PULPY KIDNEY

Southland Times, Issue 21657, 19 March 1932, Page 6

PULPY KIDNEY

DISEASE IN LAMBS TOXIN DISCOVERED I IMPORTANT RESEARCH (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, March 18. A statement issued to the Press Association by the Department of Agriculture says that during the 1930 season it was discovered for the first time by Mr D. A. Gill, M.R.C.V.S., D.V.S.M., of the New Zealand Department of Agriculture that a powerful toxin (poison) was present in the intestinal contents of lambs affected with pulpy kidney disease. The work was done at Ranfurly, Central Otago, and although the indications were that this toxin was the product of a bacterium, facilities could not be arranged at Ranfurly to carry out the work aimed at, isolating the particular germ responsible. For that reason, the investigation was carried out during the 1931 season in the Oamaru district, a temporary laboratory being established for the purpose at the Pukeuri freezing works. Although material for investigation was rather scarce, several strains of a particular germ'were isolated and taken back to the veterinary laboratory at Wallaceville for further study. As a result of this Work, it has been found by Mr Gill that all these strains are of the same nature, that the germ produces a powerful toxin, having similar properties to that found in the intestine of affected lambs, and that while it is very similar to a germ called bacillus welchii (which he suggested in 1927. in a report to the department as a likely cause of the disease), has the fundamental difference that the toxin produced by bacillus welchii and by the germs from the affected lambs are different. He is of the opinion that it is the toxins produced by these germs which are responsible for so-called pulpy kidney disease.

The work at Wallaceville has not so far been published, as the final details have not yet been worked out, but it has been thought advisable to make this statement of the position immediately as veterinary research workers in Australia have just published the results of their work on the same problem. The germ which, they have isolated and shown to be responsible for the losses there is extremely similar to, if not identical with that obtained by Mr Gill in Oamaru. It produces a similar, toxin and the antitoxin of the Australian strains neutralizes the toxin of the New Zealand strains, as well as the Australian ones. The value of these discoveries in throwing light on the direct cause of the disease is very considerable, as will be realized by the many sheepfanners, particularly in the South Island, who have been mystified by the losses they have suffered. It. must not be lost sight of, however, that nutritional troubles in the lamb, probably some form or forms of indigestion, are almost as important in the causation of the disease as the germ itself, as there is every reason to believe that while the germ is of widesperad occurrence and inhabits the intestine of, many animals, it only leads to the disease when digestive disturbances give it the opportunity to grow and produce -its toxin in excessive quantities. It will probably be possible to make a further and more detailed statement in the near future.