Prospects for the total eradication of rinderpest

Rinderpest, a major economic problem of Africa and Asia, is a highly contagious viral disease of cattle and buffalo with greater than 90% mortality in susceptible herds. We have developed an effective vaccinia virus recombinant vaccine for rinderpest which protects cattle against challenge by more than 1000 times the lethal dose of the virus. The vaccine circumvents the major logistical problems of the Plowright tissue culture vaccine that occasioned previous failures to eradicate rinderpest by vaccination. The recombinant can easily be propagated and administered by scarification, using methods employed in the world-wide eradication of smallpox. More importantly, the lyophilized form of vaccinia virus is thermostable and does not require maintenance of the cold chain, a distinct advantage in the hot and arid regions of Africa and Asia.