| Date | 1865 |
| Author | Simon |
| Contribution | Advocated contagion-based control of rinderpest. |
| Reference | Bullock |
| Notes | J. Simon. As medical officer of Britain's Privy Council, he was one of those responsible for ordering measures to control the outbreak of rinderpest (cattle plague) that struck British cattle in June 1865. Beginning in late July 1865, a succession of orders called for restriction of movement of cattle and for isolation or slaughter of sick cattle and cattle in contact with them. The policy was not promptly implemented because of (a) practical difficulties and (b) opposition by anti-contagionists. Others in Britain who supported the policy were J. B. Simonds, veterinary advisor to the Privy Council; J. Gamgee, another eminent veterinary figure; and R. Lowe, an eminent politician and sometime editorial writer for the Times of London. They took a strong contagionist stand at a time when many opinion leaders (including the Times, until then) were miasmatists. The eventual success of isolation strategies brought some miasmatists to concede that a miasma could be a "contagious miasma." Fisher, Bull. 1993. |
| Category | Causation |
| Pathogen Class | General |
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