Rinderpest

A viral disease which affects ruminants. It occurs naturally in Asia, and was introduced to Africa in the 1880s. Immunity can be acquired, provided the animal survives a year.

Arusha and Meru had cleared and settled most of the southern slopes of Meru from 4000 to 5300 feet by the 1880s, when a series of disasters swept across northern Tanzania. Bovine pleuropneumonia and Rinderpest devastated the herds of pastoral Maasai, driving them into the mountains to seek refuge; smallpox spread rapidly along the trade routes recently forged up the Pangani Valley; and drought and killing famine blanketed the area, especially during the years 1883-6, 1891-2 and 1897-1900, ...

The catastrophes of the 1890s began with the great Rinderpest panzootic in 1890. Spreading southward from the Horn of Africa, Rinderpest swept over the country like bushfire, killing cattle and game. The estimate first put forward by the German lieutenant, who said that 90 per cent of Tanganyika’s cattle and half of its wild animals perished from Rinderpest, may well be roughly accurate.

Famine and Smallpox followed [the Rinderpest], especially among peoples who depended on cattle. While the endemicity of Smallpox was no doubt maintained by caravan traffic, which had grown up with the establishment of colonialism, another factor also involved in the Smallpox epidemics of the 1890s was the increased mobility of people who were searching for food and security. The pastoral Maasai, of whom perhaps two-thirds died, suffered the worst. Northwestern Tanzania was also hit by Smallpox, particularly Karagwe. In the mid-1890s German doctors claimed that ‘every second’ African had a pock-marked face.

The Rinderpest removed the Masai and their cattle from the crater in the 1890s

Rinderpest struck East Africa in 1890, and in two years 95 percent of the buffalo and wildebeest there had died. So began a series of events of such profound ecological importance that the repercussions are still being felt today. [see also under Maasai for the efects on them]

Arusha and Meru had cleared and settled most of the southern slopes of Meru from 4000 to 5300 feet by the 1880s, when a series of disasters swept across northern Tanzania. Bovine pleuropneumonia and Rinderpest devastated the herds of pastoral Maasai, driving them into the mountains to seek refuge; smallpox spread rapidly along the trade routes recently forged up the Pangani Valley; and drought and killing famine blanketed the area, especially during the years 1883-6, 1891-2 and 1897-1900, ...

Arusha and Meru had cleared and settled most of the southern slopes of Meru from 4000 to 5300 feet by the 1880s, when a series of disasters swept across northern Tanzania. Bovine pleuropneumonia and Rinderpest devastated the herds of pastoral Maasai, driving them into the mountains to seek refuge; smallpox spread rapidly along the trade routes recently forged up the Pangani Valley; and drought and killing famine blanketed the area, especially during the years 1883-6, 1891-2 and 1897-1900, ...

further outbreaks of Rinderpest

further outbreaks of Rinderpest

milder strain of Rinderpest appears, and animals begin to acquire immunity

further outbreaks of Rinderpest. In each case the disease spread from northern Tanzania southward.

no outbreaks detected in wild species

reappeared with heavy mortality

Last year that Rinderpest was detected in wildebeest of the Serengeti, Mara, and Ngorongoro, and 1963 was the last year for buffalo.

RINDERPEST IN TANZANIA
clinical suspicion

Emergency report

Text of a fax received on 14 February 1997 from Dr J.N. Melewas, Chief Veterinary Officer, Dar es Salaam:

Nature of diagnosis: disease surveillance and clinical diagnosis.

Date of initial detection of animal health incident: early January 1997.

Estimated date of first infection: October 1996.

Description of affected population: suspected cases have occurred in pastoral herds which constantly migrate across the international border in search of pasture and water during droughts. Morbidity and mortality rates in cattle have not yet been determined and no indication of the infection in wildlife has been found so far.

Total number of animals in the affected zone: ± 1,000,000 head of cattle.

Diagnosis: clinical signs include fever, anorexia, lachrymation, oral lesions, diarrhoea and deaths, but detection of the disease is complicated by the effects of severe drought. Disease surveillance carried out in Northern Tanzania during 1997 has revealed the presence of a syndrome in cattle highly suggestive of rinderpest.

Control measures during reporting period: until laboratory investigations have been completed, action is being taken on the assumption that it is rinderpest. Action taken is aimed at confirming the provisional diagnosis, detecting infected herds, stopping transmission immediately and demonstrating elimination of the disease.

- Infected zone: immediate ring vaccination is being done in the districts of Monduli, Arumeru and Hai, north of the road from Taveta to Ngorongoro.

- Surveillance zone: intensive surveillance consists of those parts of Monduli, Arusha and Hai districts, south of the road from Taveta to Ngorongoro, and the surrounding districts of Ngorongoro, Mbulu, Babati, Karatu, Simanjiro, Same and Mwanga.

Composition of these zones may be alterered depending on the findings of surveillance and diagnosis. A systematic disease search is going on for a more precise definition of the infected area.

Systematic vaccination started in January 1997 and is proceeding in the districts of Rombo, Hai, Monduli, Arumeru adjoining the border with Kenya and will extend to the rest of the border districts from lake Victoria to the Indian Ocean.