West New Guinea
p. 69 · Read in the full issue
“No Rabies” From West New Guinea
THE risk of rabies being introduced to Papua-New Guinea from Indonesian West New Guinea has been discounted by P-NG’s Director of Health, Dr. R. R. Scragg.
“Indonesian authorities are just as concerned with keeping rabies out of West Irian as we are in keeping the disease out of Papua-New Guinea,” he said.
’’Because of this mutual concern and the measures being taken by health authorities in Indonesia, I doubt whether rabies would become a problem in this territory.”
Dr. Scragg said the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories’ field laboratory at Wewak would watch for all quarantinable diseases, including rabies. The laboratory’s main activity was to study dysentery and other diseases affecting people of the Sepik District,