Page 58 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 3

OND
ERSTEPOORT 100
followed and the many publications emanating from it until he left the Institute in 1979 more than attest to the belief shown in him. Several of his contributions of which he was a sole or first author concern animal diseases described for the first time in South Africa.
Examples of these are Parafilaria bovicola in cattle in South Africa (1964); occurrence of intestinal coccidiosis in impalas (1964); Focal symmetrical encephalomalacia in sheep in South Africa (1964); Atypical interstitial pneumonia of cattle (1967); and leukoencephalomalacia outbreaks in horses con- suming maize infected by Fusarium verticilloides (= F. mono- liforme) in South Africa. He was furthermore concerned with hitherto undescribed pathological lesions
which give rise to the characteristic clini-
cal signs of diseases such as vermeersiekte
(Geigeria ornitiva poisoning), heartwater,
maldronksiekte (Solanum tettense poison-
ing), the tremorgenic mycotoxicity of cattle
caused by Aspergillus clavatus, ephemeral
fever of cattle, amaurosis in sheep resulting
from treatment with rafoxanide, Acacia
nilotica poisoning, and what is believed
to be the first report of atypical interstitial
pneumonia in cattle in South Africa.
production of the ovine hepatogenous photosensitivity syndrome geeldikkop (tribulosis) by the simultaneous ingestion of T. terrestris plants and sporidesmin, a mycotoxin produced by Pithomyces chartarum; Ovine hepatogenous photosensitivity caused by the plant Athanasia triburcata L. (Asteraceae); A comparative study on the pathology of the ovine photosensitivity diseases, facial eczema and geeldikkop (tribulosis), with special reference to their pathogenesis; The experimental induction of geeldikkop in sheep with crude steroidal saponins from Tribulus terrestris; Wesselsbron disease: Virological and serological studies in experimentally infected sheep and goats; Clinical and pathological studies
Pienaar commenced his career in the
section as a state veterinarian and when
he resigned from the Institute in 1979
he held the rank of Assistant Director. He
became head of the Pathology Section in
1970 and also filled a part-time post as lecturer in Pathology, a position he held until 1973 when all the teaching posts of the University of Pretoria became full-time. He was the first of
148 the South African veterinary pathologists to study at the AFIP, as mentioned above.
Another very active researcher in the Section was J.A.W. Coetzer whose main interest was in the pathology of diseases of the liver. He joined the Section immediately after qualifying in 1973 and became its head from 1981 to 1988. He was promoted to Assistant Director in 1982 but resigned from the Institute in 1988 to join the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases of the Faculty and is its current head. In 1980-1981 he spent a year in the Department of Hepatic Pathology of the AFIP in Washington DC where he, inter alia, studied the pathogenesis and light and electron microscopical pathology of Rift Valley fever in which the liver is the site of severe lesions, as well as that of hepatogenous photosensitivities caused by poisonous plants.
If the long list of Coetzer’s publications as a pathologist of which he was either first author or co-author is perused, it will immediately be noticed that its subject matter is many and varied, and that he generally was a member of a team. One can only mention here but a small number of titles: Brain teratology as a result of congenital viral infections in rumi- nants; Subcutaneous and pulmonary emphysema as com- plications of bovine ephemeral fever; The experimental
L. Prozesky, Head of the Pathology Section at the Institute from 1988- 2000 and of the corresponding Department at the Faculty since then
“Leon Prozesky soon proved to be a very able and versatile pathologist with a wide field of veterinary interests. His main interest lay in the light and electron microscopic pathology of heartwater and its cause,
E. ruminantium.”
in adult sheep and goats experimentally infected with Wesselsbron virus; Studies on Parafilaria bovicola: Pathological changes in infected calves; Pathological changes in the liver of field cases of ovine photosensiti- vity caused by the plant Asaemia axillaris; The diagnosis of Wesselsbron disease in a new-born lamb by immunological staining; Diagnosis of viral antigen in tissues of new-born lambs infected with Rift Valley fever virus; and Neurotoxicoses of livestock caused by plants and fungi in South Africa.
Coetzer is one of the co-authors of the two editions of the textbook entitled Plant Poisonings and Mycotoxicoses of Livestock with Special Reference to Southern Africa. In addition, he instigated the writing and
production of the two editions (1994 and 2004) of the multi- authored textbook Infectious Diseases of Livestock in which he himself is an editor and the author or co-author of six of
PART 3
History of Individual Disciplines
1908-2008
Years