DANGEROUS CATS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 17 January 1917, Page 6

DANGEROUS CATS.

*" ‘ 1 * ■ 1 ’ — 1 — 1 SPREADERS OF INFECTIOUS r. DISEASES. -TiMnfln.-jTg.-i.*, ■ ‘ Giving evidence at an Islington inquest, Dr. Spilsbury, the eminent pathologist emphasised the danger of domestic pets spreading 'contagious diseases. A child named Edith Hammond, aged eleven, was, on her return home from school, taken ill with sickness. Her illness was at first thought to be due to eating sweets. On the following day a sister agen, ten, developed similar symptoms, and, later, another sister, aged nine, was also attackd with illness. The girl Edith gradually became weaker and died. Dr. Spilsbury said death was due to syncope, fromyfatty degeneration of the ■heart, set up by accute ulceration of The intestines. Such disease was not set up by ptomaine or chemical poisoning. It was contageous, especially to children. In some cases it was spread by domestic animals. If a cat was suffering from the disease it was very likely to communicate it.