PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30, 1907 TUBERCULOSIS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11113, 30 October 1907, Page 4

PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30, 1907 TUBERCULOSIS.

Some ten years ago, with 1 a good deal of flourish of trumpets, the Agricultural Department sent out its veterinary surgoens into various districts armed with pocket syringes and bottles. of tuberculin, Koch's splendid discovery for the detection of tubercular disease m cattle. It was stated that a complete examination was to be made of the herds of the colony, with the object of eradicating those animals affected with tuberculosis, which were liable to transmit the malady to human beings. For a year or more the Department's officers were actively employed m this useful work for the protection of the public health, and many beasts tliat had not been suspected of disease -were condemned because of the state of tlieir lungs, which reaction from tuberculin revealed. Then suddenly official vigilance relaxed, and m recent years the tuberculin test has only been applied m a few exceptional eases or by special request. There is no reason for doubting the value of the aiagnosis that tuberculin gives. Mr Gilruth, the chief Government Veterinarian, m his latest report, says it lias proved most reliable, and if this be so, one wonders why tlie work of the Department should? as he states, have been confined to the application of the test "when required?" Mr Gilruth states that the cattle m some districts are more exensively affected than iri others. Last year of the number of cattle slaughtered for food 158,003 were examined, and 8438 were found to be infected with tuberculosis, 2681 carcases, or 5.34 per cent, being condemned. In pigs the percentage was lugher. Cows suffer from tuberculosis m greater proportion tlian other cattle. Mr Guruth remarks : "It is now several years since the Stock Act came iuto force, yet there is nothing to show that tuberculosis is not now as prevalent among the herds of the Dominion as it was ten years ago, m 6pite of the fact that tho operation of that Act, as regards the compulsory slaughter of animals suffering from scheduled disease, has been principally directed against tuberculosis. . . . These measures of repression are certainly good so far as they go when properly carried out, for they have had the effect of getting rid of many badly diseased animals. . . But the weakness of this system lies m the fact that there is no finality about it. Viewed from a financial standpoint alone, it means that if present methods be perpetuated, the Dominion must for all'tinie continue to pay its annual tax m order to at least prevent bovine tuberculosis becoming more widely diseemiiiated than at present. Tlie object wliich redly should be aimed at is to effectively reduce the ravages of the disease to the lowest minimum possible m the present state of scientific knowledge concerning it, and this is a matter demanding most serious consideration. Evidence available goes clearly to prove that one of the most potent factors m the dissemination and perpetuation'of tubercular disease m the Dominion at the present is infected cow's milk. Proof of tliis is furnished by the extensive amount of tubercular infection . present among swine fed upon the by-products of dairy factors." The s report then goes on to point out that the same process of disease infection from cows is doubtless going on among -the human beings of the Dominion : "A disquieting feature of the whole matter is the conclusion forced upon one that a large number of cows m the Dominion must be producing tubercular milk. This emphasises the necessity of an amendment m the Stock Act, rendering the notification of 'all' suspicious, abnormal, or recognised diseased conditions of the udder compulsory ; also for a careful examination of the udders of all dairy cows coming under the notice of inspectors. In this, really the most important consideration of all, is the question of human health as affected by that portion of the milk supply of the Dominion wliich goes directly into human consumption. I would therefore submit that it is urgently necessary that immediate steps should be taken to effectively deal with this

matter of the dissemination of tuberculosis. It is futile to expend money and labor m searching out and destroying adult tubercular cattle, while each year's crop of calves is allowed to contract infection wholesale, practically without check or hindrance by legislative and administrative methods." Mr Oilruth concludes with the following recommendations to the Minister: — "(1) A systematic periodic examination, so far as is practically possible, of all cows supplying milk for human consumption, whether directly or tlirough the dairy factories ; this examination to be carried out by officers m every way competent for tne duty, and to include a careful manual examination of the udder of each individual cow. (2) The application of the tuberculin test to all cows m which the clinical indications, while suspicious, are not sufficiently definite to enable a positive decision to be arrived ot. (3) Compulsory notification of all abnormal conditions of the udder. (4) Prohibition of the sale of any cow showing any abnormal condition of the udder, unless the animal is passed by a qualified veterinarian as free from tuberculosis or. other scheduled disease, and certified to accordingly. (5) Sterilisation of all separated milk before it leaves the factory or creamery." Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 5, it is pointed out, are practically repetitions of recommendations made as long ago as 1899. They are still not carried into law, and since that date 5295 people liave died- (m six years) m New Zealand from tuberculosis.