Open AccessRinderpest : an historical overview : historical overview : Onderstepoort and veterinary research in Africa
Author(s) -
P. L. Roeder
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
onderstepoort journal of veterinary research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.563
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 2219-0635
pISSN - 0030-2465
DOI - 10.4102/ojvr.v76i1.53
Subject(s) - rinderpest , livestock , french horn , geography , veterinary medicine , ancient history , socioeconomics , history , ethnology , medicine , virology , sociology , forestry , pedagogy , virus
Rinderpest is one of the few diseases which have changed the course of world history. Originally an Asian disease, for centuries it had a devastating impact in Europe when introduced by returning and marauding armies accompanied by cattle as well as by cattle trade. Nowhere was its impact more dramatically expressed than in Africa where the sequel to its introduction into the Horn of Africa was a devastating panzootic throughout sub-Saharan Africa during the last decade of the 19th century extending into the 20th century. Massive deaths of livestock, wild animals and the people dependent on them led to widespread human misery and changed the face of the African continent forever.