Rabies Outbreaks and Control during the Japanese Colonial Period in Korea

Rabies became one of the critical zoonoses in the modern urban environment since pet keeping culture became widespread in the Western countries in the 18th century. The sanitary policy against rabies was a forceful tool for the colonial rulers in the 19th century. This study describes the rabies out...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Myung-Sun CHUN
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Korean Society for the History of Medicine 2018-12-01
Series:Uisahak
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.medhist.or.kr/upload/pdf/kjmh-27-3-323.pdf
_version_ 1818562158937505792
author Myung-Sun CHUN
author_facet Myung-Sun CHUN
author_sort Myung-Sun CHUN
collection DOAJ
description Rabies became one of the critical zoonoses in the modern urban environment since pet keeping culture became widespread in the Western countries in the 18th century. The sanitary policy against rabies was a forceful tool for the colonial rulers in the 19th century. This study describes the rabies outbreaks in the context of prevention methods, experts’ engagement and the public response to the policies based on the statistics, regulations and newspaper articles on rabies in Korea during the Japanese colonial period. Based on the changes in the rabies policies, this study divides the time period into three phases. First phase (1905- 1914) was characterized with the first epizootics investigation in Korea in 1905 and the “Domestic dog control regulation” in 1909, which legitimated elimination of dogs without owners’ name tags. In the second phase (1915-1926), rabies was designated as a reportable disease by the “Act on Prevention of Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases (1915)” and thousands of dogs were slaughtered every year for rabies prevention. In the third phase (1927-1945), vaccination for dogs became a main intervention. From 1927 to 1942, 760,515 dogs were vaccinated. However, the broad scale rabies control projects over these decades did not seem to decrease the outbreaks of rabies because they did not reflect the rabies situation in Korea. Furthermore, the rabies control policy of the Japanese colonial government was criticized by the public for its violence against dogs and humans, for causing conflicts between social classes, and for lack of understanding of traditional human-dog relationship.
first_indexed 2024-12-14T01:00:03Z
format Article
id doaj.art-a00c9785450a4ab2b0474e4b997af2c4
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1225-505X
2093-5609
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-14T01:00:03Z
publishDate 2018-12-01
publisher Korean Society for the History of Medicine
record_format Article
series Uisahak
spelling doaj.art-a00c9785450a4ab2b0474e4b997af2c42022-12-21T23:23:19ZengKorean Society for the History of MedicineUisahak1225-505X2093-56092018-12-0127332335610.13081/kjmh.2018.27.3232350Rabies Outbreaks and Control during the Japanese Colonial Period in KoreaMyung-Sun CHUNRabies became one of the critical zoonoses in the modern urban environment since pet keeping culture became widespread in the Western countries in the 18th century. The sanitary policy against rabies was a forceful tool for the colonial rulers in the 19th century. This study describes the rabies outbreaks in the context of prevention methods, experts’ engagement and the public response to the policies based on the statistics, regulations and newspaper articles on rabies in Korea during the Japanese colonial period. Based on the changes in the rabies policies, this study divides the time period into three phases. First phase (1905- 1914) was characterized with the first epizootics investigation in Korea in 1905 and the “Domestic dog control regulation” in 1909, which legitimated elimination of dogs without owners’ name tags. In the second phase (1915-1926), rabies was designated as a reportable disease by the “Act on Prevention of Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases (1915)” and thousands of dogs were slaughtered every year for rabies prevention. In the third phase (1927-1945), vaccination for dogs became a main intervention. From 1927 to 1942, 760,515 dogs were vaccinated. However, the broad scale rabies control projects over these decades did not seem to decrease the outbreaks of rabies because they did not reflect the rabies situation in Korea. Furthermore, the rabies control policy of the Japanese colonial government was criticized by the public for its violence against dogs and humans, for causing conflicts between social classes, and for lack of understanding of traditional human-dog relationship.http://www.medhist.or.kr/upload/pdf/kjmh-27-3-323.pdfrabieswild dog eliminationvaccinationJapanese colonial period
spellingShingle Myung-Sun CHUN
Rabies Outbreaks and Control during the Japanese Colonial Period in Korea
Uisahak
rabies
wild dog elimination
vaccination
Japanese colonial period
title Rabies Outbreaks and Control during the Japanese Colonial Period in Korea
title_full Rabies Outbreaks and Control during the Japanese Colonial Period in Korea
title_fullStr Rabies Outbreaks and Control during the Japanese Colonial Period in Korea
title_full_unstemmed Rabies Outbreaks and Control during the Japanese Colonial Period in Korea
title_short Rabies Outbreaks and Control during the Japanese Colonial Period in Korea
title_sort rabies outbreaks and control during the japanese colonial period in korea
topic rabies
wild dog elimination
vaccination
Japanese colonial period
url http://www.medhist.or.kr/upload/pdf/kjmh-27-3-323.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT myungsunchun rabiesoutbreaksandcontrolduringthejapanesecolonialperiodinkorea