Researchers at Tufts' Feinstein International Center (FIC) played a leading role in Ethiopia's successful eradication of a viral disease that kills cattle and destabilized a large group of people dependent on the livestock for survival.
The Ethiopian government, along with a team from FIC and the Tufts School of Medicine, in July celebrated the official eradication of the rinderpest virus from the country, once a hotspot for the disease commonly known as cattle plague. Research Associate Professor Jeffrey Mariner from the medical school was integral in finding the vaccine, which he began working on nearly two decades ago.
The first vaccine for the rinderpest disease, created in the 1960s, was heat-sensitive and could not be transported without refrigeration, severely limiting its effectiveness.
Mariner discovered a freeze-drying process in the early 1990s that would allow for a heat-stable version of the vaccine.
This process greatly enhanced the versatility of this vaccine, said Andrew Catley, a research director at the FIC. He said that the new vaccine had the same ingredients as the first version, but the freeze-drying process altered its form, allowing it to be delivered to areas where refrigeration is not an option.
Tufts' researchers helped distribute the vaccine in Ethiopia through the Global Rinderpest Eradication Program. The program has set a deadline to completely eradicate the disease by 2010. If successful, rinderpest will be the second disease eradicated in history, after smallpox, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
Associate Professor of History Jeanne Penvenne, who studies African issues, explained that rinderpest has devastated a number of African communities throughout history. When it has "struck at critical times," the disease has been blamed for preventing the growth of the African human population, she said, as Africans are largely dependent on cattle for food and economic survival.
Penvenne indicated that rinderpest has serious consequences for people in Africa because cattle are a vital source of both individual and collective wealth. "People [not only] depend on their herds for livelihood but for increasing wealth for the whole community," Penvenne said.
The late 19th century saw a near extinction of cattle in Ethiopia when rinderpest infected 90 percent of the bovine population. This resulted in a food shortage that led to the deaths of approximately a third of the human population.
Veterinarians from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, who collaborated on the project, faced significant obstacles while distributing the new vaccine.
The four-wheeled vehicles used to deliver vaccines limited veterinarians' access to certain regions, according to Catley. To overcome this, veterinarians from Tufts and the Ethiopian government collaborated to teach community-based animal health care workers to use the vaccine.
Catley explained that the short-term training, which lasted a few days, occurred in different rural areas and had to be conducted through hands-on activities, as many animal health-care workers were not literate.
Dean of the Cummings School Deborah Kochevar was pleased with the results of the researchers' efforts.
"The eradication of diseases that affect animals as well as humans is a core strength of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine," she said in an e-mail. "We are proud to have been part of the team that worked with the Ethiopian government to stop the spread of rinderpest among cattle there and join with them in this celebration."
Catley is currently working with the governments of various countries to legalize the animal health care delivery system in order to ensure that community-based animal health care workers are considered legal workers. This would allow the workers to receive greater benefits for their contributions to the eradication effort.
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