CATTLE PLAGUE IN SHANGRI-LA - OBSERVATIONS ON A SEVERE OUTBREAK OF RINDERPEST IN NORTHERN PAKISTAN 1994-1995

Between April 1994 and November 1995 the most severe epidemic of rinde rpest reported in the world for over a decade affected domestic livest ock in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. As many as 40,000 tattle and ya ks died, more by some estimates, and mortality rates may have exceeded 80 per cent in these species in several villages. This report describ es some of the clinicopathological and epidemiological features peculi ar to the outbreak, including laboratory-confirmed rinderpest in a goa t, and the difficulties encountered before the disease was eradicated. It also describes the human costs and emphasises the need to accelera te the global eradication of this most eradicable disease.