What are Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs)?
TSEs are a family of diseases occurring in man and animals that are characterised by a degeneration of brain tissue giving a sponge-like appearance. The family includes diseases such as Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD) in humans, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and scrapie in sheep and goats. While BSE has only recently been identified, scrapie has been known for centuries and on the basis of the available data is not considered to be transmissible to humans nor to pose a risk to man. However, as a precautionary measure, EU legislation in place to prevent the spread and transmission of BSE applies also to sheep and to goats.

Will extensive monitoring make it more likely to discover a BSE case?
Ever since BSE was discovered in cattle, an extensive monitoring and surveillance regime for scrapie and BSE has been in place also for sheep and goats. Monitoring and passive surveillance of the sheep and goat population for the presence of scrapie has been an EU requirement since 1998 and scrapie is a notifiable animal disease since 1993. Active surveillance of a sample of healthy slaughter and risk animals over the age of 18 months by using the TSE-rapid test was introduced in January 2002. It utilises the same tests as used for BSE-testing in cattle, since those are designed to recognise TSEs. The level of testing was greatly increased from 1 April 2002. Every year about 350000 sheep and 50000 goats are tested resulting in the monitoring of over 1 million animals since 2002.  Detailed results of surveillance for scrapie in sheep and goats in the EU since January 2002 can be found on http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/food/biosafety/bse/monitoring_en.htm.  

Given this widespread testing, it is not a big surprise that a isolated cases of BSE could be found, but it does not indicate that there is a widespread problem. The monitoring results indicate a very low incidence of scrapie in the goat population. Furthermore more advanced test methods to differentiate between BSE and scrapie could until now not confirm BSE in goats.

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Source: EUROPA - Press Releases
October 29, 2004

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