April, 1900.] 



Live Stock. 



arily it is not necessary to feinoculate 

 any of these animals once given serum, 

 as most outbreaks can be easily sup- 

 pressed by a little concentrated effort 

 on the part of the veterinary force with 

 local police aid before animals lose their 

 temporary immunity. 



Persistent efforts have been made to 

 bring this question to the attention of 

 local provincial and municipal officials 

 with a view to securing prompt reports 

 of outbreaks and quarantine pending 

 arrival of a veterinarian. Repeated ap- 

 peals bave been made by letters, circulars, 

 press notices in the Spauish papers and 

 through the columns of the Philippine 

 Agricultural Review. The Review for 

 March is entirely devoted to this subject, 

 and articles have since appeared fre- 



guently, such as those in the May and 

 'etober numbers. The urgeut import- 

 ance of a campaign, the ultimate object 

 of which should be the complete eradica- 

 tion of infective animal diseases, has 

 been the subject of several editorials. 

 All this has resulted in an appreciable 

 increase in both private and official 

 interest in this all-important question. 

 Further legislation and executive orders 

 would greatly strengthen this branch of 

 the work. 



Dr. Koch's opinion as to the use of the 

 simultaneous method for permanently 

 immunizing animals against this disease 

 is supported fully by the experiences 

 here. It was discovered some years ago 

 that this method had some very serious 

 defects which render its general use in 

 the provinces impracticable. It was, 

 however, continued until November 1, 

 1905, at which time the veterinary 

 division was transferred from the 

 Bureau of Health to the Bureau of Agri- 

 culture. Then the former orders requir- 

 ing veterinarians to give simultaneous 

 inoculation in the provinces were 

 revoked and serum inoculation substitut- 

 ed. The popular objections to simul- 

 taneous inoculation were the abnormal 

 death rate which so frequently results 

 when animals are not given proper care, 

 which of ten occurs in the pi ovinces. It 

 renders all of the animals inoculated 

 unfit for service for a period of from ten 

 to twenty days, there is a possibility of 

 spreading infection from the animals so 

 inoculated, and expense incident to this 

 process is quite heavy. Besides, if the 

 disease is effectually placed under 

 control there is no inducement to have 

 animals immunized as they will have no 

 opportunity to come into contact with 

 the infection. 



These great conclusions were drawn 

 by Dr. Koch from his experiences in 

 South Africa and Egypt where con- 

 ditions vary widely from those in the 



Philippines. They were likewise evolved 

 here after many years of patiant toil. 

 In a sense they were universal, and under 

 similar conditions would give uniform 

 results. 



The conditions prevailinghere influence 

 the introduction, spread, persistence and 

 control of this disease. Some of these 

 conditions are naturally adverse and not 

 amenable to change, while others are 

 naturally favourable and act as self- 

 limiting agents in the spread of this 

 disease. 



Among the uncontrollable adverse 

 conditions are the location, topography, 

 and climate conditions. These islands are 

 wholly within the tropics as well as 

 near China and the colonies of the 

 Orient where rinderpest has apparent- 

 ly a firm footing, from which it can 

 scarcely be dislodged within this gener- 

 ation. The topography of the Philip- 

 pines presents two extremes. Most of 

 the islands have ruggard backbone of 

 mountains which drop off suddenly 

 into a level coastal plain. Under 

 present conditions most parts of the 

 mountains are reached only by trails. 

 In the lowlands during the rainy sea- 

 son transportation is very difficult on 

 account of swollen streams, poor roads, 

 and few bridges. While these condi- 

 tions make the suppression of the dis- 

 ease a hard problem to solve, they 

 also serve as limiting agents in the 

 spread of the disease, by restricting 

 the movements of live stock. Rinder- 

 pest is generally much worse in the 

 rainy than in the dry season. The in- 

 fection is evidently perpetuated in the 

 bogs and sloughs where carabaos graze 

 and wallow. There is a notable de- 

 crease in the disease after the advent 

 of the dry season. 



But the real determining factors in 

 this question are legal, financial, indus- 

 trial and educational. They appeared 

 as distinctly unfavourable conditions, a 

 few years ago, but there has been a 

 gradual, progressive, material change 

 for the better with the march of time. 

 A brief retrospect will reveal many 

 points of interest. Prior to October 

 12, 1907, there was no Insular law pro- 

 hibiting the importation of diseased 

 animals. The Provincial and Municipal 

 Codes made it optional with the provin- 

 cial and municipal boards to establish 

 quarantines and otherwise attempt the 

 control of this and other diseases with- 

 in their respective jurisdictions. But 

 few of these boards have ever availed 

 themselves of their authority in the 

 control of infective animal diseases ex- 

 cept in cases where serious outbreaks 

 have occurred. There have been some 

 cases of provinces grossly infected 



