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Source: New York Times [summarised, truncated, edited]
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On Tuesday [28 Jun 2011] in a ceremony in Rome, the United Nations is
officially declaring that for only the 2nd time in history, a disease
has been wiped off the face of the earth.

The disease is rinderpest.

Everyone has heard of smallpox. Very few have heard of the runner-up.

That's because rinderpest is an epizootic, an animal disease. The
name means "cattle plague" in German, and it is a relative of the
measles virus that infects cloven-hoofed beasts, including cattle,
buffaloes, large antelopes and deer, pigs and warthogs, even giraffes
and wildebeests. The most virulent strains killed 95 percent of the
herds they attacked.

But rinderpest is hardly irrelevant to humans. It has been blamed for
speeding the fall of the Roman Empire, aiding the conquests of Genghis
Khan and hindering those of Charlemagne, opening the way for the
French and Russian Revolutions, and subjugating East Africa to
colonization.

Any society dependent on cattle -- or relatives like African zebu,
Asian water buffaloes or Himalayan yaks -- was vulnerable.

Check this link for the full story.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/health/28rinderpest.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=science>