Question

What is rinderpest?
A. A disease of cattle plagues that spread in Africa in the 1890s.
B. Bubonic plague which spread in the region of Maharashtra in 1890s.
C. A type of cholera that spread in Assam in the 1890s.
D. A devastating bird disease that was imported to Italy from British Asia, through chicken meat.

Answer 1

Hint: Rinder is an occupational surname, which comes from the German word Rind, meaning a cow. It is an epizootic event in a non-human animal population analogous to an epidemic in humans. An epizootic may be restricted to a specific locality, general or widespread. High population density is a very important factor in epizootics.

Complete answer:
Rinderpest is a viral disease found in cattle plagues caused by a genus of viruses, named as Morbillivirus. It was spread in Africa in the 1890s. It affects cloven-hoofed animals that have two toes, especially cattle and buffaloes. It is also known as cattle plague. It is an epizootic of the rinderpest virus that struck Africa, considered to be "the most devastating epidemic to hit southern Africa in the late nineteenth century". This disease led to starvation which results in the death of an estimated two-thirds of the Maasai people of Tanzania and one-third of the human population of Ethiopia.
A bacterium called Yersinia pestis is responsible for causing Bubonic plague. It can spread through contact with infected fleas. Cholera spreads over India almost entirely from Bengal appears to be mainly based and to trace the spread of the 1817-19 epidemic. H5N1 highly pathogenic influenza is avian influenza is very lethal to poultry and can spread quickly among an entire flock of birds.
So, the correct answer is “Option A”.

Note:
Rinderpest does not infect humans, but it has a significant effect on cattle and other animals. It has a tremendous impact on human livelihoods and food security because of its ability to wipe out entire herds of cattle in a matter of days. Animals which suffered from Rinderpest showed symptoms such as fever, wounds in the mouth, diarrhea, discharge from the nose and eyes, and at last death.