BSE: Science & research - TSEs in sheep and goats
Defra funds a significant amount of research into sheep and goat TSEs to support the National Scrapie Plan and to provide information for contingency planning should BSE ever be detected in the national sheep flock. More recently, research has also been funded to further our understanding about the nature and transmissibility of atypical scrapie.
Aims
- To improve diagnosis and ascertainment of the incidence of TSEs in sheep;
- To gain further information on the genotypes affected by scrapie and experimental BSE in sheep, the time course for infection and the tissues infected;
- To provide information for the National Scrapie Plan and control strategies;
- To determine the routes of transmission of TSEs within sheep flocks and between flocks.
Areas of work
Defra is funding research in the following areas:
- Research to support the National Scrapie Plan and control strategies;
- Experimental BSE in sheep;
- Atypical scrapie;
- Diagnostics for sheep TSEs: this is covered in the TSE diagnostics section.
Other information and statistics
Other areas of TSE research supported by Defra
- BSE in cattle
- 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
(62 KB)
Page last modified: 19 March, 2008