Vetnews | Mei 2024 32 « BACK TO CONTENTS Onderstepoort residence centenary celebrations Written by Annette Boshoff and Heloise Heyne of the Veterinary History Society of South Africa Talks, tours and sundowners on Friday 5 April A truly magnificent day was hosted by a smooth operating team consisting of the houseparents, Tiaan and Alischa Henning, the House Committee, with Marnus Zaaiman BVSc V in charge, and the Centenary Committee. The events on Friday 5 April entailed a visit to the South African National Veterinary Museum, CPD talks on the history of babesiosis research from the perspective of a parasitologist and a clinician, a visit to the Onderstepoort skills laboratory and an alumni dinner at the OP Village Clubhouse. The festivities continued on Saturday with a festival on the sports field and a walk down memory lane in the Common Room. Smallpox, rinderpest and Theiler A select group of alumni attended the events Friday afternoon that were kickstarted with a visit to the South African National Veterinary Museum, guided by Heloise Heyne of the Veterinary History Society. Heloise, who had worked as a veterinary technologist in acarology at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute for 48 years, was a member of the committee that established the museum and was also the first curator thereof. Heloise, ably assisted by Dr Antoinette van Schalkwyk who is the current curator of the museum, regaled the group with stories about smallpox, Theiler and rinderpest. A walk through the exhibition relating the history of veterinary science in South Africa, the Theiler rooms, a laboratory and a small-animal consulting room of yesteryear enlightened and delighted. Oriental spices, the French Revolution and Babesia Not to be outdone by Heloise, Prof Banie Penzhorn then presented an intriguing talk on the history of babesiosis – taking his audience along a captivating route. He started with oriental spices and the European trade monopoly of the Merchants of Venice from the 11th to the 15th century. Next up was the exploration of the African continent by the Portuguese in the 15th century, the establishment of a refreshment station by the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie of the Dutch at the Cape in 1652 and the French Revolution of 1789. The following stop was Lady Anne Barnard and her English pedigree dogs in the Cape in 1797. This is linked to an important discovery by Victor Babèş, a Romanian bacteriologist. In 1888, he found the pear-shaped bodies on a blood smear of a cow suffering from a disease now known as babesiosis. If you would like to know how oriental spices, the French Revolution and Babesia are connected, you will have to book Banie for your next CPD event. The take-home message, delivered in Banie’s eloquent and inimitable style, was that researchers had overlooked or ignored previous work for 50 years at their peril. Immunity, clots and cytokines Next up was Prof Johan Schoeman, who detailed the history of babesiosis research from a clinician’s perspective. South African veterinarians grappled with feline nuttalosis and canine malignant jaundice, bilious fever or malarial fever of the dog (as it was referred to in the past), from when Duncan Hutcheon, the Government Veterinary Surgeon of the Cape Colony first encountered the disease in dogs in Port Elizabeth in 1885. Theiler wrote about the disease in his first report as the Government Bacteriologist of the Transvaal in 1904. Since then and up to this day, babesiosis has intrigued clinicians in South Africa and many papers on the pathophysiology and manifestations of the disease Sir Arnold Theiler inaugurated the new student residence at Onderstepoort on 14 April 1924. To mark the historic occasion, the weekend of 5 and 6 April 2024 was set aside for celebration. Visit the website of the Veterinary History Society of South Africa for the full story: https://vethistorysa.co.za/ To become a member of the Society, send an email to: Prof Gareth Bath at gfbath@gmail.com For a good read on the subject, see: Penzhorn (2020) Don’t let sleeping dogs lie: unravelling the Identity and taxonomy of Babesia canis, Babesia rossi and Babesia vogeli. https://doi.org/10.1186%2Fs13071020-04062-w
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