RINDERPEST AS OBSERVED IN THE PHILIPPINES. 
By Walter Sorrell, D.V.S., Formerly Veterinarian Serum Lab., Manila, 
and Fred C. Cater, D.V.S., Formerly Veterinarian, Dept. Agr., 
Manila, P. I. 
The first record of the outbreak of rinderpest in the Philip¬ 
pine Islands was during 1882, when the Spanish authorities took 
cognizance of and issued a bulletin on the same, while ancient lit¬ 
erature shows the disease to have existed in the steppes of Ori¬ 
ental Europe and Central Asia since the most remote periods. 
In the fourth century of our area the disease was introduced into 
Western Europe by immigration from the former territories and 
owing to the incessant wars of that period was spread to almost 
every country in Europe. During the last half of the eighteenth 
century Germany alone lost thirty million cattle and the whole of 
Europe two hundred million bovines from this scourge. The dis¬ 
ease was probably introduced in the Philippines from China, and 
since the time of 1882 has remained endemic in the alluvial 
soils and damp, partially inundated coast lines. The chaotic con¬ 
dition in animal diseases that prevailed to confront veterinarians 
in the archipelago following occupation and subsequent estab¬ 
lishment of civic government was an almost insurmountable sit¬ 
uation, but with careful procedure no grave errors were made, 
which is a mute testimony to the adaptability of the American 
to adverse conditions. 
Definition .—Rinderpest is a specific, malignant and highly 
contagious and infectious disease, characterized by a peculiar 
form of inflammation of the mucous membranes, more particularly 
of the digestive tract. It is spread by direct or indirect contact 
between sick and normal animals, the infection being carried 
only a limited distance through the air; birds, water streams, 
human attendants to sick animals, boats used for animal trans¬ 
portation, small animals, and even forage stored near affected 
animals and later fed to normal ones, all act as conveying agen- 
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