Best of Intentions?: Rinderpest, Containment Practices, and Rebellion in Rhodesia in 1896

Rinderpest was a deadly bovine virus that plagued cattle herds across Europe and Asia for centuries. In the late 1880’s-early 1890’s, the virus found its way to the African continent where it wreaked immense havoc among the unimmune herds of African pastoralists and agriculturalists. By February 1896, the virus had crossed the Rhodesian border along the Zambezi River and began killing off cattle owned by ethnic groups like the Matabele and Shona, as well as those owned by white settlers. In an effort to contain the virus, the British South African Company consulted with colonial officials from the Cape Colony, who in turn advised the local police in Rhodesia to practice quarantines of cattle herds and to begin legal mass killings of sick and healthy cattle to create a buffer zone. The harsh practices of legalized killings of cattle, coupled with an already pre-existing tense political situation, convinced the Matabele to take a stand against the colonial state in an act of rebellion

Best of Intentions?: Rinderpest, Containment Practices, and Rebellion in Rhodesia in 1896

Rinderpest was a deadly bovine virus that plagued cattle herds accross Europe and Asia for centuries. In the late 1880s to early 1890s, the virus found its way to Africa, where it wiped out thousands of non-immune cattle herds belonging to African pastoralists and agriculturalists. By February 1896, the virus had crossed the Rhodesian border along the Zambezi River and began killing off cattle owned by ethnic groups that included the Matabele and the Shona, as well as cattle owned by white settlers. In an effort to contain the virus, the British South African Company consulted with colonial officials in the Cape Colony, who in turn advised the local police in Rhodesia to practice quarantines of cattle herds and authorized the shooting of sick and healthy cattle in order to create a buffer zone against the virus. The harsh practices of the legalized killing of cattle, coupled with a pre-existing tense political situation, convinced the Matabele people to take an armed stand against the colonial state

Peste des Petits Ruminants infection among cattle and wildlife in Northern Tanzania

We investigated peste des petits ruminants (PPR) infection in cattle and wildlife in northern Tanzania. No wildlife from protected ecosystems were seropositive. However, cattle from villages where an outbreak had occurred among small ruminants showed high PPR seropositivity, indicating that spillover infection affects cattle. Thus, cattle could be of value for PPR serosurveillance

The global effort to eradicate rinderpest:

millions fed, food security, Rinderpest, livestock, Cattle, Disease, Epidemic, GREP,

Future research to underpin successful peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) eradication

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) is a significant pathogen of small ruminants and is prevalent in much of Africa, the Near and Middle East and Asia. Despite the availability of an efficacious and cheap live-attenuated vaccine, the virus has continued to spread, with its range stretching from Morocco in the west to China and Mongolia in the east. Some of the world’s poorest communities rely on small ruminant farming for subsistence and the continued endemicity of PPRV is a constant threat to their livelihoods. Moreover, PPRV’s effects on the world’s population are felt broadly across many economic, agricultural and social situations. This far-reaching impact has prompted the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to develop a global strategy for the eradication of this virus and its disease. PPRV is a morbillivirus and, given the experience of these organizations in eradicating the related rinderpest virus, the eradication of PPRV should be feasible. However, there are many critical areas where basic and applied virological research concerning PPRV is lacking. The purpose of this review is to highlight areas where new research could be performed in order to guide and facilitate the eradication programme. These areas include studies on disease transmission and epidemiology, the existence of wildlife reservoirs and the development of next-generation vaccines and diagnostics. With the support of the international virology community, the successful eradication of PPRV can be achieved

The Global Effort to Eradicate Rinderpest

During the past 70 years, concerted efforts by the national veterinary services of affected countries from Senegal to China and Russia to South Africa—aided by international organizations—have brought the once-dreaded rinderpest virus to the point of extinction. In the near future, we can expect to see a global declaration of freedom from rinderpest, the first time this has been achieved for a livestock disease. The devastation wrought by rinderpest stimulated the founding of veterinary schools in many countries, and provided the basis for the development of the veterinary profession. The legacy of control programs in the past 20 years includes vaccine innovations and the development of new epidemiological and surveillance tools that are based on participatory techniques. Additionally, the benefits derived from eradication are many, ranging from increased confidence in livestock-based agriculture to increased food security, protected rural livelihoods, technically more proficient veterinary services, an opening of trade into lucrative markets in the Middle East, and the safeguarding of Africa’s wildlife heritage from a serious threat to its dwindling populations. As for the financial benefits of rinderpest eradication, describing them is constrained because of a general lack of studies on the subject, and the fact that programs covering multiple issues often did not clearly discern the rinderpest problem. This analysis attempts to present lessons learned from the experience gained in eradicating rinderpest, and explores the socioeconomic gains made as a result