Miracle is right. Take one other, arguably more important, rust - stem rust of wheat - to put this in perspective. From the American Phytopathological Society:
"Stem rust is one of the major diseases of wheat and barley and, therefore, a potential threat to the world food supply....... Spores of P. graminis have been found in archeological sites in Israel dating from 1300 B.C........................"
"Wheat stem rust was a serious problem in ancient Greece and Rome. Rust was observed and recognized as early as the time of Aristotle (384-322 B.C.). The ancient Romans sacrificed red animals such as dogs, foxes, and cows to the rust god, Robigo or Robigus, each spring during the festival called the Robigalia in hopes that the wheat crop would be spared from the ravages of the rust. This festival was incorporated into the early Christian calendar as St. Mark's Day or Rogation on April 25. Historical weather records suggest that a series of rainy years, in which rust would have been more severe and wheat harvests reduced, may have contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire."
http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter...
Interesting that the date of St. Mark's Day is today! So, what'ya going to sacrifice
Anyway, although they've reduced the impact of this, one of many different plant rusts (as far as I recall there are 7,000 or more different ones), it's still around after all this time. From the APS article again "Stem rust was once the most feared disease of cereal crops. It is not as damaging now due to the development of resistant cultivars, but outbreaks may occur when new pathogen races arise against which the existing kinds of resistance are ineffective. Stem rust remains an important threat to wheat and barley and, thus, to the world food supply."
