Paper long abstract:

In the nineteenth century the Cape was one of the world's largest producers of wool and mohair, yet this economy was under threat from a number of hitherto unidentified diseases. Farmers long suspected that certain species of ticks might transmit infections, but it was only after 1898, when the American entomologist Charles Lounsbury began to investigate a number of mysterious diseases, that this link was scientifically confirmed. The arrival of the devastating cattle disease known as East Coast fever to South Africa in 1902 increased the urgency of finding ways of controlling tick borne diseases, many of which were not preventable through inoculation. Farmers and scientists collaborated in developing dipping solutions and procedures to kill infective ticks, which had a major impact on the management of a pastoral farm and through regulations, increased the powers of the state over the rural environment. The paper looks at these issues from a scientific perspective, and also explores ecological investigations that date back to the 1930s, which were aimed at understanding tick habitats and predicting potential outbreaks.