BITTEN BY TICK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25344, 30 September 1943, Page 5

BITTEN BY TICK

SYDNEY GIRL PARALYSED (Air Mail) SYDNEY Sept. 24. Because adequate supplies of antitoxin serum were not available, a 19-year-old Sydney girl almost died from a tick-bite. Ticks are prevalent on the coastal belt of New South Wales, and each year they kill hundreds of dogs and cats. Children have been killed by ticks, but it is rare for an adult to succumb. The victim, however, is suffering from paralysis which may not be completely cured. The Sydney girl was bitten on the head by a tick on September 12. She pulled it out, leaving the head and jaws behind. Four days,later her legs became weak, but the doctor attending her was unable to obtain anti-tick serum from the Commonwealth Health Department until September 19. Then, instead of the 30 c.c.’s he had asked for he received 10. By this time the girl’s legs were completely paralysed, both arms were partly paralysed, and she could not talk or swallow. In addition the right eye muscles became paralysed, causing the eye to turn in and the lid to droop. The injection prevented the paralysis of the abdomen and probably saved her life. Later the doctor obtained an additional 20 c.c.’s of the serum.

Explaining why he had not given the doctor the 30 c.c.’s he had requested in the first place, the chief of the Commonwealth Health Department (Dr Metcalfe) said that the total quantity of‘serum possessed by the department at the time was 55 c.c.’s. and he did not feel justified in depleting the stock by more than half. The department depended on the public to collect and sell ticks to it to make the serum, but since the war the number of collectors had dwindled considerably.