United Nations Radio

One of the most devastating animal diseases, rinderpest, will be declared a thing of the past in the next 18 months, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Technician from Ethiopia's National Veterinary Institute vaccinating cattle

The disease, also known as cattle plague, does not affect people directly, but is lethal to cattle and other hoofed animals, killing nearly every animal infected during outbreaks and causing staggering economic losses.

FAO says that after working with partners for decades, it has succeeded in isolating rinderpest in its last few remaining pockets and is about to wipe it out once and for all.

The last-ever outbreak of the disease occurred in Kenya in 2001, and, today, the last reservoir appears to have been cleared, setting the stage for a full global certification of rinderpest eradication.

FAO says it will be the first time that humankind has succeeded in killing off an animal disease and only the second time, since smallpox, that any disease has been eradicated as a result of human efforts.

 Bissera Kostova, United Nations Radio
(duration: 1'05)