ANIMAL DISEASES OF PUBLIC HEALTH SIGNIFICANCE*

Excerpt

The relation of disease in animals and man has been recognized for thousands of years. The earliest observations were recorded by the Egyptian physicians who administered to the ills of animals as well as to those of man. They had three theories for disease—meteorologic, magic and gastroetiologic. The third theory is supported by observations that those who ate the flesh of sick animals became ill themselves. Later the Greek and Roman physicians described the transmission of disease from animals to man by contact, e.g., rabies, and the similarity of the lesions, e.g., anthrax. All of the early Mediterranean countries practiced