SURVEY MADE OF HYDATIDS

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28783, 2 January 1959, Page 2

SURVEY MADE OF HYDATIDS

High N.Z. Incidence Of Disease (New Zealand Frees AMoctaHon) WELLINGTON, January 1. On a population basis, it is probable that hydatid disease is more common among New Zealanders than it is among the people of any other country in the world, says Mr F. H. Foster, of the medical statistics branch of the Department of Health, Wellington. As a cause of death, hydatid disease is nearly three times as common in New Zealand as it is in Australia. The New Zealand death-rate from hydatids is 20 times that of England and Wales, 78 times greater than that of Scotland, and 125 times greater than that of the United States. Mr Foster presents these facts in a comprehensive survey published in the December issue of the “New Zealand Medical Journal.” His summary at the end of the survey, based on a study of patients admitted to New Zealand public hospitals for treatment of hydatid disease during a period of 11 years, says: There has been an average of 87 new cases each year. The disease is more common in males than in females for all ages, excepting children under 10 years of age. The ages of new cases range from two years to 93 years. No single age-group supplies the bulk of new cases. Forestry workers and spinners, weavers and related workers are the two occupational groups with the highest rate of hydatid disease.