The Press SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1965. Trichinosis

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30739, 1 May 1965, Page 14

The Press SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1965. Trichinosis

Whether viewed as a threat to public health or as a threat to New Zealand’s exports, the outbreak of trichinosis in Auckland is serious. When the Health Department was notified last October of a case of trichinosis its officers made inquiries and concluded that the patient might have become infected through eating an imported food. Trichinosis had never before in New Zealand been observed in pigs, the usual source of infection. Last week, however, a pig carcase carrying the live larvae of the parasitic worm which is the source of the disease, was found in a meat works. Eighteen piggeries in the Auckland province have been put into quarantine, stocks of pig meats in abattoirs and butcheries have been isolated for inspection, and every effort is being made to pinpoint the source of infection before the disease spreads further.

No doubt the measures now in train will prevent any spread of the infection from this source. The meat trade throughout New Zealand will have been alerted by the first appearance of this parasite, and producers and consumers will need to be reassured that other piggeries are free of the parasite and that preventive and inspection measures are adequate. The economic consequences of the outbreak —even if it is confined to the reporting of a single human patient and the discovery of a single infected carcase—may run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. Other countries will not accept New Zealand pig meat without a certificate from the Department of Agriculture that New Zealand is free of trichinosis. The issue of these certificates has now been suspended. The question might well be asked: why was it not suspended six months ago? The reluctance of the Department of Agriculture to inform the public about the occurrence of this disease is a reminder of its reticence about the last outbreak of salmonellosis, about D.D.T. contamination of export meat, and about the installation in New Zealand freezing works of new equipment to meet the hygiene standards demanded by the United States. The department is commendably zealous—and successful—in its efforts to prevent or eradicate disease in flocks and herds and to maintain the standards of New Zealand meat exports. No good purpose is served by attempting to conceal deficiencies when they occur. The delayed announcement of the trichinosis outbreak must have been more damaging to New Zealand’s reputation in the United States and other markets than premature or even undue publicity would have been. A well-informed public is a better safeguard of export standards than a secretive bureaucracy.