With few exceptions, vaccination aims to control rather than eliminate or eradicate disease. The eradication of
smallpox in the 1970s led to two other human diseases,
polio and
measles, being targeted for eradication by the World Health Organization. In general,
animal diseases are ignored by the public, however, recent targeting of the rinderpest virus, the agent of
cattle plague, has put this virus on the verge of global extinction. For centuries, this virus was responsible for major cattle plagues in Europe, Asia and Africa. The success of the Global
Rinderpest Eradication Program is an illustration of the power of
vaccines to alter people's lives economically and socially when used in an internationally coordinated way. In this review, the history of the development of
rinderpest vaccines and the new research being undertaken to produce
marker vaccines, using
recombinant DNA technology and reverse genetics, are described. In addition, the valuable contribution that
marker vaccines can make in the final stages of the
rinderpest eradication program is outlined.