ERADICATING HYDATIDS

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30575, 19 October 1964, Page 8

ERADICATING HYDATIDS

“More Money Needed”

The National Hydatids Council had about £300,000 to spend each year, the council’s chairman (Mr T. MkiCristell) told a meeting of hydatids control committees and the council in Culverden. The money came from a Government grant of about £35,000, which was insufficient, and from dog owners’ contributions. The incidence of true hydatids was now down to 1 per cent, and false hydatids stood at 5 per cent. However, more money and cooperation were needed to achieve eradication. The council spent about £4500 last year on publicity, Dr. C. N. D. Taylor, the representative of the Department of Health on the council and chairman of the council’s publicity committee, said. The publicity and educational campaign has been strengthened considerably in the last year or two, the meeting was told. One of the most important aspects of this campaign was to encourage the teaching of schoolchildren the full story of hydatids and its control and eradication.

By the end of this year, the council would have printed 11,000 copies of a booklet on hydatids. Already a copy had been sent to every school in the country, and class teach ing sets of 40 copies had been made available to teachers’ colleges and to secondary schools. In some arieas where the incidence of .reinfection was low, approval Was being given to reduce tine dosings from about three a year to twice a year to give the hydatids control officers nhore time to concentrate their efforts in areas with infected dogs, where they could inspect, killing facilities and carcase tand offal disposal on farms. There was a tremendous division of* opinion on the number of dosings that should be in « year, the chairman of the council (Mr T. McCristeil), said. It had been the council’s policy to favour strip dosing because it) was found when three or fibur dosings a year were required it was impractical for control officers to get around most of the farm dogs. However, ialthough the council favoured (strip dosing, it was not adamant, said Mr McCristell. >

Concrete strips were very good from the point of view of hygiene, but it was difficult to get the money to put down such strips. Usually, the dosing fee fof about £1 a dog failed to. cover, or was barely adequate for, the cost of dosing, the; meeting was told. Mr Thomson said there was no proven effective chemical for the; sterilisation of dosing strips, ' but sterilisation by heat was effective.