ECZEMA IN NORTH

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29744, 10 February 1962, Page 12

ECZEMA IN NORTH

Signs Found In Stock < NX. Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, Feb. 9. The first signs of facial eczema in North Taranaki this year appeared at the Waitara freezing works today. Several infected livers were found in slaughtered animals No clinical cases, however, have yet been seen in stock.

The chairman of the North Taranaki Facial Eczema Committee (Mr J. H. Macdonald) said that although conditions could change, the evidence available so far did not indicate that the disease was likely to be very widespread in North Taranaki this year Ten outbreaks of facial eczema—seven of them in sheep and three in cattle—have been detected on farms between Katikati and Te Puke in the Tauranga County, said Mr M. B. Mackenzie, Department of Agriculture stock inspector at Tauranga today.

If there are further warm temperatures in the Wanganui district and grass minimum temperatures remain high, there is a very strong possibility of a serious and widespread outbreak of facial eczema, according to the Agriculture Department. Mr R. Elliot a departmental veterinarian, said that overnight there had been heavy rain throughout the district. Grass minimum temperatures had risen overnight and unless they dropped and there were cold winds and rains, the district could be stricken by a severe outbreak.