Major Cattle Disease Eradicated in Ethiopia

By Steve Baragona
Washington, DC
16 September 2009

VOA

Rinderpest is an ancient viral disease that used to kill massive numbers of cattle in Africa, Asia, and Europe. In the late 19th century, a rinderpest epidemic wiped out an estimated 90 percent of Ethiopia's cattle and, as a result, approximately one-third of the human population died.

A vaccine developed in the 1960s eliminated the disease from much of the world. But the vaccine had to be kept cold. Researchers at Tufts University developed a heat-stable version that went into use in the 1990s...read more