VERSAILLES, France, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Rinderpest, a disease that decimated cattle herds for centuries, will officially be history this coming June, a United Nations official said Monday in New York.
The milestone, which comes during World Veterinary Year, will mark the first time an animal disease has been wiped out worldwide, said Jacques Diouf, director-general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. The last known outbreak of the highly infectious viral disease was in Kenya in 2001.