Last night in Paris an official announcement was made at the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) assembly declaring that rinderpest is no more.

Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) president, Barry Smith, said the last known case of the disease was identified in Africa in 2001 - the same year of the last vaccinations.

No other cases have been identified since, including in wild animal populations, leading to the decision to announce the disease as eradicated.

Information released by the AVA said in Africa in the late 1880s rinderpest was responsible for the deaths of about 80 per cent of cattle and similar proportions of wildebeest, giraffe and buffalo - taking a huge toll on both human and wildlife populations by removing these animals from the food chain.

Animals infected with rinderpest became feverish, developed lesions in the mouth, diarrhoea and dehydration, and were often dead within 10 to 15 days.

Rinderpest holds a special place in veterinary history because outbreaks of rinderpest in European cattle herds are said to have been the driver for the establishment of the first veterinary school at Lyon in France in 1761.

This year, therefore, also marks the celebration of 250 years of the veterinary education and the veterinary profession.

Dr Smith said Africa was the last bastion for rinderpest mainly due to the poor stock handling facilities and subsistence farming.

The one and only Aussie outbreak was in 1923 in Western Australia.

"We were fortunate that happened right away from our major cattle population," Dr Smith said.

The disease is spread from animal to animal via aerosols and contaminated secretions, and in terms of virility, Dr Smith said it could spread as rapidly as foot and mouth disease, but was far more deadly.

"It’s probably the most deadly cattle disease we've known," he said.

"It has pretty far reaching societal effects when (an outbreak) happens."

Dr Smith said the main drivers behind its eradication had been the OIE, along with the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and international governments.

Despite the announcement of rinderpest's eradication, Dr Smith said there would still be ongoing monitoring, particularly in situations where acute numbers of cattle deaths occurred.

This is only the second disease to ever be completely eradicated, the first being smallpox.