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