Veterinary session

The first written memorandum using the word “plague” in Hungary is connected to the epidemic outbreak in 1557, however , the first real plague epidemic of high mortality was between 1347 and 1350. From where does this expression really originate? What does the word “plague” in fact mean? The word has a Latin origin and it means “pestilence”, ”pest”, even black death.

The main goal of my thesis was to highlight a group of those infectious diseases, wich are known as “plague” illnesses.

First of all, I would mention the Cattle plague, which is an old infectious disease of cattle and other ruminants well known since the ancient times. The causative agent is a Morbillivirus,classificated to the Paramyxoviridae family. Another similar disease is the Pest of small ruminants ( Peste des petits ruminants), which was discovered in 1942 in W-Africa. The etiology of the disease was elucidated in 1962. The next infectious disease responsible for high mortality rate is Classical Swine Fever, whose virus taxonomically belongs to the Flaviviridae family, Pestivirus genus. CSF was first described at the beginning of the 19th century in the USA. Another infectious disease that also affects swine is represented by African swine fever, discovered in 1921 in Kenya, Africa. This highly infectious virus belongs taxonomically to the Asfarviridae fam., Asfivirus genus.The next infectious disease, -also affecting pigs- is called Swine influenza. This was discovered in1918 in the USA. Another infectious disease is Avian influenza, which is induced by the Avian Influenza virus, Influenzavirus type A, Orthomyxoviridae. It was described for the first time in 1878 in Italy, but the etiology was clarified only in 1955. For a long time, people have known this disease as the “avian plague”, or “fowl plague” until 1926, when Castle discovered the “real” avian plague namely the Newcastle disease virus, belonging to the Paramyxoviridae family.The next disease, wich was also confused with the NDV is Duck plague (Duck viral enteritis) which discovered in 1923 (Netherlands).The pathogen that causes this sickness is Anatid herpesvirus-1 (high morbidity, but low mortality). Turkey rinotracheitis is the next infectious illness, caused by a Metapneumovirus responsible for various mortality rates. African Horse Sickness (AHS) is an endemic disease in Africa, transmitted throw blood sucking insects, especially mosquitoes. The next disease worth to be mentioned is Canine Distemper, caused by a morbillivirus. It is considered to be one of the most severe infectious diseases in canines.

Some thoughts about the veterinary epidemiological regulations are mentioned, especially the fact that they had suffered many changes in time, concerning mainly the epidemic protection measures.