Rinderpest is a highly contagious viral disease found in ruminants. It was [G 15 / endemic] in the cattle populations of Europe for hundreds of years. When Europeans settlers came to East Africa in the late 1880s they brought their infected cattle, which in turn spread the disease to other ruminants of the region including wildebeest, buffalo and [P 015 / giraffes].
The cattle transmitted the disease to the wildlife which it came in contact with on the grazing pastures. Because of its highly contagious nature, it spread rapidly throughout the herds of the region. By 1890, large portions of the buffalo, wildebeest, and giraffe populations had died.
By 1892, 95 percent of the cattle population had perished, devastating pastoral and nomadic tribes such as the [G 29 / Masai] who depended entirely on their [P 009 / cattle]. Famine developed and diseases such as smallpox became epidemic. For the next 70 years, periodic outbreaks of rinderpest took heavy tolls on the ruminants in the region and indirectly the human population.
In the early 1950s, a vaccine was developed for rinderpest. Cattle in infected areas were vaccinated, eradicating the disease at its source. By 1962, rinderpest had died out of the wildebeest population as well as the other ruminant populations.
The disease is characterized by high temperature, diarrhea, lesions in the mouth and bleeding ulcerations in the [G 01 / abomasum] and intestines. The disease leaves the animal incapable of eating and it dies from dehydration and malnutrition.
