A MYSTERIOUS DISEASE

Evening Star, Issue 19552, 10 May 1927, Page 11

A MYSTERIOUS DISEASE

DOGS DRIVEN TO SUICIDE A mysterious disease which is attacking dags of nil breeds nil over Great Britain has baffled veterinary surgeons. A London veterinary surgeon told a ‘Daily Mail ’ reporter that the disease apparently was imported from America about two years ago. It was for some time confined to dogs', in Lancashire, Cheshire, and North Wales. Cases also occurred within a radius of thirty miles of Dublin, but recently dogs all over the country have been affected. . There is, be said, no means at present of preventing or treating the disease. Much alarm is felt among dog breeders and owners of packs of bounds. The disease, which is known as “Mystcria,” appears suddenly in dogs of all ages from two months. When attacked they become frenzied with pain and bang their-heads against a wall. ■ Many cases have occurred of dogs committing suicide in this way. Their eyes become inflamed, and they may also go blind temporarily. Owners have mistaken the disease for rabies, and the dogs have been destroyed without investigation. In one case a dog suddenly attacked ran for ten miles, and was later found in a bog in an exhausted condition. An Alsatian in the first intensity of tho disease rushed at an iron pump and knocked out all its front teeth. 'Post-mortem examination of two affected dogs by a leading bacteriologist of a London hospital produced no duo to the cause of the disease.

Sir John M'Fadyoan, principal.of the Royal Veterinary College, Great Colleg; street, Camden Town, N.W., is engaged on research with a view to finding the cause.