Scrapie - the risks in perspective

Authors: Adlam GH
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 25, Issue 12, pp 359-360, Dec 1977
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant, Sheep
Subject Terms: Biosecurity, Notifiable organisms/exotic disease, Nervous system/neurology, Spongiform encephalopathies, Disease/defect, Infectious disease
Article class: General Article

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Abstract: No-one would deny that there is always an element of risk of introducing an exotic disease with any importation of animals. It must be accepted that the epidemiological features of scrapie pose unique difficulties because of the lengthy incubation period and the uncertainty that can exist in determining if, and when, an imported animal may have been exposed to infection. Scrapie is not a highly contagious disease and there has been a sporadic incidence in many flocks in the United Kingdom for at least 250 years. As the disease is not reportable and no compulsory regulatory action has been taken to control it, information on the identity of infected flocks is incomplete. Notwithstanding these facts, our past experience of importing many thousands of sheep in hundreds of shipments for over 100 years before the first case of scrapie appeared in 1952, suggests that, without taking any precautions whatsoever, the risk of introducing the disease is not very high…

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