Sub-acute, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies: current concepts and future needs.

Abstract

The first diagnosis of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United Kingdom in 1986 was to stimulate the most intensive epidemiological study of any animal disease of all time in that country. It led also to the initiation of a broad-based research programme with an international flavour. This principally involved scientists and veterinarians in Europe (especially the United Kingdom) and the United States of America, especially those with experience of slow infections in general and experimental scrapie in particular. This final chapter highlights some of the significant discoveries made in the study of BSE and related diseases of this group but also emphasises the deficits in knowledge which need to be corrected before such diseases as scrapie in sheep and goats can be brought under control. The benefits resultant upon effective disease control will be manifest as improvement in animal production, welfare and, importantly, the removal of trading barriers currently in place to protect countries in which diseases such as BSE and scrapie do not exist. Of key importance is the development of a simple, cheap and effective diagnostic test for use in the live animal before the onset of clinical signs. This will be difficult since the nature of the causal agents is uncertain and none provokes either a detectable immune response or inflammatory reaction in the host. The earlier chapters, written by acknowledged specialists from around the world, deal with the specific diseases in detail and all present some of the most recent knowledge available. Here the authors emphasise the important role that major national and international agencies have in effecting the highest level of control possible in the absence of key information. International collaboration with countries in which these diseases exist, and as well as those where they are absent, is of paramount importance. It is essential that the BSE epidemic which has severely affected the cattle industry of the United Kingdom is not allowed to happen in developing countries. Whereas the former has implemented stringent control measures based on scientific knowledge and is well on the way to eradicating the disease, the latter could have much greater difficulty in establishing control. The answer is clear. BSE must be prevented from occurring elsewhere. To do that, knowledge of BSE and other members of the group should be widely dispersed and it is the purpose of this issue to do just that.