Horsham Times (Vic. : 1882 - 1954), Friday 16 March 1883, page 2


PUBLISHED, EVERY TUES)AYY AND 'F-.DAY; IMkýdffE 1 883. -lydatids and .their Causes.. THE terrible maldy lnown as hydatids is just now, attiacting a good ?d"al of httention among medical men;;,aid:seein. that the disease'is so easily .coih'iiunicable from the lower animalfs 'to":the, hlman.sopecies, and .that we are all liable'toinfectiori, ~lth ibject is onedof' peculiar interest:to the public at large.i Thlieldisease appe?-i to be :pretalent in someiparts of Victoria, and for reasons .which'will: be presently siatdd,:it is.es' .tremely probable that the Wimmera.disHrict le?? s die - :car?i b -?ke--? willi obtain an unenviaable -notorety in this: respect.. In our las? snue-were given the particulars of a case of hydatids treated .byDr Scorr, of Haniilton, the. atient bting a resident of Minyip, a township in our own district, and- not long heb fore 'the woman's son had been oper. ated' on 'for the same complaint. Dr, Scoi? says that he has treated during the past five years no lass! than 150= cases of hydatids, and DrC noss, of this`: town, informs us that thliedisease ias equally prevalent in.these parts. What; has brought hydatids inat -; special notice at the present time is the": fact that. a. Dr ._Taýo s of~Adilaide;, has made the malady a special study, arid has published the result of his numerous investigatiouns ian the form .of ta paper read before the Royal Society of .Southli ustralia isThe subject being of such vast;importance to everybody, and ,the particulars given :on:a the o.dc'sasioriefeired being=extireiaely -inter-: esting, we cannot do better thii give, our readers some of: the doctor's salien' poinits. Hefindsthat hydatids are·more prevalent 'both in m an' and the lower' 'airmals in the South .'EAisaern~ district of South Australia than other larti of that colony, and are also very prevalentin those parts of the Western district of 'Victoria -which are- contiguaous to thee:Sonth Eastern district.:. For the yeaiis1873: and 1880, out of, every 53 ,patiehts' in" the Mt; Gambier hospital there was' one o triated for hydatids, whilst for the same period in the Adelaide hospital there was only one patient treated for hydatids out of every 144. The unusual prevalenceof hydatid disease in the South Eastern district is attributed to the large number of marsupials and native dogs which are said to abound there, and also to the fact that much of the water used is obtained from swamps and surface reservoirs. Both kangaroos and dogs are greatly afflicted with hydatids, and; frpin experiments made Dr. THosIs. states atlat, no less than 40 per deit bf tlhe dogs. have ..the:hydatid imalady,,,: ;,TIe source of infection of the dogs is said

o be eating, access off stray dogs. into slaughter houses and butchers' shops, and the careless habit of throwing offal infected by the cyts aside so that dogs might eat it:i Dogs being such a source of danger, Dr. THnoAs strongly urges the rigid enforcement of the Dog Act so that their numbers might be reduced. The knowledge that 40 per cent. of our dogs are the victims of hydatids is our - rdomestic e isp may1i communicate the germs ofa fatal malady: Only the other day a correspondent writing on -this subject inone -of--ourlelbourneI contemporaries, says that a ..nephe.v df his ownahasi been :operated uponi for hydatids, that in this particular instance the inalady? islilieved to be incurable, ani that -it- seems~to' be' trhceable to a do, of whichi lthe sufferer was very fond.- PareitsLespeciallyj;?hould be ca:reful noi - to allow .. their children t{ play with dogs while eating,: for it is by ri. means' an uncommon thing for a child to endeavor to recover the victuals. which lihas been snapped from isihand y perhapsa apet do;. We now give our reasons for holding the opinion that there;is a danger. of, the :disease:. being suhusually -prevalent in `'the :-Wimimera districti' `It has 'beeti'sh'wn that; dons 1i'ar hefcauses oe, infection; seldom do they drinki without, leaving :hydatid" germs in the "water' ;'r We have seen 'tlt the reionoi"assigried for"the unusui i;.prevailence of.,; hydatids.. in the south-eastern district;is the 'practice of residents:- of:: obtaiiing,'ntheir water supply from exposed holes and. swmps. How much more liable must the resiAlents, of?this district'l to..the mialdy ,when the vastymajority of them have to -useýtheIwate' obtiduned- from 'slimilar receptacles..l DogsI havedfree access-to nearly all our _water reservoirs;ltand it' is well known that in summer some' of these,reservoirs are, littlel, bettera than mundiholes. ,:In allsuchi cases the only ,way in which people can guardh against infection ::is- by Vboilien the `i ter----i should certainly never be drunk wtliout this b ing:done. ::Referring. to: this dangeriWDr. Teiosstsi sAys " thaf thel draughtmniigh't' 6::'cool ;le'dan-ldokin 'iid'inviting, and 'yet conitaidn hydatids., He thought a substantial tax should be: placed upon.dogs, :and striy: unknowii canines ruthlessly destroyed. People should also be educated up to the danger of, drinking impure water. i In; many cases he believed parents got infection fromi''single visits to the couintry, where probably infected water was imbibed." We certainly, think that the thanks of- the public generally are due to the doctor for devoting so much attention to a disease to which we are so' alarmingly exposed, but about which until recently there -has been :iuch ignor• " "