years, a similar swelling appeared and he underwent further operations. After years of suffering and numerous operations the patient died. His life was lost by direct or remote association with an •fleeted dog that had been allowed to consume infected offa] and had not been treated according to advocated precautions. The Departments of Health and Agriculture supply pamphlets outlining full information on how animal owners can take steps to control hydatids. It is urged that the public as • whole should co-operate in every way, and demand of dog owners and others engaged in the livestock business that nothing be left undone to check the apread of hydatids, the article says.