DREAD RINDERPEST

Evening Star, Issue 18533, 16 January 1924, Page 10

DREAD RINDERPEST

WEST AUSTRALIAN OUTBREAK. REPORTED DYING DOWN. Much concern has been occasioned by the outbreak of rinderpest, the greatest scourge known to stock owners throughout the world, in Western Australia. It gratifying to know that the outbreak is dying down, and (bat no further cases have occurred since December 18. An Order in Council in tho ‘Gazette’ makes amended regulations far the importation of live stock from Australia (says tho ‘Dominion’). The latest official information from Australia, it is stated, is satisfactory as showing that 'the drastic steps taken to deal with tho outbreak of rinderpest in Western Australia have so far had good results.* No further cades have occurred since December 18, while all the other Australian States have taken most rigid precautions to guard against the risk of infection reaching them, and tho making of the present Order m Council is not the result of any doubt as io the theu ugliness of the measures being taken in Australia, but is only done as a matter of special precaution. Under previous conditions t.,c importation of ell live stock and fodder from Western Australia find (Rice,island and of cattle and fodder from the other,Australian States was prohibited. Tho new Older in Council makes H now necessary for the prior consent of tho Minister to be given before fheep and pigs can bo imported from New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. A TERRIBLE SCOURGE An article from the pen of Dr J. A. Gilruth appeared in the Melbourne ‘Leader’ of December 21. “ Should the dis&aso which has appeared amongst dairy cattle in the Fremantle district of Western Australia,” writes Mr Gilmth, “really prove to bo rinderpest, it meins that the elaborate defensive measures established by Federal and State authorities have been powerless to prevent the introduction of the most deadly scourge that can afflict ruminants. In (he absence of any definite information regarding the symptoms of post mortem appearances exhibited, it is impossible to form a conclusion -as to whether or not the fears expressed are justified. The number of cases which have occurred on different farms, the rapid course and deadly nature, certainly indicate that rinderpest is possible. Still, poisoning, accidental or wilful, by alkaloids or minerals, cannot yet be excluded. It bae been reported that stomach ulcerations are absent. Tir'd is important. In acute oases of rinderpest, which invariably occur where fresh herds ere attacked in new countries, disease changes are most marked in the alimentary canal. These changes are manifested as red spots and erosions in the mouth and pharynx; intense congestion of the inner surface of the fourth stomach, with patches of reddish or greyish fake membrane, under which there are deep uicorations. Inflammatory changes arc also found in the Small .and large intestines. “The characteristic symptoms usually seen in new outbreaks are intense fever, discharges from the eye, nose, and mouth, shivering fits, rapid and difficult breathing, diy, harsh cough, eruptions on the groins, with a bran-like exudate, foetid breath, and severe diarrhcea and dysentery. Prostration is marked. Death generally occurs within three to five days. AH authorities agree that first cases in a new outbreak arc difficult of diagnos's, as the symptoms vary considerably, and that post mortem examinations by drmeono with expert knowledge and experience of tho disease are necessary. Unfortunately, as far as I am aware, there is no such authority in Australia. Bacteriological examination does not afford positive information, for hitherto the casual agent has not been determined. * “ The disease,” Dr 'Gilruth continues, “ i*J common in India, Malay States, and the Philippines, There the chief functions of able and energetic veterinary staffs consist in the control and eradication of this special disease. One wonders if it has occurred to the Governments interested to secure an expert from one of the countries mentioned with the utmost despatch, even by aeroplane If possible. The importance of an early and expert diagnosis, and especially if not rinderpest, an authoritative declaration to that effect, warrants unusually energetic measures.

“As far as information available is concerned, it does not seem the disease at Fremantle has been proved to be transmissible by inoculation or that any experiments have been made in that direction. Failure to so transmit it would have at once disproved the theory of rinderpest. Success would at least have proved the existence of some contagious disease hitherto unknown in Australia. Then the most drastic measures to extirpate the malady, together with the strictest quarantine, would have been amply justified. “ Rinderpest, which affects sheep, goafs, deer, and other ruminants, as well os cattle, has been known from the dawn of history as the roost terrific plague which could afflict the stock owner. Individually it has resulted in many important changes in the history of manldnd. Like bubonic plague, it is endemic In certain parts of Asia. Thence from time to time it has been conveyed to Europe. In the earlier centuries of the present era its appearance in Europe so coincided with Asiatic invasions that it V; practically certain the movements of the Asiatic hordes westward were compelled originally by the decimation of their own herds an'd flocks through rinderpest. One of the earliest reported widespread outbreaks in Euwpe followed the terrible invasion by Attala, and his HudA Even Britain did not escape these epidemics. In 1865-66 the most serious epidemic occurred, no part of England or Scotland entirely escaping. In Europe it has invariably happened that the disease has eventually disappeared, probably because of climatic conditions and of the gradual decrease of the virulence of the vims.

, ‘‘ Tie effect of rinderpest on African politics, and particularly on the movements of Central and South African tribes, will probably never be known. It appeared in Abyssinia in 1890, brought by cattle or camels from Arabia. Rapidly, considering tho nature of the country', it spread southward, devastating the herds of the tribes, and even the wild big game. By 1894 it appeared in ■Malabeleland and Rhodesia. Those who can speak with authority believe that much of the native unrest that culminated in the ’Matabeleland War wag due primarily to the ravages of the disease amongst the native herds. By 1836 it had swept throughout the whole of South Africa, causing wholesale loss and misery to stock owners, native and European. Only one man—Duncan Hutcheon, then, Chief Veterinarian of Cape Colony—foresaw the extreme danger to be apprehended from the inevitable progress of the disease southward from Abyssinia, but his warnings were unheeded until too late. “Fortunately the genius of Koch, who was sent by the British Government to investigate the disease in South Africa, was able to develop a measure of prevention by conferring immunity in healthy animals through the use of bile from diseased animals. Other methsds have been discovered, and now most countries affected employ a system of immunising animals liable to contract the. disease. Thus its ravages are greatly minimised in all civilised countries. But snob measures cannot be improvised with success.

“Tho disease is highly contagious, and, although tiie actual virus has not yet been isolated and cultivated artificially, it has been proved to exist in all secretions and excretions. It may bo conveyed by contaminated fodder, water, clothing, dogs, birds, flics, etc.“If rinderpest does exist in tho Western State it must have been introduced by indirect agencies. And in spite of all precautions it may spread by the same means. Wido dissemination after introduction has been its universal record. If that is to bo obviated here it will not be by panic measures, but by carofu 1 and systematic methods, vigorously pursued. Doubtless every effort will be made to trace the source. It is imperative if a recurrence does not appear, always assuming the disease is rinderpest, which seems more (ban doubtful. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. “ Unfortunately there is now no doubt about tho outbreak being the dreaded rinderpest. The Westralian Government is taking the moat stringent measures to prevent the spread of the disease to any other part of Australia. The removal of any animal. carcass, fodder, or fittings from the. State to any other part of tho Commonwealth without the consent of the Minister has been prohibited by a Commonwealth proclamation. “ A fresh outbreak of rinderpest occurred about the middle of last month at Bassc-n----dean, just across the Swan River, from tiro recent infected herd a' Belmont, and all cows within a mile radius were destroyed. “The Minister for Homo and Territories (Senator Pearce) recently stated that tho State Board of Advice was particularly concerned now with trying to prevent the spread of the disease to other States without imposing unnecessary or harassing restrictions upon Western Australia. The board was trying to give the Governments of the Eastern State's a guarantee that after taking effective local measures it would also effectively police the export, trade and prevent infection leaving the State. The Com-

mon-wealth had the larger and more import ant sphere of seeing that overseas trade did not suffer, and that foreign countries did not taka alarmist action against Australian exports. EMBARGO ON AUSTRALIA, “The Argentine Republic has decided to prohibit the import to the Argentine of cattle, sheep, and other 'animals, also cargo of all kinds, from. Australia.

“The Uruguayan Government lias taken similar action.”