rinderpest
A postmortem being performed on an ox killed by rinderpest in Kimberley, South Africa, c. 1900.
rinderpest
animal disease
Also known as: cattle plague, contagious bovine typhus, steppe murrain(Show More)
rinderpest, an acute, highly contagious viral disease of ruminant animals, primarily cattle, that was once common in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East. Rinderpest was a devastating affliction of livestock and wildlife, and for centuries it was a major threat to food production for societies that depended heavily on livestock. However, the launch in 1994 of the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP) by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations...