Cattle-plague (Ger. Rinderpest; Lat. Typhus Bovis Contagiosus). This is a specific malignant and contagious fever indigenous to the Asiatic steppes of Russia, India, Persia, China, Burma, Ceylon, &c.; never occurring in Britain but as a result of direct or indirect communication with imported cattle, or with hides and offal which have been exposed to the contagion; and is hitherto unknown in America, Australia, and New Zealand. It is essentially a disease of the bovine family (ox, aurochs, and zebu), but may be communicated to the sheep, goat, deer, camel, giraffe, antelope, gazelle, and even the peccary.
Records of fatal plagues in cattle have been handed down from very early dates, but the descriptions are so meagre that it is possible only to surmise their nature. It is probable that one of the plagues of Egypt was a form of anthrax, but in the reign of Nero (69 A.D.) Columella describes a disease which resembles cattle-plague. He says: 'The fever is present when tears are trickling down the face, when the head is carried low and heavily, and the eyes are closed; when the saliva flows from the mouth, when the respiration is shorter than in health, and seemingly embarrassed or sometimes accompanied by groaning.' About 400 A.D. Vegetius Renatus describes, under the term Malleus, a disease which might have been cattle-plague. In 809-10 A.D., during the wars of Charlemagne, occurred a great outbreak of cattle-plague, which spread over nearly the whole of Europe, and particularly Britain. In 1348-49 a plague broke out amongst the cattle in England, just after the black death had destroyed thousands of human beings; it seems to have been similar to cattle-plague. Even in those days the stamping-out system was understood, as the diseased cattle were slaughtered, and infected herds, and the herdsmen attending them, were kept from coming into contact with sound animals.
In 1480 another outbreak occurred which committed great devastation. It cannot be stated positively that these outbreaks were cattle-plague, as the symptoms have not been clearly handed down, but there is evidence to prove that outbreaks occurring in 1715, in 1745, and which continued until 1757, were those of the veritable plague. That of 1745 was brought from Holland either by two white calves, or by a parcel of dis-tempered hides brought from Zealand. The disease broke out near London, continued for twelve years, and was only suppressed by most vigorous measures. It again made its appearance in 1865, and was introduced by 331 cattle shipped at Revel, and landed at Hull. Amongst these were 13 Russian cattle, the remainder of 46 which had been brought from St Petersburg and its neighbourhood. The cargo arrived on 29th May, and a lot of 146 were disposed of at Hull on the 30th. The remaining 175 were sent to London. Amongst them were 330 sheep which were sold at Hull to the butchers and killed, and all the 175 cattle except 20 were sold for killing, but the remaining 20 were sent to Gosport. From this source the disease spread rapidly, and by the end of July it appeared in Aberdeenshire, brought by 4 calves sent to Huntly from the south. By the beginning of November the plague was present in 30 counties in England, 17 in Scotland, and 1 in Wales; and on December 30 the disease had appeared on 7443 farms or in cattle-sheds in England, 2065 in Scotland, and 245 in Wales; total—9753 centres of infection. The total number of cattle on farms, in sheds, or other places where the disease had been officially reported to exist, was—England, 110,647; Scotland, 44,527; Wales, 4536; total, 159,710. And the number of healthy animals in contact and slaughtered were—England, 10,636; Scotland, 6578; Wales, 152; total, 17,366. The number attacked were—England, 48,964; Scotland, 22,298; Wales, 2287; total, 73,549. Out of this number 7045 recovered, 41,491 died, 13,931 were killed, and 11,082 remained diseased at this date. The plague continued to spread and to commit great havoc, until an Order in Council was issued making it compulsory to slaughter and bury all diseased cattle, as well as those which had been in contact with them. The beneficial effect of this order was soon made apparent, as the disease gradually diminished and eventually died out.
Had the restrictions upon cattle traffic been removed, there would have been another visitation in 1872, for in July of that year, animals affected with the disease were sent to Deptford, Hull, and Leith, but owing to its swift recognition, were not allowed to land in Scotland. From Hull, however, it spread to Bridlington, Pocklington, and two other parishes in the East Riding of Yorkshire, but through the activity of the authorities was prevented from spreading further.
Sheep do not readily take the disease when kept in fields with affected cattle, but if kept together in close sheds, they take the disease in a short time.
Symptoms.—The virus absorbed into the blood gives rise to elevation of temperature (fever), which precedes all other symptoms, and occurs in from 36 to 48 hours after an animal has been inoculated. It will be thus seen that the period of latency—incubation—is very short. Two days after this elevation of temperature, the mucous membrane of the mouth, as well as that of the vagina in the cow, assumes a salmon colour, and is covered with an eruption. Even at this time the pulse is but little affected, but on the fourth day from the first rise of temperature there are marked signs of illness; the constitution is thoroughly invaded, and now ensue the drooping head, hanging ears, distressed look, with rigors and twitching of the muscles, failing pulse, oppressed breathing, diarrhoea, fetid breath, discharge from the eyes, nose, and mouth, and constant moan so characteristic of this dreadful malady; death usually occurs on the seventh day from the first perceptible elevation of temperature, but the third or fourth after the illness is apparent to ordinary observers.
Cause and Cure.—As long ago as 1872 the disease was believed, and has since been proved, to be caused by microbes (see GERM). The awful epidemic which, entering Africa from the north-east about 1889, desolated great part of South Africa, gave appalling opportunities for studying the malady and attempting cures. The disease reached the Zambesi in 1895; in Matabeleland between March 1896 and January 1897 it left of all the vast herds of horned cattle probably not 500 alive, buffaloes and antelopes being also exterminated. Bechuanaland, the Transvaal, Orange Free State, and Cape Colony (1897) were successively desolated. But immunity from the disease in this country is only obtained by preventing its introduction from infected countries. The Diseases of Animals Act of 1896, prohibiting the importation of foreign cattle to be used as food except for immediate slaughter at the port of entry, will doubtless be as effectual in this as it has been with other diseases.