An animal ‘black death’ that has devastated livestock around the world for thousands of years, causing famine and untold human misery, is about to be permanently consigned to the history books.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is confident that rinderpest is beaten after being at the centre of efforts to wipe out a disease that had seemed unstoppable for much of the 20th century and it expects the official declaration of its extinction to arrive next year.

Read more … (IPS)