The Study of Epidemic Diseases Among Wild Animals

Abstract

1. Outbreaks of epidemic disease are common in populations of wild animals, including species little influenced by contact with the diseases of human beings or domestic animals.2. Such epidemics form one of the commonest factors responsible for fluctuations in numbers of wild mammals.3. An attempt is made to summarise the available published records of such epidemics (Section II), while certain unpublished records (communicated to me by naturalists) are contained in an Appendix.4. Little is known of the causes of these epidemics except in the cases of plague and tularaemia.5. The fluctuations in numbers of some wild mammal populations are sufficiently regular to make the forecasting of epidemics possible. This method is already applicable to wild mice.6. Mouse periodicities are discussed in detail, with special reference to epidemics and their causes, which are mainly obscure (Section III).7. Development of the forecasting methods described will make possible the prediction of many other wild mammal epidemics, and render intensive pathological and epidemiological studies more practicable than they have hitherto been.