Page 43 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 3

R.K. (Henk or Richard) Reinecke was a larger than life character, both figuratively and literally, and everything he tackled he did with gusto. He graduated at the Faculty of Veterinary Science in 1947, and after a spell in private practice joined the staff of the Institute in 1954. Soon thereafter he was seconded to the Department of Agriculture’s farm at Armoedsvlakte to in- vestigate morbidity and mortality in calves caused by helminth infection. He found that this was largely due to the unhealthy practice of dairy ranching, in which calves are separated from their dams in the morning and penned in small camps for the day, while the cows go out to graze. When the cows return in the evening they are milked and the calves are allowed to suckle only one teat, and then spend the night with the cows in a kraal. This investigation led to the award of a DVSc degree.
Upon his return to the Institute the
experience he had gained at Armoedsvlakte
inspired him to stimulate research projects
by state veterinarians on the epidemiology
of helminth parasites of livestock in various
parts of the country, notably those of G.L.
(Laurie) Muller in the south-eastern Cape
Province, for which the latter was awarded a
DVSc degree, J.H. Viljoen in the Karoo, L.W.
(Lance) Rossiter and D.B. (Dudley) Barrow in the eastern Cape Province, who all worked on the internal parasites of sheep, and W.B. (Bill) Hobbs who researched the parasites of cattle in KwaZulu-Natal. With the advent of the new generation of anthelmintics during the 1960s, and thereafter, Reinecke refined several existing anthelmintic tests and developed
ONDERSTEPOORT 100
new ones, including a nonparametric larval anthelmintic test.
He soon realized that the South African registering authorities were going to require that efficacy trials be conducted locally on new anthelmintics before registration was granted. To cope with this requirement it was essential that the veterinarians in the pharmaceutical industry, who would be conducting these tests, should at least be able to identify the worms with which they were working. To this end he introduced short courses, not only on the identifica- tion of helminths of sheep and cattle, which were also attended by state veterinarians involved in helminth research, but also on the methods to conduct anthelmintic tests in these animals.
In 1973, when the Veterinary Faculty gained its independence from the De- partment of Agriculture, Reinecke joined the staff of the Faculty and became the first Professor and Head of the Department of Parasitology at the Faculty. However, as there was no accommodation available at the Faculty, he remained housed at the Institute until his retirement in 1985. During his time at the Faculty Reinecke produced a textbook Veterinary Helmintho- logy, which became the standard work for
the veterinary students of that period. Not only Reinecke, but
all members of staff of the Department of Parasitology, Facul-
ty of Veterinary Science were housed at the Veterinary Institute 133 until 1995, whereafter they moved to the Faculty. After retirement Reinecke moved to the Western Cape Province,
but never lost his enthusiasm for research and he and J.P.
(Johan) Louw did pioneering work on the helminths infecting sheep in that region. One of Reinecke’s great attributes was the honesty with which he viewed his results, often declaring that the worms in his experiments had never read the textbooks and therefore did not behave in a typical way. Both Horak and J.D.F. (Joop) Boomker’s success as parasitologists can in a large measure be ascribed to Reinecke’s encouragement and critical evaluation of their progress.
P.J. (Piet) Swart, who had graduated with an MSc degree in Zoology from Stellenbosch University worked at the Institute on trematodes, and particularly the genus Calicophoron, and their fresh- water snail intermediate hosts. A.J.M.
“One of Reinecke’s great attributes was the honesty with which he viewed his results, often declaring that the worms in his experiments had never read the textbooks and therefore did not behave in a typical way.”
Harvesting worm larvae
(Anna) Verster, graduated with an MSc
Parasitology
1908-2008
Years