September 18, 2024
A brief History Of Veterinary Epidemics – A Hopeful Tail
We are living in the first global pandemic that the vast majority of us have ever seen - in the human sphere. The last disease that earned that title was the Spanish Flu of 1919. However, we have seen and seen off serious epidemics in the veterinary world before. Most of us remember the Foot and Mouth outbreak of 2001. But perhaps less well known are the control measures for diseases such as Rinderpest and rabies. I feel that this is a cause for hope in these dark times. We have faced serious challenges to public and animal health in the past; and with the application of science and determination we have prevailed.
Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a highly contagious virus that affects cloven-hoofed animals. Sheep, cows and goats are the common animals in the British Isles that can be affected. The British Isles are FMD free due to a rigorous control plan. The disease can be vaccinated against, but it has many variants so it can be hard to immunise the national herd. Instead the control strategy relies on isolation in the face of an outbreak. Movement of animals is very restricted so that the virus cannot spread and dies out. This strategy was employed very successfully during the 2001 outbreak. The UK is again FMD free.
Rinderpest was a horrible disease of cattle with a high mortality rate. It affected cattle worldwide. Again it was caused by a virus This caused widespread suffering and hardship for the animals and affected communities. However, note my use of the past tense. Rinderpest eradication is a major success story of veterinary medicine. The United Nations declared that the world was “Rinderpest Free” in 2011. The disease is now consigned to history due to a global effort of vaccination and isolation policies.
Rabies is a terrible and fatal disease of both animals and people (a zoonosis). It is endemic in many countries, but the UK successfully eliminated the disease in 1902. It has never made a successful comeback. This was achieved by the control and isolation of infected dogs. Today rabies is on the run as many countries are successfully vaccinating both domestic dogs and wildlife.
These three diseases - Foot and Mouth Disease, Rinderpest and Rabies are all serious. Yet science and veterinary medicine rose to the challenge and successfully reduced the incidence of all three, eliminating them from the British Isles. We have the knowledge, the fortitude and the determination to prevail against our current epidemic. Keep well everyone.
