DISEASES OF ANIMALS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18637, 5 August 1930, Page 12

DISEASES OF ANIMALS

WHAT NEW ZEALAND HAS DONE. Addressing the members of the Timaru Rotary Club at their weekly luncheon yesterday, Mr A. M. Paterson. M.R.C.V.S., said that among the earlier settlers in New Zealand were a few enterprising members of the veterinary profession. Those ardent young men very soon discovered that there was very little veterinary work for them to do. They had overlooked the fact that when stock are first introduced into a new country, they invariably do well, and remain free from disease for a longer or a shorter period, making the lot of the veterinarian a hard and a precarious one. What made matters still more difficult for them was the fact that owners of stock showed a decided preference for socalled “practical men,” who pretended to a knowledge of veterinary science which they did not possess; and to these they gave the greater part of their work. The qualified men were thus obliged to combine farming with such veterinary work as they managed to pick up in order to eke out a more or less respectable existence. But, by and by, stock diseases made their appearance one after the other, and such were the resulting losses that many hitherto prosperous men were brought to the verge of financial ruin, when they realised the folly of trusting to laymen to safeguard the health of their flocks and herds, instead of relying on those who had been trained for such work. In their determination not to make the same mistake a second time, they appealed to the Government to provide a capable veterinary service; and, the Government engaged a number of highly qualified veterinarians (Dr. Gilruth and Dr. Reakes and others). From time to time additional men were imported to provide inspectors for the rapidly developing frozen meat and dairying industries, and to supply competent supervisors of ports, with the view of preventing the introduction of contagious diseases through imported livestock, a phase of veterinary work which has always been carried out with the most striking efficiency. Among the diseases dealt with were: Tuberculosis, Anthrax, Black Quarter, Actinomycosis, Swine Fever and socalled "Winton Disease.”

Notwithstanding our climate, Mr Paterson pointed out, tuberculosis had secured a very extensive hold on the cattle of the country, and, as this disease is transmissible to human beings, heroic measures had to be adopted in dealing successfully with it. Consequently, all visibly affected animals were at once destroyed, and all suspected ones subjected to the tuber-culin-test, which almost unfailingly indicates the presence or absence of the disease in doubtful cases. The stock of the country were then placed under the supervision of specially trained stock inspectors, who were charged with the duty of destroying every animal showing clinical manifestations of tuberculosis, and of testing all doubtful cases with tuberculin. Furthermore, all dairy cows were periodically subjected to a vigorous veterinary examination, when again, ail animals found diseased were eliminated from teh herds and destroyed and all doubtful cases tested. Right on to the present time, these precautions have been carried out with a gradually increasing perfection, and the result now is that the cattle of this country are probably freer from T.B. than those of any other country. Anthrax, which is another disease affecting men and animals equally, continued to play havoc in the North Island for a number of years, notwithstanding the fact that the Government’s veterinary advisers had declared that the disease was being introduced into New Zealand through improperly sterilised Indian bone manure. By and by the disease made its appearance in Southland; and it was demonstrated that Indian bones were being used on the farm affected for the first time. Then, the germs of the disease and the bones were found in the animals that had died; and lastly, the germs were found in the bones that I had been supplied to the farmer, such evidence as this swept aside all opposition at once; and steps were immediately taken to have Calcutta bones properly sterilised before coming to this country. Furthermore, all animals thao had died on farms which had received supplies of bones from the affected shipment, were exhumed and incinerated, to prevent outbreaks of the disease in the future, for the germs of anthrax have been known to retain their vitality in the soil for at least a considerable time. Since then we have had no trouble from anthrax. For many years a new disease made its appearance in the Winton district of Southland, and, because it was Known nowhere else, it was called Winton Disease.” A . similar disease was known in a particular district in Canada, and in another, in South Africa; but no one seemed to know exactly what caused it. although in all three countries it was thought to be in .some way due to the animals eating the ordinary field tansy, or ragwort. Dr. Adami, of Canada, side-tracked investigators for a time by declaring that he had succeeded in'isolating a microbe which he claimed was the cause of the disease. Investigations in New Zealand showed on the other hand that the tansy was almost certainly the cause of the trouble; for both had originated on the one farm; both had spread together throughout the district along parallel lines; and the disease was never found unassociated with this weed. Old veterinary woiivS were consulted and it was found that a similar disease made its appearn} Wales in *3OO and again in \ci,? lso 111 France in 1810, and again m 184 o; and in all cases this particular plant was blamed as the cause. Finally f x P erim<? nts were undertaken which placed the matter bevond all doubt; for animals in districts in which there was no ragwort were fed on the cut up plant, and they died of undoubted Winton disease.

The veterinary profession in this country is thus performing a very useful function, m the prevention of some diseases, the control of others, and the eradication of still others. With the advancement of science new methods of overcoming disease are being continually brought under notice and tried ° ut “ veterinary laboratory or in the held, and when these are proved to be safe and satisfactory, the farmers are immediately told of them through Press letters, lectures and demonstrations. the result being a great gain to the whole community.