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Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae abinfection in CalvesL. Kirschner M.D. aa Medical School , DunedinPublished online: 23 Feb 2011.

To cite this article: L. Kirschner M.D. (1960) Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae ab infection in Calves,New Zealand Veterinary Journal, 8:6, 125-125, DOI: 10.1080/00480169.1960.33400

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00480169.1960.33400

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1960 THE NEW ZEALAND VETERINARY JOURNAL 125

CORRESPONDENCE. LEPTOSPIRA ICTEROHAEMORRHAGIAE AB

. ,INFECTION IN CALVES S'lR,-I refer to the paper by D. C. Dodd and D. T. Brakenridge entitled "Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae AS Infection in Calves" (N.Z. vet. J., 8: 71).

The paper is correct with regard to the first isolation of L. icterohaemorrhagiae from a calf. However, the speculation on the origin of this infection and the time of its introduction to the country could have been omitted if the authors were 'more conversant with the content of our paper quoted by them.

In .our paper [Kirschner and Gray (1951)] we gave evidence for the first time that, in New Zealandl (as in nearly all parts of the world), Rattus norvegiws are carriers of L. icterohaemorrhagiai:. In the introduction of our article we pointed out that these rodents can easily be imported from other countries by international traffic. The measures to prevent this im~igration­shielding of the mooring cables and removing of the gangways in the night hours-are haphazardly applied.

In a survey on rats, we could ,prove that R. norvegiws trapped in Auckland and Dunedin were infectedl with L. icterohaemorrhagiae. From the kidneys of rats trapped in Dunedin the organisms have been isolated. The living leptospirae were demonstrated in a lecture presented with the history of the very first human case of Weil's disease (with jaundice and haemorrhages) at a meet­ing of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians held in Duned)in in 1951. The patient was ,infected whlle he was cleaning his pigsty which was highly infested p>, rats, This was actually the main subject of our

paper, which was overlooked by the above-mentionec authors.

In a second paper (Kirschner et al., 1952), publishe( in co-operation with the physicians Dr Miller (Hoki­tika) and Dr Garliek (Whangarei), we· pointed au that leptospirosis had been endemic in New Zealand fo! a long time. It was due mainly to the lack of facilitie for Leptospira investigations that many patients especially dairy farmers, had been previously admitte( to the hospitals under various diagnoses-e.g., "severl influenza", "meningitis serosa", "P.U.O.", etc.

The dogs we examined were infected with L. canicolt and not with L. ic.t'erohaemonhagiae as quoted by thi authors. Two years later,' the first human case infecte( with L. canieola was reported from the district of WeI lington (Hutt Hospital) (West et al., 1953).

20 September, 1960. L. KIRSCHNER, M.D.,

M ediml School, Dunedin.

REFERENCES

Kirschner, L. andi Gray, W. G. (1951): N.Z. med. J. 50: 278.

Kirschner, L., Miller, T. F., and Garlick, C. H. (1952) N.Z. med. J., 51: 98. '

West, et at. (19.53): N.Z .. med. J., 5t: 8.

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