EU: Commission requests further investigations on three unusual cases of TSE in sheep

IP/06/288
Brussels 09 March 2006

An expert panel from the Community Reference Laboratory in Weybridge has informed the European Commission that test results from the brains of two sheep from France and one from Cyprus show an unusual molecular profile that warrants further investigation, and while some data suggest that the samples may not be BSE in sheep, "there is insufficient evidence to definitively rule out BSE". In line with EU legislation, the European Commission has requested that further investigations be carried out. TSEs are Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies, a family of diseases characterised by a degeneration of brain tissue such as Creutzfeldt Jackob Disease in humans, scrapie in sheep and BSE in cows. The Commission, together with Member States, is considering a review of the current TSE monitoring programmes in sheep in order to get a better picture on the significance of these three cases. Following the detection of unusual TSE cases in these sheep in France and Cyprus, the Commission had asked the CRL to continue investigations. The next level of testing, recommended by the CRL expert panel and which has been requested by the Commission, entails the use of the mouse bioassay test and will take between 12 -18 months to complete. BSE has never been found under natural circumstances in sheep, but the first case of BSE in a goat was confirmed last year (IP/05/132). The sheep now being evaluated were detected as part of the EU-wide surveillance programme for TSE strains in small ruminants. Whatever the final test findings show, there is no risk to public health, as the sheep did not enter the food and feed chain and strict animal health measures are applied to all farmed ruminants.

Source: Commission requests further investigations on three unusual cases of TSE in sheep
Author: EU:

Link: EFSA update on TSE in sheep
Link: More tests over 'mad sheep disease'
Link: Questions and Answers on TSEs in Sheep
Link: The TSE community reference laboratory strain typing expert group (STEG)


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