Wildebeests in the context of Black wildebeest

Rinderpest (also cattle plague or steppe murrain) was an infectious viral disease of cattle, domestic water buffalo, and many other species of even-toed ungulates, including gaurs, buffaloes, large antelope, deer, giraffes, wildebeests, and warthogs. The disease was characterized by fever, oral erosions, diarrhea, lymphoid necrosis, and high mortality. Death rates during outbreaks were usually extremely high, approaching 100% in immunologically naïve populations. Rinderpest was mainly transmitted by direct contact and by drinking contaminated water, although it could also be transmitted by air.

Rinderpest is believed to have originated in Asia, and to have spread by transport of cattle. The term Rinderpest (German: [ˈʁɪndɐˌpɛst] ) is a German word meaning 'cattle plague'. The rinderpest virus (RPV) is closely related to the measles and canine distemper viruses. The measles virus may have emerged from rinderpest as a zoonotic disease around 600 BC, a period that coincides with the rise of large human settlements. After a global eradication campaign that began in the mid-20th century, the last confirmed case of rinderpest was diagnosed in 2001. In 2010, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that field activities in the decades-long, worldwide campaign to eradicate the disease were ending, paving the way for a formal declaration in June 2011 of the global eradication of rinderpest. This makes it only the second disease in history to be fully wiped out, following smallpox.