Rinderpest
Encyclopedia
Rinderpest was an infectious viral
disease
of cattle
, domestic buffalo
, and some other species
of even-toed ungulates, including buffaloes
, large antelopes and deer
, giraffes, wildebeests and warthogs. After a global eradication
campaign, the last confirmed case of rinderpest was diagnosed in 2001. The disease is characterized by fever
, oral erosions, diarrhea
, lymphoid necrosis
, and high mortality. On 14 October 2010, the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization
announced that field activities in the decades-long, worldwide campaign to eradicate the disease were ending, paving the way for a formal declaration in June 2011 of the global eradication of rinderpest. On 25 May 2011, the World Organisation for Animal Health announced the free status of the last eight countries not yet recognized, and said a total of 198 countries were now free of the disease. On 8 August 2011, the United Nations held a ceremony declaring the disease eradicated, making Rinderpest only the second disease in history to be fully wiped out.
The term Rinderpest is taken from German, and means cattle-plague.
, the rinderpest virus (RPV) is closely related to the measles
and canine distemper
viruses. Despite its extreme lethality, the virus is particularly fragile and is quickly inactivated by heat, desiccation
and sunlight.
The measles virus evolved from the then-widespread rinderpest virus most probably between the 11th and 12th centuries. The earliest likely origin is within the seventh century: for this earlier origin there is some linguistic evidence.
Initial symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, and nasal and eye discharges. Subsequently, irregular erosions appear in the mouth, the lining of the nose, and the genital tract. Acute diarrhea, preceded by constipation, is also a common feature. Most animals die 6–12 days after the onset of these clinical signs.
, later spreading through the transport of cattle. Other cattle epizootic
s are noted in ancient times: a cattle plague is one of the ten plagues of Egypt
described in the Hebrew Bible. By around 3,000 BC
, a cattle plague had reached Egypt
, and later Rinderpest spread throughout the remainder of Africa
, following European colonization.
. Sir Arnold Theiler
was instrumental in developing a vaccine that curbed the epidemic. More recently, a rinderpest outbreak that raged across much of Africa in 1982–1984 cost at least an estimated US$500 million in stock losses.
, due to its analogous symptoms. The personal physician of the Pope, Giovanni Maria Lancisi
, recommended the slaughter of all infected and exposed animals. This policy was not very popular and used only sparingly in the first part of the century. Later, it was used successfully in several countries, although it was sometimes seen as too costly or drastic, and depended on a strong central authority to be effective (something which was notably lacking in the Dutch Republic
). Because of these downsides, numerous attempts were made to inoculate
animals against the disease. These attempts met with varying success, but the procedure was not widely used and was no longer practiced at all in 19th-century Western or Central Europe. Rinderpest was an immense problem, but inoculation was not a valid solution: In many cases, it caused too many losses. Even more importantly, it perpetuated the circulation of the virus in the cattle population. The pioneers of inoculation did contribute significantly to our knowledge about infectious diseases. Their experiments confirmed the concepts of those who saw infectious diseases as caused by specific agents, and were the first to recognize maternally derived immunity.
, a widely read journal which also supported the progress of smallpox inoculation. This letter reported that a Mr. Dobsen had inoculated his cattle and had thus preserved nine out of ten of them, although this was retracted in the next issue as it was apparently a Sir William St. Quintin who had done the inoculating (this was done by placing bits of material previously dipped in morbid discharge into an incision made in the dewlap
of the animal). These letters encouraged further application of inoculation in the fight against diseases. The first inoculation against measles was made three years after their publication.
From early 1755 onwards, experiments were taking place in the Netherlands as well, results of which were also published in The Gentleman's Magazine. As in England, the disease was seen as analogous with smallpox. While these experiments were reasonably successful, they did not have a significant impact: The total number of inoculations in England appears to have been very limited, and after 1780 the English interest in inoculation disappeared almost entirely. Almost all further experimentation was done in the Netherlands, Northern Germany and Denmark.
and Friesland
. The results of his experiment in Friesland were encouraging, but they proved to be the exception: testing by others in the provinces of Utrecht
, Leeuwarden and Friesland obtained disastrous results. As a result, the Frisian authorities concluded in 1769 that the cause of rinderpest was God's displeasure with the sinful behavior of the Frisian people
, and proclaimed 15 November a day of fasting and prayer. Interest in inoculation declined sharply across the country.
In this climate of discouragement and scepticism, Geert Reinders, a farmer in the province of Groningen and a self-taught man, decided to continue the experiments. He collaborated with Wijnold Munniks, who had supervised earlier trials. They tried different inoculation procedures and a variety of treatments to lighten the symptoms, all of them without significant effect. Although they were not able to perfect the inoculation procedure, they did make some useful observations.
Reinders resumed his experiments in 1774, concentrating on the inoculation of calves from cows that had recovered from rinderpest. He was probably the first to make practical use of maternally derived immunity. The detailed results of his trials were published in 1776 and reprinted in 1777. His inoculation procedure did not differ much from what had been used previously, except for the use of three separate inoculations at an early age. This produced far better results, and the publication of his work renewed interest in inoculation. For the period of 1777 to 1781, 89% of inoculated animals survived, compared to a 29% survival rate after natural infection.
In the Netherlands too, interest in rinderpest inoculation declined in the 1780s because the disease itself decreased in intensity.
and Denmark
. Experiments started in Mecklenburg
during the epizootic
of the late 1770s. 'Insurance companies' were created which provided inoculation in special 'institutes'. Although these were private initiatives, they were created with full encouragement from the authorities. Even though neighboring states followed this practice with interest, the practice never caught on outside of Mecklenburg: many were still opposed to inoculation.
While some experimentation occurred in other countries (most extensively in Denmark), in the majority of European countries the struggle against the disease was based on stamping it out. Sometimes this could be done with minimal sacrifices, at other times, it required slaughter at a massive scale.
suggests that rinderpest might have affected the Nuer's social organization prior to and during the 1930s. Since the Nuer were pastoralists
, much of their livelihood was based on cattle husbandry, and bride-prices were paid in cattle; prices may have changed as a result of cattle depletion. Rinderpest might also have increased dependence on horticulture
among the Nuer.
was awarded the World Food Prize
in 1999 for developing a vaccine against rinderpest. The Plowright vaccine was developed to the RBOK strain of the rinderpest virus.
In 1999, the FAO
predicted that with vaccination, rinderpest would be eradicated by 2010.
, reported cases of rinderpest.
In 1969, an outbreak of the disease originated in Afghanistan
, travelling westwards and promoting a mass vaccination plan, which, by 1972, had eliminated rinderpest in all areas of Asia except for Lebanon
and India; both countries were the site of further occurrences of the disease in the 1980s.
During the 1980s, however, an outbreak of rinderpest from Sudan spread throughout Africa, killing millions of cattle, as well as wildlife. In response, the Pan-African Rinderpest Campaign was initiated in 1987, using vaccination and surveillance to combat the disease. By the 1990s, nearly all of Africa, with the exception of parts of Sudan and Somalia
, were declared free of rinderpest.
Worldwide, the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme was initiated in 1994, supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization
, the OIE, and the International Atomic Energy Agency
. This program was successful in reducing rinderpest outbreaks to few and far between by the late 1990s.
The last confirmed case of rinderpest was reported in Kenya
in 2001. Since then, while there have been no confirmed cases, the disease is believed to have been present in parts of Somalia past that date. The final vaccinations were administered in 2006, and the last surveillance operations took place in 2009, failing to find any evidence of the disease.
In 2008, scientists involved in rinderpest eradication
efforts believed there was a good chance that rinderpest would join smallpox
as officially "wiped off the face of the planet". The Food and Agriculture Organization, which had been co-ordinating the global eradication program for the disease, announced in November 2009 that it expected the disease to be eradicated within 18 months.
In October 2010, the FAO announced that it was confident the disease has been eradicated. The agency said that "[a]s of mid 2010, FAO is confident that the rinderpest virus has been eliminated from Europe, Asia, Middle East, Arabian Peninsula, and Africa," which were the locations in which the virus had been last reported. Eradication was confirmed by the World Organisation for Animal Health on 25 May 2011.
On 28 June 2011, FAO and its members countries officially recognized global freedom from the deadly cattle virus. On this day, the FAO Conference, the highest body of the UN agency, adopted a resolution declaring the eradication of rinderpest. The resolution also called on the world community to follow up by ensuring that samples of rinderpest viruses and vaccines be kept under safe laboratory conditions and that rigorous standards for disease surveillance and reporting be applied."While we are celebrating one of the greatest successes for FAO and its partners, I wish to remind you that this extraordinary achievement would not have been possible without the joint efforts and strong commitments of governments, the main organizations in Africa, Asia and Europe, and without the continuous support of donors and international institutions", FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf commented.
Stocks of the rinderpest virus are still maintained by highly specialised laboratories.
Rinderpest is of concern as a biological weapon for the following reasons:
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
of cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
, domestic buffalo
Water buffalo
The water buffalo is a domesticated bovid widely kept in Asia, Europe and South America.Water buffalo can also refer to:*Wild water buffalo , the wild ancestor of the domestic water buffalo...
, and some other species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of even-toed ungulates, including buffaloes
African Buffalo
The African buffalo, affalo, nyati, Mbogo or Cape buffalo is a large African bovine. It is not closely related to the slightly larger wild Asian water buffalo, but its ancestry remains unclear...
, large antelopes and deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, giraffes, wildebeests and warthogs. After a global eradication
Eradication of infectious diseases
Eradication is the reduction of an infectious disease's prevalence in the global host population to zero. It is sometimes confused with elimination, which describes either the reduction of an infectious disease's prevalence in a regional population to zero, or the reduction of the global prevalence...
campaign, the last confirmed case of rinderpest was diagnosed in 2001. The disease is characterized by fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
, oral erosions, diarrhea
Diarrhea
Diarrhea , also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having three or more loose or liquid bowel movements per day. It is a common cause of death in developing countries and the second most common cause of infant deaths worldwide. The loss of fluids through diarrhea can cause dehydration and...
, lymphoid necrosis
Necrosis
Necrosis is the premature death of cells in living tissue. Necrosis is caused by factors external to the cell or tissue, such as infection, toxins, or trauma. This is in contrast to apoptosis, which is a naturally occurring cause of cellular death...
, and high mortality. On 14 October 2010, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Food and Agriculture Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
announced that field activities in the decades-long, worldwide campaign to eradicate the disease were ending, paving the way for a formal declaration in June 2011 of the global eradication of rinderpest. On 25 May 2011, the World Organisation for Animal Health announced the free status of the last eight countries not yet recognized, and said a total of 198 countries were now free of the disease. On 8 August 2011, the United Nations held a ceremony declaring the disease eradicated, making Rinderpest only the second disease in history to be fully wiped out.
The term Rinderpest is taken from German, and means cattle-plague.
The virus
As it is a MorbillivirusMorbillivirus
Morbillivirus is a genus belonging to the Paramyxoviridae family of viruses in the order Mononegavirales. Many members of the genus cause diseases, such as rinderpest and measles, and are highly infectious.- External links :* *...
, the rinderpest virus (RPV) is closely related to the measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
and canine distemper
Canine distemper
Canine distemper is a viral disease that affects animals in the families Canidae, Mustelidae, Mephitidae, Hyaenidae, Ailuridae, Procyonidae, Pinnipedia, some Viverridae and Felidae...
viruses. Despite its extreme lethality, the virus is particularly fragile and is quickly inactivated by heat, desiccation
Desiccation
Desiccation is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container.-Science:...
and sunlight.
The measles virus evolved from the then-widespread rinderpest virus most probably between the 11th and 12th centuries. The earliest likely origin is within the seventh century: for this earlier origin there is some linguistic evidence.
The disease
Death rates during outbreaks were usually extremely high, approaching 100% in immunologically naïve populations. The disease was mainly spread by direct contact and by drinking contaminated water, although it could also be transmitted by air.Initial symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, and nasal and eye discharges. Subsequently, irregular erosions appear in the mouth, the lining of the nose, and the genital tract. Acute diarrhea, preceded by constipation, is also a common feature. Most animals die 6–12 days after the onset of these clinical signs.
Origins
The disease is believed to have originated in AsiaAsia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, later spreading through the transport of cattle. Other cattle epizootic
Epizootic
In epizoology, an epizootic is a disease that appears as new cases in a given animal population, during a given period, at a rate that substantially exceeds what is "expected" based on recent experience . Epidemic is the analogous term applied to human populations...
s are noted in ancient times: a cattle plague is one of the ten plagues of Egypt
Plagues of Egypt
The Plagues of Egypt , also called the Ten Plagues or the Biblical Plagues, were ten calamities that, according to the biblical Book of Exodus, Israel's God, Yahweh, inflicted upon Egypt to persuade Pharaoh to release the ill-treated Israelites from slavery. Pharaoh capitulated after the tenth...
described in the Hebrew Bible. By around 3,000 BC
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
, a cattle plague had reached Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, and later Rinderpest spread throughout the remainder of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, following European colonization.
Epidemics
Cattle plagues recurred throughout history, often accompanying wars and military campaigns. They hit Europe especially hard in the 18th century, with three long pandemics which, although varying in intensity and duration from region to region, took place in the periods of 1709–1720, 1742–1760, and 1768–1786. There was a major outbreak covering the whole of Britain in 1865/66. Later in history, an outbreak in the 1890s killed 80 to 90 percent of all cattle in Southern Africa, as well as in the Horn of AfricaHorn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...
. Sir Arnold Theiler
Arnold Theiler
Sir Arnold Theiler Pour le Mérite] is considered to be the father of veterinary science in South Africa. He was born in Frick, Canton Aargau, Switzerland. He received his higher education, and later qualified as a veterinarian, in Zurich...
was instrumental in developing a vaccine that curbed the epidemic. More recently, a rinderpest outbreak that raged across much of Africa in 1982–1984 cost at least an estimated US$500 million in stock losses.
Inoculation
In the early 18th century, the disease was seen as similar to smallpoxSmallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
, due to its analogous symptoms. The personal physician of the Pope, Giovanni Maria Lancisi
Giovanni Maria Lancisi
Giovanni Maria Lancisi was an Italian physician, epidemiologist and anatomist who made a correlation between the presence of mosquitoes and the prevalence of malaria...
, recommended the slaughter of all infected and exposed animals. This policy was not very popular and used only sparingly in the first part of the century. Later, it was used successfully in several countries, although it was sometimes seen as too costly or drastic, and depended on a strong central authority to be effective (something which was notably lacking in the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
). Because of these downsides, numerous attempts were made to inoculate
Inoculation
Inoculation is the placement of something that will grow or reproduce, and is most commonly used in respect of the introduction of a serum, vaccine, or antigenic substance into the body of a human or animal, especially to produce or boost immunity to a specific disease...
animals against the disease. These attempts met with varying success, but the procedure was not widely used and was no longer practiced at all in 19th-century Western or Central Europe. Rinderpest was an immense problem, but inoculation was not a valid solution: In many cases, it caused too many losses. Even more importantly, it perpetuated the circulation of the virus in the cattle population. The pioneers of inoculation did contribute significantly to our knowledge about infectious diseases. Their experiments confirmed the concepts of those who saw infectious diseases as caused by specific agents, and were the first to recognize maternally derived immunity.
Early English experimentation
The first written report of rinderpest inoculation was published in a letter signed 'T.S.' in the November 1754 issue of The Gentleman's MagazineThe Gentleman's Magazine
The Gentleman's Magazine was founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term "magazine" for a periodical...
, a widely read journal which also supported the progress of smallpox inoculation. This letter reported that a Mr. Dobsen had inoculated his cattle and had thus preserved nine out of ten of them, although this was retracted in the next issue as it was apparently a Sir William St. Quintin who had done the inoculating (this was done by placing bits of material previously dipped in morbid discharge into an incision made in the dewlap
Dewlap
A dewlap is a longitudinal flap of skin that hangs beneath the lower jaw or neck of many vertebrates. While the term is usually used in this specific context, it can also be used to include other structures occurring in the same body area with a similar aspect, such as those caused by a double...
of the animal). These letters encouraged further application of inoculation in the fight against diseases. The first inoculation against measles was made three years after their publication.
From early 1755 onwards, experiments were taking place in the Netherlands as well, results of which were also published in The Gentleman's Magazine. As in England, the disease was seen as analogous with smallpox. While these experiments were reasonably successful, they did not have a significant impact: The total number of inoculations in England appears to have been very limited, and after 1780 the English interest in inoculation disappeared almost entirely. Almost all further experimentation was done in the Netherlands, Northern Germany and Denmark.
Further trials in the Netherlands
Due to a very severe outbreak at the end of the 1760s, some of the biggest names in Dutch medicine became involved in the struggle against the disease. Several independent trials were begun, most notably by Pieter Camper in GroningenGroningen (province)
Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...
and Friesland
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
. The results of his experiment in Friesland were encouraging, but they proved to be the exception: testing by others in the provinces of Utrecht
Utrecht (province)
Utrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...
, Leeuwarden and Friesland obtained disastrous results. As a result, the Frisian authorities concluded in 1769 that the cause of rinderpest was God's displeasure with the sinful behavior of the Frisian people
Frisians
The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...
, and proclaimed 15 November a day of fasting and prayer. Interest in inoculation declined sharply across the country.
In this climate of discouragement and scepticism, Geert Reinders, a farmer in the province of Groningen and a self-taught man, decided to continue the experiments. He collaborated with Wijnold Munniks, who had supervised earlier trials. They tried different inoculation procedures and a variety of treatments to lighten the symptoms, all of them without significant effect. Although they were not able to perfect the inoculation procedure, they did make some useful observations.
Reinders resumed his experiments in 1774, concentrating on the inoculation of calves from cows that had recovered from rinderpest. He was probably the first to make practical use of maternally derived immunity. The detailed results of his trials were published in 1776 and reprinted in 1777. His inoculation procedure did not differ much from what had been used previously, except for the use of three separate inoculations at an early age. This produced far better results, and the publication of his work renewed interest in inoculation. For the period of 1777 to 1781, 89% of inoculated animals survived, compared to a 29% survival rate after natural infection.
In the Netherlands too, interest in rinderpest inoculation declined in the 1780s because the disease itself decreased in intensity.
In other countries
Apart from the Dutch republic, the only other regions where inoculation was used to any significant level were Northern GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. Experiments started in Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
during the epizootic
Epizootic
In epizoology, an epizootic is a disease that appears as new cases in a given animal population, during a given period, at a rate that substantially exceeds what is "expected" based on recent experience . Epidemic is the analogous term applied to human populations...
of the late 1770s. 'Insurance companies' were created which provided inoculation in special 'institutes'. Although these were private initiatives, they were created with full encouragement from the authorities. Even though neighboring states followed this practice with interest, the practice never caught on outside of Mecklenburg: many were still opposed to inoculation.
While some experimentation occurred in other countries (most extensively in Denmark), in the majority of European countries the struggle against the disease was based on stamping it out. Sometimes this could be done with minimal sacrifices, at other times, it required slaughter at a massive scale.
In ethnography
In his classic study of the Nuer of southern Sudan, E. E. Evans-PritchardE. E. Evans-Pritchard
Sir Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard was an English anthropologist who was instrumental in the development of social anthropology...
suggests that rinderpest might have affected the Nuer's social organization prior to and during the 1930s. Since the Nuer were pastoralists
Pastoralism
Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas, and sheep. It may have a mobile aspect, moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and...
, much of their livelihood was based on cattle husbandry, and bride-prices were paid in cattle; prices may have changed as a result of cattle depletion. Rinderpest might also have increased dependence on horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
among the Nuer.
Vaccination
Dr. Walter PlowrightWalter Plowright
Walter Plowright, CMG, FRS, FRCVS was an English veterinary scientist who devoted his career to the eradication of the cattle plague rinderpest....
was awarded the World Food Prize
World Food Prize
The World Food Prize is an international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.-The Prize:...
in 1999 for developing a vaccine against rinderpest. The Plowright vaccine was developed to the RBOK strain of the rinderpest virus.
In 1999, the FAO
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
predicted that with vaccination, rinderpest would be eradicated by 2010.
Eradication
Widespread eradication efforts took place as soon as the early 1900s; in 1924, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) was formed in response to rinderpest. Until the mid-1900s, eradication efforts largely took place on an individual country basis, using vaccination campaigns. In 1950, the Inter-African Bureau of Epizootic Diseases was formed, with the stated goal of eliminating rinderpest from Africa. During the 1960s, a program called JP 15 attempted to vaccinate all cattle in participating countries; by 1979, only one of the countries involved, SudanSudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, reported cases of rinderpest.
In 1969, an outbreak of the disease originated in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, travelling westwards and promoting a mass vaccination plan, which, by 1972, had eliminated rinderpest in all areas of Asia except for Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
and India; both countries were the site of further occurrences of the disease in the 1980s.
During the 1980s, however, an outbreak of rinderpest from Sudan spread throughout Africa, killing millions of cattle, as well as wildlife. In response, the Pan-African Rinderpest Campaign was initiated in 1987, using vaccination and surveillance to combat the disease. By the 1990s, nearly all of Africa, with the exception of parts of Sudan and Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, were declared free of rinderpest.
Worldwide, the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme was initiated in 1994, supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
, the OIE, and the International Atomic Energy Agency
International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
. This program was successful in reducing rinderpest outbreaks to few and far between by the late 1990s.
The last confirmed case of rinderpest was reported in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
in 2001. Since then, while there have been no confirmed cases, the disease is believed to have been present in parts of Somalia past that date. The final vaccinations were administered in 2006, and the last surveillance operations took place in 2009, failing to find any evidence of the disease.
In 2008, scientists involved in rinderpest eradication
Eradication
Eradication may also refer to:*Genocide, the deliberate, systematic destruction of an ethnic, religious or national group of people*Eradication of infectious diseases, the reduction of the global prevalence of an infectious disease in its human or animal host to zero*Intentional local extinction,...
efforts believed there was a good chance that rinderpest would join smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
as officially "wiped off the face of the planet". The Food and Agriculture Organization, which had been co-ordinating the global eradication program for the disease, announced in November 2009 that it expected the disease to be eradicated within 18 months.
In October 2010, the FAO announced that it was confident the disease has been eradicated. The agency said that "[a]s of mid 2010, FAO is confident that the rinderpest virus has been eliminated from Europe, Asia, Middle East, Arabian Peninsula, and Africa," which were the locations in which the virus had been last reported. Eradication was confirmed by the World Organisation for Animal Health on 25 May 2011.
On 28 June 2011, FAO and its members countries officially recognized global freedom from the deadly cattle virus. On this day, the FAO Conference, the highest body of the UN agency, adopted a resolution declaring the eradication of rinderpest. The resolution also called on the world community to follow up by ensuring that samples of rinderpest viruses and vaccines be kept under safe laboratory conditions and that rigorous standards for disease surveillance and reporting be applied."While we are celebrating one of the greatest successes for FAO and its partners, I wish to remind you that this extraordinary achievement would not have been possible without the joint efforts and strong commitments of governments, the main organizations in Africa, Asia and Europe, and without the continuous support of donors and international institutions", FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf commented.
Stocks of the rinderpest virus are still maintained by highly specialised laboratories.
Use as a biological weapon
Rinderpest was one of more than a dozen agents that the United States researched as potential biological weapons before terminating its biological weapons program.Rinderpest is of concern as a biological weapon for the following reasons:
- The disease has high rates of morbidity and mortality.
- The disease is highly communicable and spreads rapidly once introduced into nonimmune herds.
- Cattle herds in the United States and other developed countries are not routinely immunized against RPV and therefore are susceptible to infection.
External links
- The IAEA's activities with rinderpest
- Rinderpest reviewed and published by WikiVetWikiVetWikiVet is a wiki of veterinary content, run using the MediaWiki software. The project is a collaborative initiative involving UK veterinary schools with external support...