Published Date: 2002-01-30 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH> BSE update Jan 2002
Archive Number: 20020130.3437

BSE UPDATE JANUARY 2002
***********************
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See Also

2001
---
BSE - Denmark: source 20011224.3108
BSE - Austria, Finland: first cases 20011216.3043
BSE - Japan: source 20011213.3016
BSE - Japan: OIE report 20011127.2896
BSE update (28) August 2001 20010826.2022
[1
Date: Tue 29 Jan 2002
From: <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: The Guardian, Fri 25 Jan 2002 [edited
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4342752,00.html>

BSE cattle born after feed curbs cause concern
-----------------------------------------------
Scientists are trying to explain a sudden rise in the number of bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) infected cattle born after tough feed
controls were meant to throttle the disease. Over 6 weeks, 4 such animals
have been diagnosed, bringing the total to 10, and more are likely now that
the government has stepped up testing. The European commission has
signalled it would consider imposing new export controls on British beef if
the number rose to more than 50 in 12 months.
The latest case to be announced was a Friesian cow which had spent its
entire life in Leicestershire. But there has been a wide geographical
spread of cases, including 2 in Northern Ireland, causing difficulties for
officials trying to pinpoint causes of infection, likely to have been well
over 5 years ago.
Although officials say there is no food safety risk because the animals are
too old to go into the food chain, frustration is growing among government
advisers. There is increasing suspicion that mammalian meat and bone meal
continued to reach calves after August 1996, when feed laws were
strengthened, either through supplies being kept on farms or through cross
contamination. One theory suggests this might have happened on container
ships, but questions are also being raised about how rigorously farmers
have obeyed the law.
Scientists have hypothesized that some animals might get the disease when
in the womb, but it is understood maternal transmission appears unlikely in
most confirmed cases. The possibility exists that BSE is being spread on a
small scale through pastures being contaminated by excrement from infected
cows.
[Byline: James Meikle
******
[2
Date: Tue 29 Jan 2002
From: <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: European Commission Press Releases, filed 5 Dec 2001 [edited
<http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/01/1748|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=>

Opinions about the origin of BSE and other BSE-related issues
-------------------------------------------------------------
Brussels: The Scientific Steering Committee (SSC), which advises the
European Commission about BSE and other multidisciplinary issues, [on 5 Dec
2001 published new opinions on the origin and transmission of BSE, on the
BSE cases found in the UK among cattle born after the ban on feeding
meat-and-bone meal (MBM), and on the surveying requirements for obtaining
reliable data on the prevalence of BSE and transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies (TSE) in cattle, sheep, and goats. The committee also
updated a standing opinion on the sourcing of ruminant materials for
medical devices.
The opinion on the origin and transmission routes for BSE mainly confirms
the standing scientific consensus hypotheses of a prion of unknown origin
as the agent for transmitting the disease via feed and cross contamination
of feed mainly, and via maternal transmission to a lesser extent. The SSC
considers that not one of the alternative hypotheses about a "third"
transmission route has so far been substantiated by scientific evidence.
Evidence is equally very limited if not absent for hypotheses about factors
influencing the susceptibility of cattle to BSE.
The 6 BSE cases found so far in the UK among cattle born after the August
1996 ban on feeding MBM to cattle give the SSC currently no reason to
assume there is a higher BSE risk in the United Kingdom (UK) than
previously assumed. Therefore there is no need to revise scientific advice
on the UK Data Based Export Scheme (DBES) of any other BSE-related opinions.
The committee further adopted an opinion on the surveying and testing
requirements for obtaining statistically authoritative and reliable data on
the prevalence of BSE and TSE in cattle, sheep, and goat populations in the
European Union. The opinion sets out the technical criteria for sample
design, sample size, confidence intervals, etc. Sampling of the cattle
population should be targeted on the group of so-called risk animals (for
example, fallen stock). This also means the sample size can be kept
significantly lower than in the case of sampling healthy animals sent for
slaughter. In the goat and sheep population risk animals are much more
difficult to identify. Therefore, the survey for most countries will need
to be targeted at healthy animals sent for slaughter, and will need to
cover a larger number of animals. Surveys would have to be accompanied by
measures ensuring that animals suspected of being infected with TSE are not
deliberately kept outside the testing program.
The SSC further updated its opinion on the safe sourcing of medicinal
products from countries where BSE is highly unlikely to be present. The use
of catgut sourced from such countries does not present a risk according to
the scientists.
******
[3
Date: Tue 29 Jan 2002
From: <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: European Commission Press Releases, filed 24 Jan 2002 [edited
<http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/02/137|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=>

SSC publishes new opinions on BSE related issues
-------------------------------------------------
Brussels: The Scientific Steering Committee (SSC), which advises the
European Commission on Transmissible/Bovine Spongiform Encephalophathies
(TSE/BSE) and other multidisciplinary issues, [on 24 Jan issued a series
of opinions on BSE related matters. They concern culling (destruction of
animals related to a SE case), the risk related to penetrative stunning at
slaughter, and an update on the safety of animal materials from the heads
of cattle, sheep, and goats. The committee also updated its method for
assessing the geographical BSE risk (GBR) in view of recent developments
and classifies Finland, Austria, and Slovenia as category III.
The SSC was asked for its opinion on whether certain measures implemented
in the UK and Germany could be regarded equivalent to so-called cohort
culling (destruction of animals of the same age originating from the same
herd), as required in EU legislation. The scientists found that the BSE
management measures in place in the UK offer equivalent safety to cohort
culling, provided they are effectively implemented. This is because of the
combined effect of the "over thirty months scheme", the feed ban, and the
removal of specified risk materials (SRM) from the food chain.
The scientists are more critical of the German request for a deviation from
the culling approach as spelled out in the TSE regulation (the birth and
rearing cohort has to be culled). Germany requested a case-by-case
approach, which would allow in certain cases to cull only the birth cohort.
The scientists however conclude that the culling of the full cohort would
add additional safety for consumers and recommend that this approach be
maintained.
The SSC adopted a new opinion on the risk from the use of penetrative
stunning methods in slaughterhouses. Penetrative stunning methods may
displace brain material into the bloodstream depending on the method used.
But the available evidence is still scarce, not always unequivocal, and
therefore needs to be completed.
The SSC updated its position on the safety of materials from the head of
the animal. It maintains its standing advice that cheek meat of cattle can
be safely used, but that brain, eyes, etc. should be removed from the food
chain. This advice is already integrated in the legislative rules on SRM
removal. Heads of sheep and goats of all ages would need to be entirely
removed from the food chain if the presence of BSE in small ruminants were
thought probable. For the time being this is not the case.
The committee also updated its geographical BSE risk assessment method. It
decided that for the moment the presence of other TSEs, including scrapie,
in a country should not affect its GBR assessment. Imports of cattle from
countries other than the UK where a BSE risk is now assumed or confirmed
will have an impact on the GBR of the receiving country and make
verification of existing GBR assessments necessary wherever those imports
could change the level of imported risk.
In view of the confirmation of the presence of BSE by positive test
results, the scientists now classify Austria, Finland, Slovenia as GBR III
level (BSE confirmed at lower level) and propose the same risk level for
Japan and Greece. Existing GBR reports will be revised accordingly and GBR
reports for Greece and Japan are under preparation. The full opinions are
available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/outcome_en.html>.
******
[4
Date: Tue 29 Jan 2002
From: <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Kyodo News, 13 Dec 2002 [edited
<http://home.kyodo.co.jp/all/newsselect.jsp?word=madcow>

Japan government blocked EU report on mad cow risk
--------------------------------------------------
TOKYO: The European Union (EU) drafted a report in February, which said
that Japan was at high risk for an outbreak of mad cow disease, but the
Japanese government moved to suppress its publication in June. The Japanese
daily Mainichi Shimbun reported on Thu 13 Dec 2001 that Japan was at high
risk for an outbreak of mad cow disease and rated it 3 on a rising scale of
1 to 4.
The daily received a copy of the 12 page report dated 01 Feb 2001 and
stamped confidential. The government is set to release a report on a
possible outbreak of mad cow disease in Japan drafted by the EU, a senior
farm ministry official said Thursday 13 Dec 2001.
"If approved by the EU, we will present (the report) to the committee
established by the farm and health ministries to study ways of dealing with
mad cow disease," Hideaki Kumazawa, vice minister for agriculture, forestry
and fisheries, said at a regular press conference.
******
[5
Date: Tue 29 Jan 2002
From: <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Tiscali News, filed 03 Jan 2002 [translated from German, edited
<http://www.tiscali.at/aktu/aktu_center_bse2.405069.html>

BSE expertise: view of independent veterinarians
-------------------------------------------------
The leading Austrian prions investigator, Herbert Budka, executive of the
Institute of Clinical Neurology in the General University Hospital of
Vienna, is quite certain that the first case of BSE in an Austrian cow was
caused by contaminated feed. Other possible causes for the incidence, such
as spontaneous occurrence or vaccinations, lack any scientific support.
******
[6
Date: Tue 29 Jan 2002
From: <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: The Guardian, 24 Dec 2001 [edited
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4325569,00.html>

Scientists widen BSE checks to deer
------------------------------------
Government scientists are to check deer to see whether they harbor BSE-like
diseases under a research program designed to close loopholes in the battle
against a menace that has probably killed more than 100 Britons since 1995
and dogged agriculture for nearly 10 years longer.
Precautionary steps to reassure officials about the safety of venison will
involve collecting specimens from farmed animals to check their brains and
tonsils for both BSE and a similar killer of deer and elk in the United
States, chronic wasting disease (CWD). Britain's large wild deer population
may also be monitored for the 2 diseases, although no laboratory experiment
to ascertain whether BSE in cattle can be transmitted by injection or feed
to deer has been attempted.
In another step to ensure that livestock is BSE-free, pigs and poultry in
laboratories may be fed affected material. These farm livestock ate far
more meat and bonemeal contaminated with BSE than cattle before the feeding
practice was banned, but there is no evidence so far from earlier
experiments that the disease can be transmitted to pigs or poultry by food.
Large injections of infected material can produce the disease in pigs.
The measures are among several demanded by the Food Standards Agency (FSA)
to bolster defences against the threat of more consumers being poisoned by
infected food. Work on implementing the measures was delayed by the foot
and mouth disease crisis and comes on top of vastly increased testing
regimes for cattle, sheep, and goats demanded by the EU.
The deer survey will involve both a postal questionnaire of farmers to
establish whether they have noticed BSE-like diseases and checks on animals
which fall ill or die. Organizations that cull wild deer for environmental
management and hunters may become involved if the net is widened. Official
figures suggest that there are 36 000 deer on just over 300 farms in the
UK, although the FSA does not know the extent of venison consumption in
Britain. The number of wild deer is unknown, although there may be 500 000
in Scotland alone. Deer experts believe wild populations are healthy, apart
from some outbreaks of tuberculosis.
A Department of the Environment spokesman said that veterinary laboratories
already cross-checked some deer samples collected for other purposes and
had found no evidence of BSE-like diseases. Jane Emerson, of the British
Deer Farmers Association, said members had been kept up todate with news of
the CWD outbreak in the US, and that it was highly unlikely that deer in
the UK had been infected through feed with BSE. "But you have to be aware
of the risks and what the symptoms are," she said.
[Byline: James Meikle
******
[7
Date: Tue 29 Jan 2002
From: <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: World Organisation for Animal Health, 29 Jan 2002 [edited
<http://www.oie.int/eng/info/en_esbincidence.htm>

Annual incidence of BSE, updated 12 Nov 2001
---------------------------------------------------
(number of indigenous cases per million bovines aged over 24 months)
Country /1995 / 1996 / 1997 / 1998 / 1999 / 2000
Germany / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1.07
Belgium / 0 / 0 / 0.61 / 3.69 / 1.84 / 5.53
Denmark / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
France / 0.27 / 1.09 / 0.54 / 1.64 / 2.82 / 14.73(a)
Ireland / 4.57 / 20.28 / 21.39 / 20.79 / 22.83 / 37.15
Luxembourg / 0 / 0 / 10 / 0 / 0 / 0
Netherlands / 0 / 0 / 1 / 1.01 / 1.03 / 1.07
Portugal / 18.82 / 38.90 / 37.64 / 159.35 / 199.50 / 186.95
UK / 2954 / 1628.33 / 910.03 / 676.89 / 477.64 / 288.64
Switzerland / 73.6 / 48.5 / 45.4 / 16.0 / 58.7 / 40.6
(a)France 2000: annual incidence in animals euthanized or found dead 5.45;
annual incidence in BSE clinical cases 9.27.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[According to the OIE figures of 29 Jan 2002, the preliminary number of
worldwide reported BSE cases during 2001 was as follows: Austria 1 ;
Belgium 46; Czech Republic 2; Denmark 6; Finland 1; France 258; Germany
125; Greece 1; Ireland 220; Japan 3; Netherlands 20; Portugal 98; Slovakia
4; Slovenia 1; Spain 82; Switzerland 37; United Kingdom 526
<http://www.oie.int/eng/info/en_esbmonde.htm>. Updated figures on the
situation in Europe can be seen in the official Spanish website
<http://www.eeb.es/>. - Mod.AS
...................as/pg/sh
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