This is kind of oldish news because I assumed someone posted about it...but I searched and if someone did, they didn't bother to mention the name of the disease, so I'm going to go ahead and make a post.

There's a link below about the announcement, but I know enough about this disease to tell you some stuff about it if you want to know.

The disease is called "Rinderpest" and is a cattle virus related to the measles and canine distemper that also can infect other even-toed ungulates. I know some of you have already lost interest on hearing that it's not a human disease, but at one point this disease was as devastating to economies--first world European economies--as Foot and Mouth Diesease. The need to control Rinderpest is what lead to the institution of Veterinary Schools back int he 1700s. That's how big a deal this was.

It causes the cow's mucosal surfaces (mouth, genital area, GI tract, nose, etc...) to break out in sores, leading to pain, diarrhea and eventual death. And like measles and distemper, it's quite contagious. If Rinderpest showed up in your region, it could send your entire cattle industry spiraling in an out of control collapse. Imagine what that would do some where like Texas.

While we had pushed Rinderpest out of the First World quite some time ago, it has lingered and persisted in Third World countries, and we couldn't perfectly account for it in wild animals like buffalo, and antelope. It has been responsible for many bouts of famine in Africa and other countries.

As with all eradication efforts, a lot of people made a lot of sacrifices for this achievement. Farmers lost their livelihoods to herd eradication, scientists, veterinarians and their assistants had to spend years doing lab work and combing the world vaccinating and testing animals, and families had to starve while this disease continued to take its toll. So give a nice round of applause to the ladies and gentlemen responsible!