Petrus Johann du Toit (16 March 1888 – 13 November 1967) was a noted

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

n veterinary scientist and the successor of

Arnold Theiler Sir Arnold Theiler KCMG (26 March 1867 – 24 July 1936) Pour le Mérite is considered to be the father of veterinary science in South Africa. He was born in Frick, Canton Aargau, Switzerland. He received his higher education, and later qu ...

as Director of Veterinary Services at

Onderstepoort Onderstepoort is situated in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute and the University of Pretoria Faculty of Veterinary Science, founded by Sir Arnold Theiler, is also situated here. The institute is known for tro ...

between 1927 and 1948. He was the son of Daniel Francois du Toit (1846–1923), one of the founders of the

Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners The Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners (Afrikaans for "Society of True Afrikaners") was formed on 14 August 1875 in the town of Paarl by a group of Afrikaans speakers from the current Western Cape region. From 15 January 1876 the society published a ...

, and owner of the first

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

newspaper, ''Die Patriot''. His mother was Margaretha Magdalene van Nierop.

Education

Having completed his schooling, du Toit went to Victoria College in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

, and then to Zurich where he qualified as a Doctor of zoology in 1912 and as Doctor of veterinary science in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in 1916. He spent a further three years studying the tropical diseases affecting domestic animals, publishing ''Tropenkrankheiten der Haustiere'' in 1921 together with Paul Knuth.

Career

Early in his career du Toit was recognised for his exceptional scientific talent. Whereas Theiler had dominated research projects at Onderstepoort, du Toit had the gift of being able to delegate research to inspired workers. His friendly nature and his brilliance as a speaker led to his inclusion on many boards and committees and did much to improve the role of science in South African and international affairs. From 1908 until the 1950s, after which many

enzootic Enzootic is the non-human equivalent of endemic and means, in a broad sense, "belonging to" or "native to", "characteristic of", or "prevalent in" a particular geography, race, field, area, or environment; native to an area or scope. It also has ...

and

epizootic In epizoology, an epizootic (from Greek: ''epi-'' upon + ''zoon'' animal) is a disease event in a nonhuman animal population analogous to an epidemic in humans. An epizootic may be restricted to a specific locale (an "outbreak"), general (an "epi ...

diseases had been exterminated or controlled, Onderstepoort revealed the etiology and provenance of diseases such as ''lamsiekte'', ''geeldikkop'' (a photodynamic disease of southern African sheep, caused by the ingestion of certain plants and a consequent sensitisation to light, causing intense jaundice and facial edema) and African horsesickness, and produced vaccines, some of which were globally adopted. The philosophy of the institute became increasingly holistic. The state of the veld and pastures was recognised as being pivotal in the prevention and control of disease and the maintenance of animal health. In 1944 du Toit turned down a request from the US Department of Health for samples of the heartwater

rickettsia ''Rickettsia'' is a genus of nonmotile, gram-negative, nonspore-forming, highly pleomorphic bacteria that may occur in the forms of cocci (0.1 μm in diameter), bacilli (1–4 μm long), or threads (up to about 10 μm long). The term "ricke ...

. He made this decision based on the fact that 'heartwater is an exclusively African disease and I am of opinion that the task of solving the many problems connected with this disease should in the first place devolve on African scientists'. Under Theiler and du Toit Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute made enormous contributions to veterinary science. Notable were the etiology of the cattle disease ''lamsiekte'' and the development of a successful vaccine against African horse sickness. By the end of the 1940s two major curses of Africa had virtually been eliminated –

East Coast fever East Coast fever, also known as theileriosis, is a disease of cattle which occurs in Africa and is caused by the protozoan parasite '' Theileria parva''. The primary vector which spreads ''T. parva'' between cattle is a tick, '' Rhipicephalus ap ...

, a tick-borne disease, and

nagana Animal trypanosomiasis, also known as nagana and nagana pest, or sleeping sickness, is a disease of vertebrates. The disease is caused by trypanosomes of several species in the genus ''Trypanosoma'' such as ''Trypanosoma brucei''. '' Trypanosom ...

, spread by the

tsetse fly Tsetse ( , or ) (sometimes spelled tzetze; also known as tik-tik flies), are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus ''Glossina'', which are placed in their own family, Glos ...

. Onderstepoort led the way in research into

phytotoxin Phytotoxins are substances that are poisonous or toxic to the growth of plants. Phytotoxic substances may result from human activity, as with herbicides, or they may be produced by plants, by microorganisms, or by naturally occurring chemical react ...

s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

South Africa supplied horsesickness vaccines to the British forces in Egypt and the Middle East, and played a large part in the

rinderpest Rinderpest (also cattle plague or steppe murrain) was an infectious viral disease of cattle, domestic buffalo, and many other species of even-toed ungulates, including gaurs, buffaloes, large antelope, deer, giraffes, wildebeests, and warthog ...

inoculation campaign in

Tanganyika Tanganyika may refer to: Places * Tanganyika Territory (1916–1961), a former British territory which preceded the sovereign state * Tanganyika (1961–1964), a sovereign state, comprising the mainland part of present-day Tanzania * Tanzania Main ...

, managing to stop its southward spread.

Honours and publications

Du Toit was President of the South African Veterinary Association (SAVA) from 1924 to 1930, President of the South African Biological Society in 1927 and President of the Southern African Association for the Advancement of Science in 1932. He was President of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Dean of the

University of Pretoria Faculty of Veterinary Science The Faculty of Veterinary Science is a faculty of the University of Pretoria. Founded in 1920, it is the second oldest veterinary faculty in Africa. With the exception of the faculties in Khartoum (Sudan, 1938), and Cairo (Egypt, 1946), all t ...

. In 1929 he was Chairman of a Pan-African Veterinary Conference and from 1950 to 1960 he was President of the Scientific Council for Africa. He was awarded a BA degree (Zool) from the University of Stellenbosch (US) in 1907. He enjoyed honorary memberships of scientific societies in France, the United Kingdom and Belgium, and received six honorary doctorates. He collaborated with Sir Arnold Theiler on the etiology of bovine

botulism Botulism is a rare and potentially fatal illness caused by a toxin produced by the bacterium ''Clostridium botulinum''. The disease begins with weakness, blurred vision, feeling tired, and trouble speaking. This may then be followed by weakne ...

. He contributed to the development of polyvalent horse sickness and

bluetongue Bluetongue disease is a noncontagious, insect-borne, viral disease of ruminants, mainly sheep and less frequently cattle, yaks, goats, buffalo, deer, dromedaries, and antelope. It is caused by ''Bluetongue virus'' (''BTV''). The virus i ...

vaccines, and determined ''

Culicoides ''Culicoides'' is a genus of biting midges in the family Ceratopogonidae. There are over 1000 species in the genus,Connelly, C. RBiting midges: ''Culicoides'' spp.Featured Creatures, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida IF ...

'' spp as vectors of these diseases. He helped develop vaccines against anthrax and botulism and the immunisation procedure against heartwater. In all he authored or co-authored 132 publications.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:du Toit, Petrus Johann 1888 births 1967 deaths Afrikaner people Fellows of the Royal Society People from Somerset West South African scientists South African veterinarians University of Pretoria faculty Presidents of the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science