RISK OF HYDATIDS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13457, 2 December 1907, Page 7

RISK OF HYDATIDS.

DIFFERING ESTIMATES. A TALK WITH ~MR. LI LI CO. " At the last meeting lof the Timaru Borough Council a letter -:wai|''. re.ttci ."from t)r. Drew reinforcing a previous one regarding the rislks .of a spread of hydatid disease from .the freedom with which dogs were allowed to play about Caroline Ray.' Dr. Drew put- his view of the matter strongly, and enclosed in support- of his own statement, a clipping containing an extract from'the address Of Dr. Barnett-, as President of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association. This contained a statement that in the ten years ending 1905 there had been 1141 cases of the disease in New Zealand and 136 deaths from the disease. It contained also an : assertion that hydatid disease, whether in man or in animals, had-not received the consideration it d-eserved either from the Health Department or the veterinary officials. ( , This last- remark suggested that;.probably ilr Lilico, Government Veterinarian for South Canterbury, would be. able' to throw some light on the subject, as dogs would b subject to his branch. of the pathological sciences. A Herald" representative looked him up for the purpose, and learned that he did' not- at all agree with Dr. Drew's statements, and that he contradicted too Dr Jiarnett's condemnation of the supposed indifference of the veterinary officers regarding the hydatid ' disease. Mr Lilico told our representative that lie had no hesitation in' complying with a request for such information er the reporter sought for, because lie had been interested in the correspondence, and had had io make a special study of animal parasites transmissable to man, directly or through an intermediate "host.' 1 ! (" Hortt" is the term applied to an animal -in- • which a ■ parasite is developed). There were three of these parasites that were at -all commonly transmitted to man by eating meat, and two of them are hydatids, or '' bladder worms." One is the beef worm; ! Cysticercus bovis ; the other the 1 pork worm, Cysticercus cellulcsae. The third parasite is the trichina spiralis, which develops the disease called■.--trichi-nosis, which has been especially fatal in Germany through the liabifc of eating smoked raw liam. The bladderwoims mentioned pass through a more highly organised state as tapeworms in other "aniniftls, the bladderworm of pork; giving rise to the tapeworm of man (Taenia solitrtn.). The hydatid referred to by Dr Drew and Dr Barnett makes its home in the viscera chiefly, the liver and lungs being .its favourite lodgment. It is a stage in the development- of the Taenia chtnococcus, one of the tapeworms of the dog. The cystic -form, (hydatid) is not harmful to man, and can only become so after passing through the tapeworm stage in a dog. The dog excretes the eggs of the tapeworm, and if these are swallowed by man or other animals they develop the cystic form in the internal organs. It is a curious thing that these hydatids are more injurious to man than to .other animals. A sheep or an ox may be, so to speak, full of them, and , yet may be rolling fat: whereas a human being "whose organs harbour many of them shows urimistakeable signs of it; of emaciation or of hemorrhage, as> the Kvr or the lungs are the more affected. "But Dr Drew's cutting stated that more than 50 ; per cent, of carcases, that were inspected arid. passed were affected with hydatids." "That" said Dr Lilico, " is misleading. The carcases are affected but not infected. The hydatids are in tlie. internal organs, but through their inff .ence on the health'

of the animal the: condition of ? the . carcase may be affected. Looking over ntv reports I find that; in'l'9os •40 per cent, of' the condemnations at the Titoarii abattoirs (liot 40 . per ; cent, of . the/ animals killed, observe) ' wei.- (hie to .'hydatids; and in August of .thai- year, from the Ist to the 10th, of .43.4 . sheep "livers ,examined 406 contained hydatids, or. 9315 -jjer cent. Imagine ' the nunibfcr of . tape-worms those livers would have , generated'.if they had been fed to dogs. But being infected, .hey were condemned, as liters, and no animal was allowed to eat them till they aad been cooked. Rut the carcases were not lo.be condemned as unfit for food because hydatids existed where" they belong —in the internal organs. "In any case" continued Mr Lilico, "thece hydatids of the slieap are rib immediate danger to man. The germs they contain cannot be developed except in the intestines of the dog ; and ariv organs affected by them ai e I des' roved to "prevent logs eating them and lining infected by them; Hydatids are. more prevalent ill Germany than, in 'England, and German luthorities attribute this to the comparative lack' of meat inspection, rather (bit 11 to the number of dogs about. 'That is, to say, the dogs are allowed to eat the infected livers. You may wonder at it. but it' is a. fact that the'number of conierrinations on account of hydatids is already falling at the Timaru abattoirs, and if the people who kill their; own sheep and feed their own dogs oiv the offal, on the l'ui.ii and farms were •to exercise a little care and resolutely .destroy all hvdatid-infested offal so" that their dogs, did not get at it, the disease could be almost, got rid of:' There is very little risk—it; is infinitesimal in fac'— of anyone contracting the disease in TiJiarn, as the dogs in town are' not: fed on infected offal. The abattoir inspection is a safeguard against that:; and if they cannot get the germs of the dog's tapeworm they cannot generate .the germs of the human bladder worm. Arid, as I have said, the people on the. farms and runs have the matter of their immunity and that of their' flocks, very much .'in their own hands:"

"Is there not. some, o'.her dangerous hydatid—hydatid of the brain? I have read of such a-thing," said the reporter. " There -is a hydatid," was the reply, "ihat makes its home in the. brain of the. sheep, and gives rise to what-' sliephe.; ds call ' sturdy or' 'gidd.' ' I have taken hem out, >by trephining. One recognises the disease by the sheep's behaviour. This too, is a stage of another tape-worm, of the dog, Taenia Coenuru.s." ••■■'•' Mr Lilico's last word : was—'" Timaru \ people need; not" worry , about hydatids from dogs on: the Bay: The destruction of infected offal at the abattoir makes hem safe in . that respect." - • . ; -