BSE: Science & research - BSE in cattle
In response to the outbreak of BSE in the UK, Defra has funded a wide-ranging programme of research over the last 20 years.
Aims
The questions being addressed by the research programme have evolved since MAFF first funded TSE research in the 1980s. The current aims for Defra’s research into BSE in cattle are:
- To analyse the progress of the epidemic and investigate findings such as BSE cases born after the feed ban (BARB cases).
- To monitor and characterise any variation in BSE isolates within Great Britain.
- To provide information needed for the assessment of risk related to BSE, for example by establishing how much BSE agent is required to cause disease.
- To develop improved diagnostic tests in cattle, including post-mortem tests, tests that can be carried out on live animals and tests that can be used to detect infectivity more rapidly.
Areas of work
Research on BSE in cattle funded by Defra, or previously by MAFF, includes the following areas:
- What is the origin of BSE?
- Transmission of BSE to other species such as sheep, pigs and chickens;
- Pathogenesis of BSE and infectivity studies the distribution of infectivity and the infectious dose;
- Signs of BSE - Neurological and behavioural studies related to clinical diagnosis;
- Epidemiology and modelling of the BSE epidemic;
- Investigating new strains of TSEs in cattle (such as H- and L-type BSE);
- Does genetic variation affect susceptibility to BSE in cattle? Includes studies on BARB cases;
- Development of diagnostic tests for BSE is covered in the TSE diagnostics section.
Other information and statistics
- BSE and disease control and eradication
- Incidences of BSE in the UK
- Glossary
- Incidences of BSE in OIE member countries (World Organisation for Animal Health)
- The Food Standards Agency BSE Research pages
Other areas of TSE research supported by Defra
- TSEs in sheep and goats
- TSE diagnostics
- TSE persistence in the environment and animal by-products
- Table of all currently active and recently completed projects
- Bibliography of publications from 2003-2007
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Page last modified: 17 March, 2008