Ringworm From Hedgehogs

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29766, 8 March 1962, Page 16

Ringworm From Hedgehogs

( N.Z Press Association) DUNEDIN, March 7. Children can get ringworm infection from playing with hedgehogs. This has been proved by research done in the microbiology department at the Otago University Medical School by the Medical Research Council unit directed by Professor M. J. Marples. The research arose from a visit to the medical school in 1960 by a patient who claimed she had caught ringworm from her pet hedgehog.

“We examined the ringworm and isolated the fungus from it, and found that it was a fairly recognisable strain which differed from the ordinary ones,” Dr. Marples said

today. “We collected a large number of hedgehogs in 1860, and we found a high proportion of them carried the fungus capable of infecting humans We produced active ringworm on guinea pigs and on human volunteers."

Since then, contacts between hedgehogs and those infected with ringworm had been traced, but Dr. Marples

stressed that it was not a serious form of ringworm because it was “active and itchy,” causing those infected to seek treatment without delay. The danger lay in handling the infected hedgehogs and being pricked by their quills, die said.

“But it would be a pity to start a war on hedgehogs because of this,” said Dr Marples “They do a lot of good in the garden, eating grass grubs and many other pests. All that is necessary is to keep children from handling them.”