DISEASES IN SHEEP

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29315, 21 September 1960, Page 17

DISEASES IN SHEEP

Similarity In N.Z. And S. Africa

The similarity between facial eczema in New Zealand and geeldikkop, or yellow thick head, in South African sheep caused a South African organic chemist at present in Christchurch to visit New Zealand. He is Dr. P. R Enslin, a graduate of Zurich University. Dr. Enslin. who carries out research on the isolation of substances toxic to sheep and cattle in pastures, has just attended a symposium on the chemistry of natural products at Melbourne. Canberra and Sydney. He said that certain similarities existed between geeldikkop and facial eczema. The external similarities of the two diseases were the yellow colour of the skin and the swelling of the animal. The yellow colour was caused by a jaundice, while the swelling occurred because the toxin prevented the animal from ridding itself of its normal wastes which, when accumulated, caused the skin to become light, sensitive and to swell. The differences existed in the type of lesions on the livers of affected sheep and the difference of pasture types and climatic conditions under which the two diseases occurred, he said. Fungus Cause Unlikely “Although we do not know all the causes of geeldikkop we think it unlikely that it is caused by a fungus as you have established with facial eczema in New Zealand. We have, however, isolated some toxins from different plants that do cause certain symptoms of the disease,” he said.

Dr. Enslin has spent most of his time in New Zealand visiting the animal research station at Ruakura, near Hamilton, where he was impressed with the advances made in the study of facial eczema.

“Geeldikkop is a serious economic problem in South Africa and tens of thousands of sheep die annually from the disease—mostly in the late summer.” he said. “The Government is spending a substantial sum each year on research, but scientists are still far from conquering or controlling the disease, although considerable advances have been made on the chemical pathology of it.” Geeldikkop is not the only problem with which Dr. Enslin is connected with in South Africa, but it is the only disease on which he is doing research, that has a near equivalent in New Zealand. He said that he had learned of different approaches that could be made to similar problems in South Africa.