Bovine spongiform encephalopathy

Table of contents

by Richard H. Kimberlin
Scrapie and Related Diseases Advisory Service Edinburgh, UK

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

M-27
ISBN 92-5-1031 55-X

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(c) FAO 1993

Contents

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Introduction to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
2. Diseases related to BSE

2.1. Scrapie
2.2. Transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME)
2.3. Kuru
2.4. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)

Chapter 1

1. Geographical distribution

1.1 United kingdom
1.2 Other countries

Chapter 2

2. Economic implications

Chapter 3

3. Aetiology

3.1 Evidence for infection
3.2 Nature of the infectious agent

Chapter 4

4. Epidemiology

4.1 Early findings
4.2 The vehicle of infection
4.3 The start of the BSE epidemic
4.4 The north-south gradient
4.5 The recycling of infection in cattle
4.6 The development of the epidemic
4.7 Spongiform encephalopathy in other animal species

Chapter 5

5. Clinical signs

Chapter 6

6. Pathology

6.1 Histopathology
6.2 Molecular pathology

Chapter 7

7. Diagnosis

7.1 Clinical signs
7.2 Histopathology
7.3 Detection of the fibrillar form of PrP

Chapter 8

8. Prevention

8.1 Restrictions on trade in live cattle
8.2 Restrictions on trade in meat and bone meal
8.3 Sterilization of meat and bone meal
8.4 Restricted use of meat and bone meal
8.5 Minimizing exposure of the human population
8.6 Minimizing the exposure of other species

Chapter 9

9. Control and eradication

9.1 The possibility of endemic infection
9.2 The worst-case scenario

Appendix

I. Protocol for the histopathological diagnosis of bovine spongiform encephalopathy

References

FAO technical papers: FAO animal production and health papers