A very interesting note in the articles about this new finding is the belief that the blight was a "new thing" that was somewhat different, genetically, from any previous similar crop diseases, and more importantly - if true - the people who reported this result believe it may have "run its course" and may be extinct now.

Of course we "eradicated smallpox" too(?), but that hasn't prevented at least three research labs from making it "from scratch" in the lab.

John