Abstract:
The histories of the two swine fevers in southern Africa differ widely. Classical swine fever
(hog cholera) has been known in the northern hemisphere since 1830 and it is probable that
early cases of ‘swine fever’ in European settlers’ pigs in southern Africa were accepted to
be that disease. It was only in 1921 that the first description of African swine fever as an
entity different from classical swine fever was published after the disease had been studied
in settlers’ pigs in Kenya. Shortly after that, reports of African swine fever in settlers’ pigs
emerged from South Africa and Angola. In South Africa, the report related to pigs in the
north-eastern part of the country. Previously (in 1905 or earlier) a disease assumed to be
classical swine fever caused high mortality among pigs in the Western Cape and was only
eradicated in 1918. African swine fever was found over the following years to be endemic in
most southern African countries. Classical swine fever, however, apart from an introduction
with subsequent endemic establishment in Madagascar and a number of introductions into
Mauritius, the last one in 2000, had apparently remained absent from the region until it was
diagnosed in the Western and subsequently the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 2005. It was
eradicated by 2007. The history of these diseases in the southern African region demonstrates
their importance and their potential for spread over long distances, emphasising the need for
improved management of both diseases wherever they occur.
