VETERINARY SURGEON TELLS HOW MASTITIS ATTACKED IN BRITAIN

Wanganui Chronicle, 18 December 1950, Page 8

VETERINARY SURGEON TELLS HOW MASTITIS ATTACKED IN BRITAIN

AUCKLAND, Last Night (PA).— How British veterinarians are tackling the mastitis problem among dairy herds was described tonight by Mr. W. L. C. Purdie, ,a young Christchurch veterinary surgeon who returned by air after six months in England on a British Council bursary. Making a survey of veterinary work in Britain, Mr. Purdie travelled extensively and visited numerous research stations and agricultural colleges. The price of livestock in Britain made veterinary work extremely important, said Mr. Purdie. A cow that would cost £2O in New Zealand might cost anything up to £BO in Britain. He said that the mastitis problem was being attacked in veterinary investigation centres all over the country. It had been discovered that penicillin was not the complete answer to the disease and routine milk sampling to locate mastitis in unsuspected cows was being undertaken on a large scale. Mr. Purdie said that in this way mastitis was being stamped out before it had time to gain a hold, In cows not completely affected, penicillin was the main means of treatment

Graduates from universities all over the world were going to Britain under British Council bursaries to further their knowledge of their' particular professions and to exchange cultural ideas with English students, Mr. Purdie said.

As far as he knew he was only the second New Zealander to have the opportunity of such study. The first man was a town clerk from Blenheim who went to England to study municipal administration.