Page 69 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 3

ONDERSTEPOORT 100
Crush-side dip testing kit for determining the strength of the arsenic in a dip tank
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. In the later stages of the campaign, blood smears
with small ‘piros’ (piroplasms) and spleen smears with Koch bodies were referred to the Institute to confirm the diagnosis of the disease. Other specimens, such as faeces from suspected cases of coccidiosis, were also occasionally referred to the Section.
The Protozoology Section headed by
Neitz is described in a report on Onderste-
poort to commemorate its 50th anniver-
sary, which was celebrated on 13 October
1958. The discipline of Protozoal Diseases
is also mentioned as one of the subjects
taught at the Onderstepoort Faculty by
the part-time (as opposed to the full-time
departments which had recently been created) Department of Infectious Diseases. At this stage, the scientific staff of the Protozoology Section of the Institute consisted of three
scientific officers, i.e. Neitz (senior state veterinarian and head of the section), Bigalke (state veterinarian) and Walters (assistant professional officer).
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Although head of the Protozoology Section, Neitz did not confine his research to protozoa. He was, for example, also responsible for the diagnosis of African swine fever (ASF) for many years. In 1956 when Bigalke joined the section, all ASF diagnoses passed through Neitz’s hands. The results of histopathological in- vestigations were submitted to him by the Pathology Section and he wrote the final reports to the state veterinarians in the field. His isolation stable, also known as the East Coast fever stable or even as the ‘buffalo hotel’, was at that stage the only stable where biological tests for ASF – they were rarely necessary – could be conducted
under reasonably secure conditions. Sweating sickness (‘sweetsiekte’) of calves and young cattle had been known for many years in South Africa and some other African countries. Neitz con- ducted revolutionary research on the disease by discovering, in
“Sweating sickness (‘sweetsiekte’) of calves and young cattle had been known for many years in South Africa and some other African countries. Neitz discoved in 1954 that it was caused by the bont- legged tick, Hyalomma truncatum.”
Protozoology
1908-2008
Years