As far back as the Roman era, rinderpest has indirectly been responsible for several human death that resulted from agricultural loss leading to famine and diseases. A good example was the African rinderpest panzootic that led to a rapid loss of virtually all the cattle, buffaloes, wild swine, goats, sheep, wild swine, and some wildlife species like wildebeest, hartebeest, giraffes were also not left out.
This incident which happened in Ethiopia made it very clear, how animal diseases could also affect humans, because after this incident, there were no cattle to help with the plowing of the field, and there was no dung to help with the fertilization of farmland. At the time, the once famous fertile Ethiopian lands became a graveyard, as planting and harvesting ceased, there was a surge of crop-destroying rats and swarms of locusts and caterpillars. With a very high separation for what to eat, people began to boil and eat the skins of decomposed cattle, after that, people began to abandon their farms and villages for the fear of death, and some people resulted to cannibalism in the process.
Parents comfortably sold off their children into slavery, with the hope that the children would be able to feed and then survive while with the slave masters, some people committed suicide, and some others were murdered. It was at the time that smallpox epidemics broke out again, people who were starving began to fall and die along the road, close to buildings, and in the forest. It became a great opportunity for wild animals like Lions, Leopards, and Jackals to attack human at will even in broad daylight, sounds of weak villagers being dragged off and eaten by hyenas at night was heard by other villagers who could do nothing about it.
However, in 2021 according to the article published by ncbi, the world marked 10 years free from rinderpest, there are only 14 known institutions where the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organizations, as well as the World Organization for Animal Health, have since then, made great strides in the consolidation, sequencing, and destruction of stocks of rinderpest virus and the progress has to continue.
Rinderpest also known as cattle plague was the second infectious disease to be eradicated from the world, and smallpox was the first. 10 years after its eradication, the goal of the Rinderpest post-eradication program has been to take track of Rinderpost as well as reduce global stocks. Cattle that were able to survive rinderpest virus infection had lifelong immunity. The neutralizing antibodies usually would appear within 6-7 days after the onset of the clinical signs, the maximum titers are reached in the 3rd and 4th week after infection.
The eradication campaign was dependent on the veterinary public health measures that were designed to prevent the introduction of the virus in areas that are normally free from the virus. That was done through the ban on the importation of uncooked meat and other forms of uncooked meat and meat products from infected countries, zoo animals were also quarantined before they were transported to those countries. In countries that have enzootic rinderpest where there is a high probability of the virus being introduced, live-attenuated virus vaccines were introduced. Early strains of the rinderpest vaccine were produced by virus passage in rabbits, embryonated eggs, or goats, the vaccine at that time, was one of the best available vaccines available for animal diseases.
Rinderpest virus is a paramyxovirus that is closely related to the human pathogen Measles virus. It creates serious diseases in buffalo, cattle, and some other wild animals, it is a serious contagious viral disease that affects even-toed ungulates of the order Artiodacyla.
Even though the disease has been eradicated, stocks of the virus continue to exist in some laboratories around the world, so steps need to be taken in order to reduce such holding facilities, this is for no other reason than to limit the possibility of accidental or deliberate release.
The virus begins shedding at 1-2 days before pyrexia in ocular and nasal secretions, at a later time, they will be noticed in saliva, feces, and urine. Before the appearance of clinical signs, the blood, and all the tissues are already infectious. During the period of clinical disease, a significantly high level of RPV can be found in expired air, saliva, feces, ocular discharges, urine, and milk and it can also be found in semen and viganal discharges. Infection is through the epithelium of the upper or lower respiratory tract.
Classical rinderpest that resulted from contact exposure had an incubation phase of 3-15 days depending on the strain of the virus as well as the degree of their exposure. The clinical signs of rinderpest have not been observed since 2001, but a milder form of the disease, that has the potential to regain classical characteristics, used to occur in association with endemic situations in East Africa.
Classical acute/epizootic form: The clinical disease is characterized by an acute febrile attack with which both the erosive and prodromal phases can be differentiated. The prodromal phase is the period between the onset of the fever and the first appearance of oral lesions, this phase could last for an average of 3 days.
The erosive phase comes with the development of necrotic mouth lesions. At the height of the fever, flecks of necrotic epithelium appear on the lower lip and the gum, and in the midst of rapid succession, it may appear on the upper gum and the dental pad, on the underside of the tongue, on the checks and cheek papillae and on the hard palate.
Gastrointestinal signs start to appear when the fever drops, or about 1-2 days after the onset of the mouth lesions. Diarrhea may first be watery and copious at first, but later it will begin to contain mucus, blood, and shreds of epithelium, backed up with a serious case of tenesmus. After this stage, the affected animal will begin to feel diarrhea or dysentery which would lead to dehydration, abdominal respiration, abdominal pain, and weakness.
At the terminal stage of the illness, the affected animal may become recumbent for 24-48 hours before death and the final stage is death which will occur, but the mortality rate varies and may be expected to rise as the virus gains progressive access to large numbers of susceptible animals. Some animals would experience a slow death while showing signs of serious necrotic lesions, diarrhea, and high fever, while death in some others will happen after a sharp fall in body temperature, often to subnormal values.
Recovery also happens, but that is in some extremely rare cases, at day 10, the clinical signs may just begin to regress and by day 20-25, recovery has happened.
Rinderpest is the second eradicated infectious disease, the eradication is so significant that it saves not only animals but also humans. I mentioned in this post based on published articles, that stocks of the virus are still held in different laboratories worldwide, it is however advisable that there should be a limited case to the stock held in different laboratories to prevent a case of accidental discharge.
