The Eradication of Rinderpest

According to Science magazine, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has announced the eradication of Rinderpest, a viral disease of cattle that also is deadly to wild buffalo, giraffe, and wildebeest populations. Rinderpest killed 90% of domestic cattle in sub-Saharan Africa in the late 1800s after it had been introduced there from Europe. The results included famines in Ethiopia and among the Masai.

This is only the second disease after smallpox to be eradicated. The disease was endemic in Europe and Asia at one point, and the eradication means that countries everywhere can stop worrying about the disease and can save the resources that would otherwise have been allocated to Rinderpest protection.