As soon as the breakout of the rinderpest infection in Davao reached Manila in the last quarter of 2010, C. G. Thomson, an American state veterinarian was promptly dispatched with R.E. Burris on the strength of travel orders dated Dec. 3, 1910. Aboard the Army transport Seward, they arrived in Zamboanga four days later.
(Rinderpest is “an infectious disease of ruminants, especially cattle, caused by a paramyxovirus. It is characterized by fever, dysentery, and inflammation of the mucous membranes.”)
Upon arrival, a meeting was promptly called with the presence of Brig. Gen. John ‘Blackjack’ Pershing, the governor of the Moro Province, and Col. Charles Richards, the provincial health officer. The conference ended with the common position the menace, unless appropriate measures are instituted, would eventually affect the entire province.
Gen. Pershing and Dr. Thomson arrived in Davao on Dec. 14 aboard the Army cutter Samar. Over the next few days the group studied the extent of the infection, the population of susceptible animals, and the number of Scouts and Constabulary that could be tapped to conduct quarantine work. Shortly later, a proposal to indemnify the owners of slaughtered infected animals but this was turned down for lack of funds; only realistic expenses for transport were allowed.
Dr. Thomson, moreover, told the governor the absence of quarantine provisions in ordinances addressing calamities and, more significantly, Act No. 1760 and other laws of the Moro Province did not anticipate the complications that would arise as a result of the quarantine needs of the rinderpest breakout. Only the belatedly approved emergency health ordinance No. 1 enacted by the provincial health board on Jan. 1, 1911 would cure the deficiencies.
In his 1911 report on the outbreak, Dr. C. G. Thomson, after being convinced on the need to adopt drastic measures in eradicating the infections, wrote the governor, saying:
“The infection was of the most virulent type, and the rugged nature of the country made operations difficult in the extreme. Accordingly, fortified with the Insular and provincial laws, we proceeded to institute and enforce the most rigid restriction of the movement of all classes of domestic animals, to kill all animals found infected and other susceptible animals considered as being directly exposed to infection.”
Containing the contagion was a difficult and challenging task. The authorities had to strictly restrict “the movement of all classes of domestic animals, to kill all found infected and other susceptible animals considered as being directly exposed to infection” by setting up detachments and sending of patrols to the remotest regions infected by the disease.
There was, however, an exception. In Davao, horses and dogs were allowed in the streets. The permission to use horses sourced from non-infected areas was made because nearly all shipping loads in town required the use of this specific animal for the transport of merchandise. Transport of goods and farm products from internal areas, thankfully, was facilitated with the use of native bancas and launches, owned by wealthy landowners, in waterways.
Dr. Thomson, after completing his daily routine of inspecting possibly infected areas, later reported the extent of the rinderpest infection:
“The infected area was limited on the north by a creek near the barrio of Ilang, on the south by the Talomo River, on the east by the sea, and on the west by the Apo mountain range. Many of the animals in the barrio of Talomo were infected and this condition presented a grave danger to the large herds to the south; therefore, our first efforts were directed toward cleaning up this district. In all of the work, the scheme of daily inspection, the absolute prohibition of the movement of all classes of domestic animals, the immediate slaughter of all sick and directly exposed animals with a through chemical disinfection of contaminated corrals and wallows, was carried out as thoroughly as possible.”
The last case of rinderpest infection was recorded on Feb. 2, 1911 but the quarantine service was not closed until the next month. At the request of Dr. Thomson, Lt. W.H. Dade, president and district health officer of Davao, maintained Constabulary patrols which inspected twice weekly the cattle of the infected areas so prompt reporting could be done in case there was a reappearance of the disease. There was also the strict enforcement of quarantine on the Talomo-Davao trail, the most heavily affected.
Efforts to trace the origin of the infection failed to track it down. Originally, there was this hypothesis that untamed deer and boars from Surigao acted as hosts but this was dismissed because there was no trace found of the infection among wild animals. Dr. Thomson suspected the virus reached Davao through importation from Cebu but hibernated for sometime before they were observed in cattle, goats, and other ruminants.
Officially, the first case was observed by Lt. Dad on Oct. 6, 1910, in the town of Davao. It later spread across Davao River where there were large herds of farm animals raised by hacenderos for farming, as meat source, and for transportation purposes.
The aftermath of the breakout was clearly reflected in Dr. Thomson’s report to the governor: 2,535 cattle and 133 carabaos were killed, a total of 2,668 animals. When the government team arrived on Dec. 14, 1910 from Zamboanga, there were already 372 animals recorded as dead, around 200 of these were lost on the first week prior to the identification of the disease; only 32 were slaughtered after being suspected of carrying the virus.
