:w4 



r April, 1909. 



LIVE STOCK. 



KOCH ON RINDERPEST IN THE 

 PHILIPPINES. 



By G. E. Nesom, 

 Director of Agriculture. 



Dr. Robert Koch is looked upon as the 

 leading authority on many questions 

 of human and veterinary medicine. 

 Among other accomplishments he has 

 made a thorough study of rinderpest in 

 South Africa and Egypt. The results 

 of his studies and investigations have 

 had a marked influence in the work 

 of controlling this disease throughout 

 the civilized world- His method for the 

 manufacture of serum was adopted in 

 the Philippines by the Bureau of Science 

 in the year 1902, and was used with 

 but few modifications until January 1, 

 1907. 



Dr. Koch has been called upon to give 

 advice in the control of many diseases, 

 and his recent studies in South Africa 

 on sleeping sickness have added further 

 to his already world-wide reputation. 

 On his visit to the United States prior to 

 embarking for the Orient, great interest 

 was shown in him and his work. He 

 was given ovations throughout the 

 country, and on reaching the Orient 

 every inducement was offered him to 

 visit all parts of the Par East. The 

 following invitation was sent through 

 the American ambassador, Tokyo, under 

 the date of July 16, 1908: "The 

 Governor-General of the Philippine 

 Islands most cordially and earnestly 

 invites you to visit the Philippine 

 Islands while in the Far East. We 

 think you will be interested in our 

 scientific work in the study of tropical 

 diseases. Your acceptance of this 

 invitation will be exceedingly gratify- 

 ing to this Government." On July 20, 

 a reply came in which Dr. Koch ex- 

 pressed deepest regret that he was 

 unable to accept the invitation, as he 

 was compelled to shorten his visit and 

 proceed directly from Japan to Germany. 



These Islands have thereby missed 

 the benefit of the scientific advice and 

 the inspiration which a visit from him 

 would have given to the work of con- 

 trolling human and animal diseases here. 

 It is particuarly unfortunate that he 

 could not come at a time when cholera 

 was rather wide-spread and when the 

 greatest efforts were being made to place 

 rinderpest under control. 



Dr. Koch subsequently returned to 

 the United States and attended tli6 



International Tuberculosis Congress 

 held in Washington, D.C, last Septem- 

 ber. While there he was seen by the 

 Director of Health of the Philippine 

 Islands who discussed with him many 

 topics of interest pertaining to the 

 health of man and the domestic animals 

 in the Philippines. 



Among the topics considered was 

 the possibility of placing rinderpest 

 in these Islands under control. Dr. 

 Koch expresses the opinion that the 

 Government should undertake serum 

 inoculation on au extensive scale. He 

 thinks the work should begin in Manila, 

 that all cattle received from foreign 

 countries and those in communities 

 where riuderpest exists, should be 

 given serum iuoculatim. He thinks we 

 should organize a good service for the 

 detection of new cases throughout the 

 Islands, soas to make sure that when 

 eradication is undertaken in a single 

 island it will be thoroughly covered by 

 this service, all centres of infection 

 located, and the spread of the disease 

 prevented. He says that under this 

 system no animal need be sacrificed, 

 that the methods will soon become very 

 popular, and that if inaugurated in a 

 sufficient scale to cover the Archipelago 

 and the work done thoroughly, it is 

 possible to place rinderpest under control 

 within oue year. He specifically con- 

 demns the use of the simultaneous 

 method in the provinces. 



It is of interest to note that all in- 

 vestigators who have had occasion to 

 work in the control of rinderpest for any 

 considerable time have reached practi- 

 cally uniform conclusions as to the 

 methods to be used. Some of the officials 

 who have been continuously in touch 

 with the riuderpest control work in 

 these Islands for five or six or even 

 eight years are fully convinced that Dr. 

 Koc h is quite right in many of his con- 

 clusions. A brief statement of the 

 methods now in use here and tlie history 

 of changes made in them will show 

 how closely they correspond to the 

 ideas expressed by Dr. Koch. 



Serum inoculation has been extensively 

 practised by the Bureau of Agriculture 

 tor more than three years, and has given 

 excellent satisfaction. Briefly stated, 

 the method is to begin inoculating with 

 serum at each centre of infection and 

 spread out in continuous circles in 

 lines of travel where animals are not 

 thoroughly quarantined so as to tem- 

 porarily immunize all animals which are 

 liable to be exposed to infection. Ordin- 



