Eradication
The eradication of infectious diseases is the reduction of the prevalence of an infectious disease in the global host population to zero. [1]
- “Two infectious diseases have successfully been eradicated: smallpox in humans, and rinderpest in ruminants.
- There are four ongoing programs, targeting the human diseases poliomyelitis (polio), yaws, dracunculiasis (Guinea worm), and malaria.
- Five more infectious diseases have been identified as of April 2008 as potentially eradicable with current technology by the Carter Center International Task Force for Disease Eradication — measles, mumps, rubella, lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) and cysticercosis (pork tapeworm).” [1]