ABSTRACT
The tenn zoonosis was coined by Virchov in 1901, but it was not fonnally adopted until 1959 when a Joint Expert Committee of the WHO and FAa produced its deliberations (1). In the latter, zoonoses were defmed as "those diseases and infections naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and man". It is clear, however, that man has long been afflicted with zoonotic infections. Possibly the earliest reference is from Deuteronomy (14:8): "The swine also because it divideth the hoofbut cheweth not the cud shall be unclean to you, ye shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their dead carcasses, ye shall not eat anything that dieth of itself'. On further reading of this text, it is clear that godliness does not extend to neighbourliness: "thou shalt give it to the stranger that is in thy gates that he may eat it, or thou mayest sell it unto an alien" (14:21 ).
