Negotiating zoonoses: Dealings with infectious diseases shared by humans and livestock in the Netherlands (1898-2001)

Abstract

This history studies how the domains of public health and agriculture have negotiated control over livestock-associated zoonoses in the Netherlands during the twentieth century, and how the disciplines of veterinary medicine and medicine have related to one another in this broader context. Four case-studies of dealings with particular livestock-associated zoonoses in a particular period form the body of the thesis: bovine tuberculosis (1898-1956), influenza (1918-1957), salmonellosis (1951-1978) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (1988-2001). These examples of livestock-associated zoonoses have been studied using a wide variety of primary sources, like archival documents, scientific journals, newspapers, and interviews.