Rinderpest was once one of the deadliest animal viral diseases affecting cloven-hoofed animals (domestic and wild). It was characterized by fever, erosive or necrotic stomatitis, ocular and nasal discharges, diarrhea, and dehydration, combined with high morbidity and mortality rates. Because other diseases can cause similar clinical signs, laboratory confirmation is needed for diagnosis. Rinderpest has been globally eradicated. Because rinderpest was such a scourge and reemergence remains a possibility, it is vital to maintain current information.
Rinderpest, or infection with rinderpest virus (1, 2)—is also known as cattle plague (the English translation of the German word “rinderpest”).
Rinderpest was a disease of cloven-hoofed animals characterized by fever, ocular and nasal discharges, erosive or necrotic stomatitis, gastroenteritis, lymphoid necrosis, and dehydration, combined with high morbidity and mortality rates. In epidemic form, it was the most lethal plague known in cattle.
All wild and domesticated species of the ungulate order Artiodactyla were variably susceptible to rinderpest. However, dissemination of the virus depended largely on continual transmission among domesticated cattle, buffalo, and yaks.
Rinderpest virus also infected goats and sheep, leading to underdiagnosis of the clinically similar peste des petits ruminants in regions where the two diseases coexisted. Some Asian pig breeds might also have been infected, without exhibiting typical clinical signs (3).
History of Rinderpest
Historically, rinderpest virus was a scourge that wrought economic havoc throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe. The need to combat rinderpest provided the impetus for establishment of the first modern veterinary school in Lyon (France) in 1761 (4).
After several decades of being successfully eradicated from Europe, rinderpest recurred unexpectedly in Belgium in 1920, and renewed efforts to eradicate it resulted in creation of the Office International des Épizooties (OIE) in 1924 (the OIE adopted the current name, World Organisation for Animal Health [WOAH], in May 2003) (5). After creation of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1946, WOAH and FAO signed a cooperation agreement in 1952 to eradicate the disease.
Thereafter, WOAH and FAO were major participants in several worldwide campaigns to combat rinderpest, which culminated in global eradication of the disease in 2011. In fact, the last reported rinderpest outbreak occurred in Kenya in 2001; however, a 10-year active surveillance period was necessary before global eradication could be declared.
Rinderpest is only the second viral disease, after the human disease smallpox, to have been successfully eradicated worldwide (6).
Rinderpest virus is biologically similar to the peste des petits ruminants virus, which has been targeted by WOAH and FAO as the next animal disease for global eradication.
Etiology, Epidemiology, and Transmission of Rinderpest
Rinderpest virus was a paramyxovirus in the genus Morbillivirus, closely related to the viruses that cause peste des petits ruminants, canine distemper, and the human disease measles. Although strains of varying virulence for cattle developed, only a single serotype of the virus existed, and therefore a vaccine prepared from any strain protected against all strains.
The incubation period for typical rinderpest infection was 3–9 days, but incubation could take up to 15 days, depending on the virus strain and the extent of exposure.
Rinderpest virus was shed in nasal and ocular secretions and could be transmitted during the incubation period (1–2 days before onset of fever). Transmission required direct or close indirect contact between susceptible animals and sick animals shedding the virus.
The rinderpest virus was not highly environmentally resistant. It could be inactivated rapidly by exposure to heat, sunlight, and drying, as well as by disinfectants. There was no carrier state, and recovered animals acquired lifelong immunity. In endemic areas, young cattle would become infected after maternal immunity disappeared and before vaccinal immunity began, with possible auxiliary cycles in wild ungulates.
Clinical Findings of Rinderpest
After an incubation period of 3–15 days in typical rinderpest cases, clinical signs of fever, anorexia, depression, and oculonasal discharge developed, followed by necrotic lesions on the gums, buccal mucosa, and tongue (see oral lesions image). The hard and soft palates were often affected. The oculonasal discharge became mucopurulent, and the muzzle appeared dry and cracked. Diarrhea, the final clinical sign, could be watery and bloody.
Courtesy of Plum Island Animal Disease Center.
Rinderpest should be suspected if one or more animals show clinical signs consistent with stomatitis-enteritis syndrome. The famous four Ds—depression, dehydration, discharge, and diarrhea—are often used to describe the typical clinical signs (see four D signs image) (7). Clinical signs vary depending on the animal species.
Courtesy of Plum Island Animal Disease Center.
Convalescence in rinderpest cases was prolonged and could be complicated by concurrent infections due to immunosuppression. The morbidity rate was often 100%, and the mortality rate was as high as 90% in epidemic areas. In endemic areas, however, the morbidity rate was low, and clinical signs were often mild.
Lesions of Rinderpest
Gross pathological lesions of rinderpest occurred throughout the GI and upper respiratory tracts, either as areas of necrosis and erosion, or as congestion and hemorrhage (see colitis image), the latter creating classic zebra striping in the rectum.
Courtesy of Plum Island Animal Disease Center.
Lymph nodes in animals with rinderpest could be enlarged and edematous, with white necrotic foci in Peyer’s patches. Histological lesions included lymphoid and epithelial necrosis with viral-induced syncytia, and intracytoplasmic and intranuclear inclusions were common.
Diagnosis of Rinderpest
Before eradication: clinical and pathological findings after initial laboratory confirmation
After eradication: laboratory confirmation by a WOAH/FAO rinderpest reference laboratory
Diagnosis of Rinderpest Before Eradication
Before rinderpest was eradicated, clinical and pathological findings were sufficient for diagnosis in endemic areas and after initial laboratory confirmation of an outbreak.
In areas where rinderpest was uncommon or absent, laboratory tests had to be used to differentiate it from other diseases that can cause stomatitis-enteritis syndrome, such as bovine viral diarrhea in particular, East Coast fever, foot-and-mouth disease, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, papular stomatitis, vesicular stomatitis, and malignant catarrhal fever.
Test methods available for identifying the causative agent of rinderpest included virus isolation, agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) assay, antigen capture ELISA, differential immunocapture ELISA (ic-ELISA) (8), and RT-PCR.
Diagnosis of Rinderpest After Eradication
In the posteradication era, a case of rinderpest is defined as an infection of a susceptible animal with rinderpest virus, with or without clinical signs (1, 2).
Because of worldwide restrictions on the distribution and use of materials containing rinderpest virus, positive control virus and viral antigen are not available for rinderpest diagnosis outside of a WOAH/FAO rinderpest reference laboratory.
For initial testing of a suspect case of rinderpest, RT-PCR or real-time RT-PCR assay with the established primer sets is recommended for non-WOAH/FAO rinderpest reference laboratories. The test can be run with a peste des petits ruminants virus and published primer sets for the virus as parallel tests instead of a rinderpest positive control (1). Alternatively, bovine actin primers can be used in parallel as an internal control reaction (1).
An infection with rinderpest virus must be confirmed by a WOAH Reference Laboratory for Rinderpest or a Reference Center for Diagnostics of Rinderpest of FAO (2, 9).
Control of Rinderpest
Quarantine
Ring vaccination
Slaughter
Control of Rinderpest Before Eradication
Active immunity to rinderpest was lifelong, whereas maternal immunity lasted 6–11 months. The disease was controlled in endemic areas by immunization of all cattle and domestic buffalo > 1 year old with a live attenuated vaccine. In these areas, outbreaks were controlled by quarantine and “ring vaccination” (the practice of vaccinating individuals in proximity to an area of active infection, to protect them from the anticipated imminent spread of a disease transmitted by direct or close contact) and sometimes by slaughtering.
In epidemics, rinderpest was best eliminated by imposing quarantine and by slaughtering affected and exposed animals. Limiting animal movement was paramount to controlling rinderpest; many outbreaks were due to the introduction of infected cattle to uninfected herds.
Control of Rinderpest After Eradication
Although rinderpest has been eradicated globally, it remains a WOAH notifiable disease. Vaccination against rinderpest, including administration of vaccines containing rinderpest virus or components derived from the virus to any animals, is currently banned (1).
Pearls & Pitfalls
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Reemergence of rinderpest would be catastrophic because herd immunity has been lost since eradication of the disease. Animals with suspected rinderpest infection must be isolated, and suspected cases should be reported to veterinary authorities immediately.
Once a case of rinderpest is confirmed by a WOAH Reference Laboratory for Rinderpest or an FAO Reference Center for Diagnostics of Rinderpest, it becomes an event of rinderpest reemergence. The actions for response, recovery, and targeted surveillance requested by a veterinary authority and/or defined in a national rinderpest action plan must be followed. In the absence of a national plan, suggested actions can be found in the Global Rinderpest Action Plan developed by WOAH and FAO.
Before 2010, the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (FADDL) at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center provided specialized training courses to US and international veterinarians in clinically identifying and investigating rinderpest. After global eradication of the disease, the goal of rinderpest education was to maintain vigilance to prevent its reemergence, and the FAO elearning Academy offers a course on rinderpest disease recognition for this purpose.
Key Points
Although global eradication of rinderpest was declared in 2011, the risk of reemergence exists.
Clinical signs of rinderpest resemble those of several other globally endemic cattle diseases; laboratory testing is required for diagnosis.
Rinderpest cases must be confirmed by a WOAH Reference Laboratory for Rinderpest or an FAO Reference Center for Diagnostics of Rinderpest.
Disclaimer
The descriptions, conclusions, and other contents in this chapter are those of the author and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or US government determination or policy.
For More Information
Roeder P, Mariner J, Kock R. Rinderpest: the veterinary perspective on eradication. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2013;368(1623):20120139.
References
World Organisation for Animal Health. Infection with rinderpest virus. In: Terrestrial Animal Health Code. WOAH; 2024:chap 8.17. First adopted in 1968; most recent update adopted in 2024.
World Organisation for Animal Health. Rinderpest (infection with rinderpest virus). In: OIE Terrestrial Manual. OIE; 2018:634-648.
Hudson JR, Wongsongsarn C. The utilisation of pigs for the production of lapinised rinderpest virus. Brit Vet J. 1950;106(12):453-472. doi:10.1016/S0007-1935(17)52466-5
Larkin M. Pioneering a profession: the birth of veterinary education in the Age of Enlightenment. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2010;238(1):8-11,14. doi:10.2460/javma.238.1.8
World Organisation for Animal Health. Who We Are. Accessed April 17, 2025.
Taylor WE, Gibbs EPJ, Bandyopadhyay SK, Pastoret P-P, Atang P. Rinderpest and Its Eradication. FAO and WOAH; 2022. doi:10.20506/9789295115606
World Organisation for Animal Health. Rinderpest. Accessed April 29, 2025.
Libeau G, Diallo A, Colas F, Guerre L. Rapid differential diagnosis of rinderpest and peste des petits ruminants using an immunocapture ELISA. Vet Rec. 1994;134:300-304. doi:10.1136/vr.134.12.300
Myers L, Metwally S, Marrana M, Stoffel C, Ismayilova G, Brand T. Global Rinderpest Action Plan: Post-Eradication. FAO; 2018. doi:10.4060/ca1965en
