OBSCURE FOOT DISEASE

Evening Star, Issue 22457, 30 September 1936, Page 8

OBSCURE FOOT DISEASE

VERRUGA INVADING DOMINION YOUNG GIRLS THE PRINCIPAL VICTIMS (Per United Press Association.] CHRISTCHURCH, September 30. Walking its way leisurely round the world in epidemic form, verruga, a foot disease about which little is known, is taking New Zealand in its stride. - Young girls principally are affected. Boys and youths seldom develop the disease, and older people but rarely. Verruga manifests itself in little hard growths on the soles of the feet. In their initial stages these are almost invariably mistaken for corns, but, as they grow inwards, their pressure ou the nerves of the" skin causes severe pain. NO DUNEDIN EPIDEMIC SPECIALIST'S REASSURING STATEMENT “ There is not an epidemic of the ditease in Dunedin at the present time,” said a local foot specialist this afternoon. He explained that cases of patients suffering from verruga were being treated just now, ■ but the number was quite normal. It was at the time of 1925-26 Exhibition, he said, that verruga was prevalent in Dunedin. There were hundreds of case* for treatment then. Verruga, he explained, was a form of foot wart, and could be picked up by sufferers at the beaches or public bathing places.