In June 2011 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations announced that rinderpest, the 'cattle plague', had been eradicated worldwide, only the second disease in history, after smallpox, to be wiped out, and the first in animals. This viral disease had killed millions of cattle and buffalo for thousands of years, causing famines in Africa and Asia, including the great African epidemic of the 1890s that destroyed 90 per cent of cattle in some regions. The campaign used a vaccine developed by Walter Plowright in the 1950s and 1960s and a global programme of vaccination and surveillance. The last known case was in Kenya in 2001.
Before and after
- from 1 May 2011 to 2 May 2011Operation Neptune Spear
- 2 May 2011Death of Osama bin Laden
- from 3 May 2011 to 24 June 2019Premiere of The Amazing World of Gumball
- 11 May 2011Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence
- June 2011Rinderpest is declared eradicated
- 6 June 2011Discovery of C/2011 L4
- from 23 June 2011 to 25 September 2019Premiere of Suits
- 28 June 2011Discovery of Kerberos
- 1 July 2011Wedding of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and Charlene Wittstock
More in Science & technology
- 25 April 1953Watson and Crick publish the structure of DNA
- 1973Mobile phone
- 20 November 1985Creation of Microsoft Windows
- 1996Discovery of copernicium
- August 2003Discovery of moscovium
- 2006Discovery of nihonium
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.