425 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXIX N° 5-6, september-december 2012 426 1 ) I wish to thank Prof. Hervé Bercovier, the faculty of medicine (microbiology and molecular genetics) at the Hebrew University of Jerusa- lem, for his readiness to discuss with me various problems pertaining to this research. This paper could not be completed without his help. The responsibility for the ideas expressed here is, needless to say, entirely my own. An early version of this paper was presented in July 2012, at the 58 th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Leiden. 2 ) Jones et al. 2008. 3 ) Palmer 2011. 4 ) Akkadian texts are referred to also by their respective numbers in the database Sources of Early Akkadian Literature (SEAL - http://www.seal. uni-leipzig.de/), run jointly by M. P. Streck and the author. 5 ) See also: Goetze 1955, 8–9 Text B (= SEAL 5.1.5.4); YOS 11, 8 (= SEAL 5.1.5.6). 6 ) [sí-ik-ka-tum i-s]a-tum / a-[su-ú-um z]i-iq-tum / mi-iq-tum Òé-nu / sa-ma-gu sa-ma-nu / ge-er-gi-su Òe-ni-tum / sí-mu ma-at-qum e-ke-tum / ri-si-tum ni-†ù / su-ru-pu-ú sa-ag-ba-nu / ù sa-sa-†ù / is-tu zi-qú-ra-at sa- me-e ur-du-ni / úÌ-ta-mi-i† i-me-ri ka-lu-mi / uÌ-ta-di-<ru> Òú-Ìa-re-e i-na bu-ud ta-ri-tim… HOOFDARTIKEL MASKADUM AND OTHER ZOONOTIC DISEASES IN MEDICAL AND LITERARY AKKADIAN SOURCES NATHAN WASSERMAN The Hebrew University of Jerusalem I. Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases due to etiological agents that pass from animals to humans, affecting both the humans and the animal. 1 ) Their pathogens may be bacteria, viruses, parasites or prions, for which a wide variety of ani- mals – wild, domesticated or peri-domesticated – serve as reservoir. The mode of transmission of the pathogens from the reservoir to the human host varies: infection through skin lesions, bites, inhalation of aerosols, contact with feces, or consumption of foodstuffs. Zoonotic diseases pose a persistent threat. In a recently published study 2 ) 335 occurrences of newly described zoonotic diseases were identified between the years 1940 and 2004 (including pathogens that crossed species for the first time, e.g. HIV). Seventy two percent of the studied zoonotic occurrences involved pathogens originating in wildlife (e.g. SARS in China). However, diseases whose reservoirs are domesticated and peri-domesticated animals prove to be no less of a problem. Populations in developing and developed countries who live in close proximity to animals and especially populations who raise livestock, risk exposure to zoonotic disease. The World Health Organization estimates that about 500 million people worldwide are likely to be in contact with such diseases, especially bovine tuberculosis, anthrax, and brucellosis. 3 ) II. Turning to cuneiform sources, 4 ) there is a small group of Old Babylonian medical incantations that list diseases which affect both humans and livestock. Two examples: 5 ) Goetze 1955, 8–9 Text A: 1–12 (= SEAL 5.1.5.3) [The sikkatum-disease, fe]ver, the asûm-disease, ziqtum-dis- ease, bad collapse, samagu-disease, samanu-disease, gergissu- disease, Òennettum-disease, sweet simmu-disease ekketum- disease, ri s i tum -disease, bloody feces, shivering, sagbanu-disease, and sassa†u-disease came down from the ziggurat of heaven, burned up the sheep, the lambs, caused the children on the shoulders of the nurse to be somber… 6 )