Lesson 17 A man-made disease
In the early days of the settlement of Australia, enterprising settlers unwisely introduced the Euro
pean rabbit. This rabbit had no natural enemies in the Antipodes, so that it multiplied with that pr
omiscuous abandon characteristic of rabbits. It overran a whole continent. It caused devastation by
burrowing and by devouring the herbage which might have maintained millions of sheep and cattle. Sci
entists discovered that this particular variety of rabbit (and apparently no other animal) was susce
ptible to a fatal virus disease, myxomatosis. By infecting animals and letting them loose in the bur
rows, local epidemics of this disease could be created. Later it was found that there was a type of
mosquito which acted as the carrier of this disease and passed it on to the rabbits. So while the re
st of the world was trying to get rid of mosquitoes, Australia was encouraging this one. It effectiv
ely spread the disease all over the continent and drastically reduced the rabbit population. It late
r became apparent that rabbits were developing a degree of resistance to this disease, so that the r
abbit population was unlikely to be completely exterminated. There were hopes, however, that the pro
blem of the rabbit would become manageable.
Ironically, Europe, which had bequeathed the rabbit as a pest to Australia, acquired this man-made d
isease as a pestilence. A French physician decided to get rid of the wild rabbits on his own estate
and introduced myxomatosis. It did not, however, remain within the confines of his estate. It spread
through France, Where wild rabbits are not generally regarded as a pest but as sport and a useful f
ood supply, and it spread to Britain where wild rabbits are regarded as a pest but where domesticate
d rabbits, equally susceptible to the disease, are the basis of a profitable fur industry. The quest
ion became one of whether Man could control the disease he had invented.