LEPROSY AND FISH EATING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3296, 15 August 1911, Page 3

LEPROSY AND FISH EATING.

IS DISEASE COMMUNICABLE. Giving further evidence before the Victorian Commission, Mr Stead, the. State Naturalist, said that fishes were liable to parasitic and bacterial diseases, and to fungous growths. Actually diseased fishes were seldom in his experience found in the Sydney Fish Markets, but cases of parisitism were quite common. Ulcers were sometimes seen, chiefly in fishes which hqd been “paddoeked ’’ too long, caused by injury. Many forms of crustacean parasites were found in the fishes; they were generally called “fish lice.” But they were also found in healthy fish, and need cause no anxiety. - 1 Such carnivorous fish as barraeouta arid pike were particularly liable to infestation i>y worms. Quite apart from any question of danger to the public, fishes with questionable swellings—ulcers or worms —which looked knocked about should be rigidly condemned. He had often seen heavily salted and smoked barraeouta and other fish sold which was manifestly unsound. There should be a system of inspection of the smoked and salted fish sold in shops. The exact relation of nsn diseases to the diseases of man wtas little understood, but with proper cooking there was nothing to fear, even where the fish had internal parasites. Some time ago, continued Mr Stead, it was alleged in some-American newspapers that throid carcinoma (which had been found among certain trout and proved fearfully infectious among them) was communicable to man. That created a small scare, and it travelled round the world through the newspapers. • But the possibility of its communication to man had never been demonstrated . Ac connection, said Mr Stead, had been .alleged to exist between leprosy and fish eating. He would emphatically state that whatever there migTit be in such a suggestion, it had never been alleged that lepresv was connected in any way with the eating of fresh fish, properly salted, smoked, or of fish prepared by any method whatever, provided it was reasonably fresh when it mas treated. Mr Stead referred to a new method of packing fish in paper, which had recently been introduced in Europe. Ho said the method would be valuable here in packing the. larger priced fishes, such as whiting, bream, and selmapper, for market, or it might be used for repacking any fish for suburban or country distribution. The paper used was a ■kind of vegetable parchment, called “fish wrapping paper.” The idea was to get away from the direct contact with ice, which made the fish, flabby, and spoiled its flavor.