Friday, May 27, 2011

So Long Rinderpest

Rinderpest, scourge of cattle, has become the second disease to be completely eradicated:

This is quite a momentous occasion for humanity. . . . The suffering that this disease has caused through the millennia is incredible. This is probably the greatest achievement in veterinary medicine.

First to go was smallpox, although there is suspicion that lingers in weapons labs. Soon to be gone: polio and guinea worm.

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