FACIAL ECZEMA RESEARCH

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19885, 11 March 1939, Page 15

FACIAL ECZEMA RESEARCH

PROGRESS AT RUAKURA NO SIGN OF DISEASE ARTIFICIAL MEANS FAIL The season so far has been so adverse for the development of the facia; eczema disease that departmental officers have not been able to'create the disease even by artificial means. This was pointed out at a gathering of farmers on the Ruakura State Farm. near Hamilton, where facial eczema I research is being carried out.

Details of the work -being done were given in a brief address by Dr. J. F. Filmer, who has been in charge of this branch of the department's activities, and 'by Mr. P. W. 'Smallfield, fields superintendent for the Auckland district.

' Referring to the difficulties which confronted the investigators, Dr. Filmer said that it 'appeared that the disease broke out only about once in three years, being induced apparently by a toxic principle in pastures which had flushed in warm humid weather, after a long dry spell. The active term of the three-yearly outbreak, too, was only a few weeks, so that to secure natural conditions, chemists and other investigators were restricted to those brief periods. Little in the way of adequate investigation into the disease itself could be made until another outbreak occurred. Use of Taspalum

In the meantime, however, both at Ruakura and at a control station established in the district, efforts were being made to induce an artificial outbreak of the disease by providing, through heavy grazing and subsequent irrigation, conditions which approximated to those obtaining in many parts of the Waikato when the bad outbreaks occurred last year.

So far, the weather itself had to a large extent counteracted the efforts of the investigating officers, particularly en the controlled paddocks at Ruakura. and no outbreaks of facial eczema had occurred in sheep or cattle. Emergency Scheme

An emergency scheme had been arranged, however, under which a watch would be kept on other districts where a relatively dry summer had been experienced and equipment was all ready for instituting prompt investigations, should an outbreak of the trouble be reported from any of thesquarters.

From data gathered relative to the last outbreak, however, the investigating officers had found that where paspalum had formed the basis of the pasture there was relatively little trouble experienced by the farmer. In the absence, at present, of m'ore positive knowledge on the subject, the i-.se oi paspalum pasture was recommended by the research workers as a preventive measure.