Rinderpest and Peste des Petits Ruminants tells the story of how, by the year 2010, scientists are set to globally eradicate one of the great historic plagues that has ravaged human livestock for centuries. Descriptions of the disease in Europe date back to the 4th century and it was regularly re-introduced following wars and other civil unrest until late in the 19th century. It was introduced with devastating effect into Africa towards the end of the 19th century and is now widespread across sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Southern Asia. Its causative agent, rinderpest virus, a morbillivirus very closely related to human measles virus, decimates the cattle population along with those of other susceptible domestic ruminants and many wildlife species wherever it is present. - The history of Rinderpest including the history of vaccines and vaccination - Details other Morbillaviruses - Epidemiology and transmission of Rinderpest

In this volume the contributors chronicle the ancient history of a plague that has ravaged livestock around the world for centuries, and reveal how scientists aim to have eradicated the disease entirely by the year 2010.

This book is a collective work of many professionals who were involved in all aspects of the activities during the implementation of the Pan-African Rinderpest Campaign (PARC). The various country and regional technical reports of all the actors during those days were however compiled by the three officers who were working with AU-IBAR at that time: Dr. Solomon Haile Mariam, the chief livestock project officer (CLPO) of IBAR, was the task team leader assisted by Dr. Rene Bessin, while Dr. D. Karuiki did most of the information compiling job.

In view of the rapidly changing ecology of Africa ,this work provides benchmarks for some of the major, and more neglected, aspects, with an accent on historical data to enable habitats to be seen in relation to their previous state, forming a background reference work to understanding how the ecology of Africa has been shaped by its past. Reviewing historical data wherever possible it adopts an holistic view treating man as well as animals, with accent on diseases both human and animal which have been a potent force in shaping Africa’s ecology, a role neglected in ecological studies.