Page 68 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 3

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ERSTEPOORT 100
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Eradication of East Coast fever by dipping cattle in a plunge dip in the Transkei to kill the brown ear tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus), the vector of the disease
record purposes. Every animal – excluding small laboratory animals – was ear-tagged with its own DOB (Date of Birth) number for identification purposes.
Another technician of the old school – i.e. with no tertiary training but with an amazing apportionment of common sense and skill at the bench – was J.A. Roos who joined the Institute in 1941 at the age of 16. He and Boughton were absolutely dedicated and reliable and never missed a weekend’s duty unless they were extremely ill. Although suffering from a speech impediment, Roos would always relate every detail of his daily activities to his seniors without the slightest embarrassment. Both are deservedly identified as co-authors in articles by Neitz and other research workers. Incidentally, Neitz despised the then existing European custom, practised by some of his earlier seniors, in which
“This was particularly the case before East Coast fever was eradicated in South Africa in 1955 when it was compulsory to have blood and spleen smears examined from every bovine that died on farms in infected areas. Thousands of smears had to be examined when the East Coast fever eradication campaign was at its height.”
the head of a department would ensure that he was the senior author of every publication emanating from his section irrespective of whether or not he was involved in the execution of the relevant research project.
For many years Roos was responsible for conducting a complement fixation test for the routine diagnosis of dourine, which was a notifiable disease under the Stock Diseases Act. This was one of the few diagnostic tests that were carried out routinely in the Protozoology Section. Naturally, blood and tissue smears made from animals thought to be suffering from haemoparasitic diseases were also occasionally sent to the Section for con- firmation purposes. This was particularly the case before East Coast fever was eradicated in South Africa in 1955 when
PART 3
History of Individual Disciplines
1908-2008
Years