Evolution of some major epizootic virus diseases.

Abstract

THIS REVIEW has been written to show the importance of some. of the mor~ serious virus diseases of livestock which have caused and still cause much wastage of animal' productio~. The .h~storical fa~ts re­ lating to geographical ongm, spread 10 new areas, aetiology and ep~zootiology of ~he various diseases are outlined, together with an up-ta-date account of their present ~is­ tribution in the world today and major attempts aimed at their control or eradi­ cation. Because of the limitations of space only three diseases, namely, foot-and-mouth di­ sease (F.M.D.), classical swine fever and rinderpest are included in the review. In regard to other important virus di­ seases of animals, reference can be made to the FAO publication Emerging Diseases of Animals, (1963). This describes the evo­ lution of African swine fever, African horse sickness' and bluetongue as diseases of increasing importance at present and gives accounts of their aetiology, pathology and epizootiology. . . African swine fever spread to the Ibenan peninsula in the 1950s and caused severe losses. More recently it has appeared in Italy. African horse sickness, which in re­ cent years has emerged from Africa to affect Middle East countries and Pakistan, has caused large-scale mortalities and wastage in the equine populations of that area. Bluetongue has, in recent decades, spread from its enzootic Africa to North America, Europe and Asia.