Bug a threat to tourism

Press, 1 April 1989, Page 24

Bug a threat to tourism

PA Wellington The spread of a nasty intestinal bug could become a big threat to New Zealand’s tourism industry, scientists have warned. Giardia is a micro-or-ganism likely to be made a notifiable disease this year. It is spread by water, food or from person to person and causes diarrhoea, weight loss, abdominal cramps, nausea, flatulence, and general gastrointestinal discomfort. Giardia infection leads to coating of the intestine lining by thousands of organisms which cause raised lesions and infective cysts which are shed in the faeces. It is not fatal but can be very debilitating and sufferers may need hospital treatment

Massey University researchers, together with the National Health Institute and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, have started research into the extent of giardia infection in New Zealand and how it is being spread.

A reader in microbiology, Dr Tim Brown, said yesterday that giardia was the most common intestinal protozoa parasite in

the world. Trampers in the United States had once been able to drink safely from fresh water sources along tracks, but now, in the Rockies and Sierras, it was unwise to travel without a portable filter to remove giardia cysts from the water before drinking. The indications were that New Zealand was going the same way and if this was true the tourism industry, much of which was based on outdoor activities, could be under a big public health threat. People would not want to travel thousands of kilometres to tramp and fish in New Zealand if they had to bring water filters and anti-giardia drugs with them. Dr Brown said giardia was a “below the surface” problem in New Zealand but had the potential to become a huge problem.

Statistics of the infection rate in New Zealand were sketchy. In Auckland in 1987, 854 cases were reported but this did not represent the full picture. In six months in 1986 one private Hamilton laboratory identified 239 cases and in 1987 one private health laboratory in Christchurch identified 244 cases.