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Atypical Scrapie Now
Confirmed In The UK

From Patricia Doyle, PhD
dr_p_doyle@hotmail.com
12-11-4
 
Hello, Jeff - We discussed this when it first broke about 3 years ago. Whenever I am told by the food industry that:
 
1. Although consistent with BSE, there is no indication at this time to believe it is BSE in sheep, and
 
2. Eating Lamb is safe... I really begin to worry about the safety of the food.
 
The following paragraph is really an indication that there IS a problem and the meat is really unsafe. I think we need to be VERY CONCERNED.
 
"Senior officials with both DEFRA and the Scottish Executive's environment and rural affairs department were at pains to stress, however, that the discovery is not linked to BSE and that there is no need for consumer concerns over food safety."
 
Patricia Doyle
 
From ProMED-mail
 
New Strain Of Scrapie Hit Sheep Industry
 
By Dan Buglass The Herald - UK
12-11-4
 
The sheep industry was set on edge yesterday following an announcement by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [DEFRA] in London that tests had detected a new strain of scrapie, the fatal brain disease of sheep associated with BSE in cattle and, by implication, variant CJD in the human population.
 
Senior officials with both DEFRA and the Scottish Executive's environment and rural affairs department were at pains to stress, however, that the discovery is not linked to BSE and that there is no need for consumer concerns over food safety.
 
What is of major concern is that the government-funded Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey, has confirmed that 83 "atypical" cases of scrapie have been found over the past 3 years in samples from 110 000 sheep brains tested. More worrying is the acknowledgement that of those 83 abnormal results, 12 have been found in sheep with the genotype normally associated with the highest degree of resistance to scrapie.
 
A statement from DEFRA confirmed that the National Scrapie Plan, which aims to rid the UK sheep flock of 37 million of the disease, will continue in its current form.
 
The UK, with the largest sheep flock in the European Union, is ahead of all other member states -- with the exception of the Netherlands -- in achieving its goal of scrapie-free status within a decade.
 
3 years ago the UK government and the devolved administrations drew up a contingency plan that, in the event of a proven link between scrapie and BSE, virtually every sheep would be slaughtered. That plan, in time, proved to be based on a seriously flawed scientific assessment.
 
The UK is obliged, under direction from the European Commission, to conduct brain tests each year on 10 000 sheep over 18 months of age which are processed in abattoirs, as well as a similar total which die on farms. Results have shown that only 0.3 per cent of these sheep have been infected with scrapie, with many devoid of clinical symptoms.
 
But it has been almost impossible to trace back the 83 "atypical" cases back to the farm of origin. This has prompted fears that the commission will insist the UK puts in place an individual identification scheme for sheep. This has been resisted by the UK on the grounds that no other member state runs sheep on an extensive regime such as in the Highlands and in the Welsh mountains, where stocking rates are very low. Tagging every lamb at birth and recording maternal details would be impossible.
 
A spokesperson for National Farmers Union (NFU) Scotland expressed support for the National Scrapie Plan (NSP). "We knew that abnormal cases could be thrown up, given the scale of the testing regime which promotes the most resistant genotypes. These will not be guaranteed as totally resistant, but they represent the best options for producers."
 
For details on the NSP, go to http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/bse/othertses/scrapie/nsp/index.html.
 
[2]
Department Confirms New Strain Of Scrapie In Sheep
 
Ireland On-Line
12-11-4
 
The Department of Agriculture has confirmed that a new strain of scrapie is emerging in Irish sheep. The disease is a fatal, degenerative illness affecting the central nervous system of sheep and goats and [like] BSE in cattle and CJD in humans [is caused by a mutated prion protein].
 
The department's confirmation of the existence of the illness in Ireland came just hours after the British authorities said that 80 cases of an unknown strain of scrapie had been found in sheep there.
 
ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
 
Atypical cases of scrapie have been reported, since 2003, also from Norway, France, and Switzerland. So far, the scrapie strains involved in these cases have not been shown to be related to BSE.
 
Following the recently published findings by a research group in France that they suspect the presence of a TSE (transmissible spongiform encephalopathy) infection in a goat's brain which tests cannot distinguish from BSE, the European Commission submitted data received from the French authorities to the Community Reference Laboratory (CRL) for TSEs based in Weybridge, England, for an evaluation by an expert group. The issue was discussed during the 85th meeting of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC), held in Cardiff on 30 Nov 2004. The committee was informed that, although the data available are consistent with BSE, a definitive interpretation could not be provided until further data from mouse bioassays were available in about 2 months. - Mod.AS
 
Patricia A. Doyle, PhD Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
Go with God and in Good Health
 

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