Werner Steck qualified as Dr Med Vet in Switzerland in 1917 and came to South Africa around 1922 as a lecturer in pathology at the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Pretoria at Onderstepoort, and Research Officer at the Veterinary Research Laboratory. His research was described in the Reports of the Director of Veterinary Research. In 1926 he reported on a "Remarkable case of volvulus in a calf due to aplasia of the mesentory", and collaborated with J.B. Quinlan* and E.M. Robinson* in a study of necrobacillosis in equines. Two further papers by him appeared in 1928, one dealing with "Histological studies on East Coast Fever", the other with "Pathological studies on Heartwater". He returned to Switzerland in 1926.

Steck spent the rest of his career (1926-1965) as professor of internal medicine at various veterinary institutions of the veterinary faculty of the University of Bern. He remained active in research and publication until 1977, the year of his death.

List of sources:

Author and Subject Index to the Government Veterinary Reports of the Transvaal and Union of South Africa (1903-1932). Pretoria: Department of Agriculture, June 1937.

Google scholar. http://scholar.google.co.za/ , publications by Werner Steck.

Pospischil, A. Arnold Theiler and colleagues: a successful cooperation between Switzerland and South Africa (2020). https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/74444

Posthumus, P.J. Past Veterinarians in South Africa (10th edition), Vol. 2, [1992].

Compiled by: D.W. Verwoerd

Last updated: 2025-12-18 12:19:20