The Death of a Deadly Virus

This article can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/science/16pest.html?_r=1&ref=science

    This story on the complete elimination of the deadly virus, rinderpest, is well-written and touches on a couple interesting/important topics. With the first sentence, Donald G. McNeil Jr. draws us in by acknowledging the historic and social context of this elimination: “In only the second elimination of a disease in history, rinderpest—a virus that used to kill cattle by the millions, leading to famine and death among humans—has been declared wiped off the face of the earth.” He goes on to describe the horrible consequences of the virus, the sigh of relief felt by international health and food organizations, how rinderpest was eliminated, and the future decision of whether or not to keep frozen samples of the virus stored for research purposes.

    The second half of the article goes through the history of rinderpest, from its beginnings in Asia to its “total destruction of herds” (which led to widespread famine) in Africa. In this way, the writer makes it seem like an obituary for the virus, which makes sense since it has effectively “died” and people would naturally wonder how it “lived” now that it’s gone. The writer also does well in mentioning other viruses with stories similar to rinderpest, including the infamous smallpox: “the only other disease ever eliminated.”