HYDATIDS DISEASE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, Issue 17692, 5 July 1927, Page 12

HYDATIDS DISEASE

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST SPREAD (Contributed by the Department of Health.)

Hydatids is an infectious disease ,and poisons ot any age may suiter lrom it. . Through tlie neglect ot precautions against the disease many persons ue- j come infected, and suiter lrom serious illness, winch is sometimes fatal. , The disease is caused through man I or other animals swallowing tne eggs of a tape-worm, which lives in the intestine of a dog. This tape-worm, which is less than a quarter or an inch ; in length, may be present in large numbers in the dog, and yet the animal may show no obvious signs of the disease. Eggs of. the tape-worm are voided by j the dog in large numbers in its excre-/ tion. After being passeu, egg.-, remain alive for a long time, but they cannot hatch out and develop unless tney enter a human being or some suitable animaL by being swallowed. I Eggs may get on to pasture and grass, infecting sheep, pigs and cattle; into water, which may infect man or animals; or on to vegetables, winen are eaten uncooked, such as salads, watercress, etc. Eggs cling to the hair of j dogs about their bodies and noses, and j thus, if an infected dog is handled or allowed to lick the hands or is fed at meal times, eggs may possibly be car- j ried on the lingers direct to a person’s mouth. . i Eggs swallowed by man or animals : develop, and the parasites bore their | way to some organ of tho body—the liver, lung, brain, etc. —where they grow into bladders or cysts, which are called hydatids. Dogs become infected by eating portions of an animal, such as liver or lights, containing hydatids. These hydatids contain many eggs, which develop into tape-worms in the dog’s intestine, and such ail infected dog becomes a- source of danger to man and other animals. PREVENTIVE MEASURES. The prevention of hydatids disease | could be readily secured by the destruction of all offal (plucks) containin hydatids svsts. .Dogs should not be allowed' to enter slaugnter-nouscs, nor eat uncooked offal. Drenching, with ! a suitable worm-medicine, three or lour times a year," of dogs which have to be used about abattoirs or amongst ; stock in the country, is effective in 1 keeping these animals free from tapeworm. Dog kennels and areas where dogs are chained up should be scalded at intervals with boiling water, which easily kills the eggs of the tapo-wprm. ! Ownerless and useless dogs should be destroyed. Do not allow dogs to enter the house, play with children, lick the hands or face, and never feed them at one’s own meal-time nor lrom utensils used by human beings. Prevent dogs from access to any water which is used for drinking by man, and never drink 1 any water from unprotected ponds or streams unless it has been boiled. Keep dogs away from kitchen gardens, and boil all vegetables before eating them. If salads are required, wash thoroughly all such vegetables leaf by leaf in running water. It is safer to avoid salads from unknown and unprotected sources. ' The economic loss throughout the Do- i minion from tho effects of this disease upon sheep must be considerable, and j when its combined effects upon man- ( kind and stock arc taken into considera- : tion it is surely worth the while of / everv farmer and slaughterman to en- ' sure" that dogs shall not have access to , raw offal. , H Remember, the only source of hvdaticl s disease in man is a dog affected with i these minute tape-worms. j 1