OBP's roots can be traced to the 1896 outbreak of rinderpest, the worst outbreak of a livestock disease in the country's history. Approximately 50% of SA's livestock and 95% of cattle herds were killed. OBP was initially joined with government owned Onderstepoort national centre for the investigation, diagnosis and prevention of the spread of animal diseases.
Eventually, OBP and the Onderstepoort national centre separated, following the SA government's decision to privatise OBP and make it into a commercial company. "Our focus is on the production of livestock vaccines against common diseases," says Jacob Modumo, OBP's managing director, einnews.com reports. "We have got over 50 different vaccines that we use - 80% are bacterial vaccines, 10% of them are viral vaccines and the rest are blood vaccines," he adds.
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