Early methods for rinderpest surveillance and control

Abstract

Using the many documents available on the history of rinderpest, it is possible to accurately describe the practical measures adopted for rinderpest surveillance and control from Antiquity to the 19th Century. Surveillance was based on clinical diagnosis, post-mortem examination, animal inoculation, and also on the knowledge of the conditions under which infection occurred: aetiology, pathogenesis, susceptible species, virulent material, mode of infection, incubation period, etc. The historical facts are assembled and compared, with comments on each of these points. Control was based upon the application of general disease control measures, attempts at vaccination, and treatment. A study of these procedures makes it possible to compare their efficacy and describe the major steps of their implementation.