HEALTH NOTES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5150, 11 July 1927, Page 4

HEALTH NOTES.

HYDATID DISEASE.

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST SPREAD.

(Contributed by the Department of

Health.)

Hydatid is an infectious disease, and persons of any age may suffer from it. Through the neglect of precautions against the disease many persons become infected and suffer from serious illness, which is sometimes fatal.

The disease is caused through man or other animals, swallowing the eggs of a tape-worm, which lives in the intestine of the dog. This tape-woi m, which is less than a quarter of 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 the. dog in large numbers in its excrement. After being passed eggs remain alive for a long time, but they cannot hatch out and develop unless they enter a human being or some suitable animal by being swallowed. ,

Eggs may get on to pasture and grass, infecting sheep, pigs, and cattle ; into water, or on to vegetables, which are eaten uncooked, such as salads, watercress, etc. Eggs cling to the hair of dogs about their bodies and noses, and thus, if an infected dog is handled or allowed to lick the hands or is fed at meal times, eggs may possibly be carried on the fingers direct to a person’s mouth. Eggs swallowed by man or animals develop, and the parasites bore their ■way to some organ of the body—the liver, lung, brain, etc.—where they grow into bladders or cysts, which are called hyda.tids. Dogs become infected by eating portions of an animal, such as liver or lights, containing hydatids. These hydatids contain many eggs, which develop into tapeworms in the dog’s intestine, and such an infected dog becomes a source of danger to man and other animals. PREVENTIVE MEASURES. The prevention of hydatid disease could be readily secured by the destruction of all offal (plucks) con-/ taining hydatid cysts. Dogs should not be allowed to enter slaughterhouses, nor eat uncooked offal. Drenching, with a suitable worm medicine, three or four times a year, of dogs which have to be used about abattoirs or amongst stock in the country is effective in keeping these animals free from tape-worm. Dog kennels and areas where dogs are chained up should be scalded at intervals with boiling water, which easily kills the eggs or the tape-worm. 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 from utensils used by human beings. Prevent dogs from access to any water Which is used for drinking by man, and never drink 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 oss throughout the Dominion from the effects of this disease upon sheep must be considerable, and when its combined effects upon mankind and stock are taken into consideration it is surely worth the while of every farmer and slaughterman to ensure that dogs shall not have access to raw offal. Remember, the only source of hydatid disease in man is a dog affected

with these minute tape-worms.