Tufts Helps Eradicate Disease

Three y researchers were praised by the international community for their help in eradicating rinderpest, a disease that has killed millions of cattle for millennia.

Their pioneering work allowed a rinderpest vaccine to traverse the Sahara in the world’s most remote areas and save cattle from the disease.

They were part of a United Nations celebration of the world’s second eradicated disease. 

On Tuesday, June 28, the United Nations declared that the world has completely eradicated the disease. It is the first animal disease to be officially declared eradicated and only the second disease ever, after smallpox.

A resolution approved by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization at its meeting in Rome stated that the world was free of rinderpest, or cattle plague, but also called on the world community to follow up by ensuring that samples of the viruses and vaccines be kept under safe laboratory conditions and that rigorous standards for disease surveillance and reporting be applied.

 “The eradication of rinderpest highlights the importance of veterinarians’ involvement in basic science and global health,” said Deborah T. Kochevar, DVM, PhD, dean of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, where the heat-stable rinderpest vaccine work began. “There is a continued need for teams of global health professionals to work together to eradicate infectious diseases, and veterinarians will play a key part in this effort.”

Attending the ceremony were Jeffrey Mariner, a former student and faculty member of the Cummings School, as well as Andy Catley, PhD and Berhanu Admassu, DVM, MSC, of Tufts’ Feinstein International Center (FIC).

While a student at Tufts’ veterinary school, Dr. Mariner, now with the International Livestock Research Institute, repurposed a rinderpest vaccine that could be transported to rural areas without refrigeration. Delivery of the previous vaccine was problematic due to heat sensitivity.

Dr. Admassu and Darlington Akabwai, DVM, also of the FIC, assisted the Ethiopian government with removing distribution barriers by developing novel community-based approaches to vaccination. Eradication of rinderpest in Ethiopia was especially crucial because the country has the largest cattle population in Africa.

Community participation involved training pastoral livestock owners living in remote, marginalized areas of Ethiopia as community-based animal health workers. Most could not read or write, but mastered the cattle vaccination process by attending special training courses in the field, designed by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) and Tufts veterinarians. 

“Eradication of rinderpest is an incredible turning point for East Africa,” added Peter Walker, PhD, director of FIC and the Irwin H. Rosenberg Professor of Nutrition and Human Security at The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts. “It alleviates food insecurity and strengthens the economy, and is a step toward meat exports. Ultimately, we hope the eradication will result in a larger and healthier cattle population and we’ll see fewer of the violent cattle rustling raids that plague the region.”