Thursday, June 25, 2015

Ireland Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Confirms recent mad cow case as typical c-type BSE Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

Department Reports Results of Epidemiological Investigation Final test results confirm the recent suspect case of BSE to be an isolated case of “classical” BSE in a single animal, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

 

In line with normal protocols, the Department identified all animals potentially exposed to the BSE agent that caused this incident – those born and reared on the birth-farm one year either side of the birth date of the positive animal, and her progeny. These have been slaughtered, excluded from the food and feed chains, and tested.

 

The epidemiological investigation has confirmed that:

 

All 63 cohort animals and 4 progeny slaughtered and disposed of have tested negative for BSE; The confirmed case is an isolated case in a single animal; Both the dam and grand dam of the infected animal tested negative for BSE at slaughter, and therefore vertical transmission is not considered to be a factor in this case; Whilst the grand-dam of the positive animal was imported, this is not of any significance in epidemiological terms No concerns arise regarding the integrity of the commercial feed supply chain or the effectiveness of the feed control systems. In the 2009 and 2010 period, more than 3,800 feed inspections took place, and almost 2,500 feed samples, including 52 from suppliers to the farm on which the positive case was found, were tested for the presence of processed animal proteins. All tested negative for meat and bone meal. Test results from feed currently on the farm are also negative. The investigation has not identified anything to distinguish this case from the other cases of classical BSE that have been seen in Ireland or elsewhere. The identification of classical BSE cases after the implementation of the ban on the feeding of meat and bone meal is not unprecedented. A diminishing number of such cases have been identified in Ireland and in other countries over the years.

 

These results are now being advised to the EU Commission and to the OIE. It is expected that the OIE will reassign ‘controlled risk’ status to Ireland, recognising the robust control systems in place which identified this once-off case and which will continue to underpin the safe trade in products from Ireland. The control system that has brought BSE under control is still in place to protect human and animal health and is deemed to be effective by the OIE.

 

Notes for Editor

 

1. Negligible risk status – the confirmation that this is case of classical BSE in a domestic animal which is less than 11 years old, means that Ireland no longer meets the parameters set out in the OIE code necessary for a country to be recognised as a country with negligible risk for BSE.

 

2. Controlled risk status – recognises the effective application of a suite of effective controls and provides a basis for the safe trade in animals and products.

 

3. Controls in place

 

A ban on the feeding of meat and bone meal to ruminants Effective rendering processes Systematic testing of feed supplies Active and passive animal level surveillance and testing for the disease Ante-mortem checks conducted by veterinarians on all animals prior to slaughter to ensure that only healthy animals enter the food chain The removal and destruction, on a precautionary basis, of certain specified risk materials from slaughtered animals 4. BSE does not transfer horizontally from animal to animal – no risk to other animals arises from this case animal.

 



see OIE report ;


Tuesday, June 23, 2015

 

Report on the monitoring and testing of ruminants for the presence of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in the EU in 2013 Final version 18 May 2015

 


 

 

 

 From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2015 2:41 PM To: BSE-L@LISTS.AEGEE.ORG Subject: [BSE-L] Ireland Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Identifies Suspected BSE Case

 

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Identifies Suspected BSE Case

 

The Department today announced the identification of a suspected BSE case in county Louth. The case was identified through the Department’s on-going surveillance system on fallen animals (that is animals which die on farm). The animal was not presented for slaughter and did not enter the food chain.

 

Confirmatory tests are being undertaken and results will be available in approximately one week. If confirmed, this will be the first BSE case found in Ireland since 2013.

 

DAFM is now undertaking a full investigation into all relevant factors in this case - including a full epidemiological examination.

 

DAFM is informing the relevant national and international reference organisations and the European Commission, and will be liaising with trading partners.

 

Note for editors

 

If, as expected, the tests confirm this to be a classical case of BSE, this may impact on Ireland’s recently awarded “negligible risk status” from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). In this case Ireland will revert to “controlled risk status” which applied up to last week and which facilitated trade to a wide range of international markets. It will also result in the continuation of the existing range of controls for a further number of years.

 

The full range of risk mitigating measures continue in place at slaughter plants, including the following:

 

All animals presented for slaughter are systematically subjected to ante-mortem examination by veterinary inspectors to ensure that only healthy animals are allowed into the food chain.

 

A range of tissues - identified as ‘specified risk material’ - where the BSE infectivity resides in potentially infected animals are systematically removed from all slaughtered bovines of differing ages as follows:

 

All ages: tonsils, intestines and mesentery

 

Over 12 months: skull (including eyes and brain) and spinal cord

 

Over 30 months: the vertebral column and associated tissues

 

The animal involved is a five year old cow on a dairy farm in county Louth. The investigation will include an examination of the birth cohort and progeny of the cow involved.

 


 

BSE IRELAND

 


 

*** Singeltary reply ; Molecular, Biochemical and Genetic Characteristics of BSE in Canada Singeltary reply ;

 


 

ruminant feed ban for cervids in the United States ?

 

31 Jan 2015 at 20:14 GMT

 


 

Thursday, May 28, 2015

 

*** OIE cuts six European countries' mad cow risk level, while increasing risk factors for humans to the BSE TSE PRION DISEASE around the globe

 


 

O.05: Transmission of prions to primates after extended silent incubation periods: Implications for BSE and scrapie risk assessment in human populations

 

Emmanuel Comoy, Jacqueline Mikol, Val erie Durand, Sophie Luccantoni, Evelyne Correia, Nathalie Lescoutra, Capucine Dehen, and Jean-Philippe Deslys Atomic Energy Commission; Fontenay-aux-Roses, France

 

Prion diseases (PD) are the unique neurodegenerative proteinopathies reputed to be transmissible under field conditions since decades. The transmission of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) to humans evidenced that an animal PD might be zoonotic under appropriate conditions. Contrarily, in the absence of obvious (epidemiological or experimental) elements supporting a transmission or genetic predispositions, PD, like the other proteinopathies, are reputed to occur spontaneously (atpical animal prion strains, sporadic CJD summing 80% of human prion cases). Non-human primate models provided the first evidences supporting the transmissibiity of human prion strains and the zoonotic potential of BSE. Among them, cynomolgus macaques brought major information for BSE risk assessment for human health (Chen, 2014), according to their phylogenetic proximity to humans and extended lifetime. We used this model to assess the zoonotic potential of other animal PD from bovine, ovine and cervid origins even after very long silent incubation periods. We recently observed the direct transmission of a natural classical scrapie isolate to macaque after a 10-year silent incubation period, with features similar to some reported for human cases of sporadic CJD, albeit requiring fourfold longe incubation than BSE. Scrapie, as recently evoked in humanized mice (Cassard, 2014), is the third potentially zoonotic PD (with BSE and L-type BSE), ***thus questioning the origin of human sporadic cases. We will present an updated panorama of our different transmission studies and discuss the implications of such extended incubation periods on risk assessment of animal PD for human health.

 

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***thus questioning the origin of human sporadic cases...TSS

 

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Saturday, May 30, 2015

 

PRION 2015 ORAL AND POSTER CONGRESSIONAL ABSTRACTS

 


 

LATE-BREAKING ABSTRACTS

 

O18

 

Zoonotic Potential of CWD Prions

 

Liuting Qing1, Ignazio Cali1,2, Jue Yuan1, Shenghai Huang3, Diane Kofskey1, Pierluigi Gambetti1, Wenquan Zou1, Qingzhong Kong1 1Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 2Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy, 3Encore Health Resources, Houston, Texas, USA

 

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a widespread and expanding prion disease in free-ranging and captive cervid species in North America. The zoonotic potential of CWD prions is a serious public health concern. Current literature generated with in vitro methods and in vivo animal models (transgenic mice, macaques and squirrel monkeys) reports conflicting results. The susceptibility of human CNS and peripheral organs to CWD prions remains largely unresolved. In our earlier bioassay experiments using several humanized transgenic mouse lines, we detected protease-resistant PrPSc in the spleen of two out of 140 mice that were intracerebrally inoculated with natural CWD isolates, but PrPSc was not detected in the brain of the same mice. Secondary passages with such PrPSc-positive CWD-inoculated humanized mouse spleen tissues led to efficient prion transmission with clear clinical and pathological signs in both humanized and cervidized transgenic mice. Furthermore, a recent bioassay with natural CWD isolates in a new humanized transgenic mouse line led to clinical prion infection in 2 out of 20 mice. These results indicate that the CWD prion has the potential to infect human CNS and peripheral lymphoid tissues and that there might be asymptomatic human carriers of CWD infection.

 

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***These results indicate that the CWD prion has the potential to infect human CNS and peripheral lymphoid tissues and that there might be asymptomatic human carriers of CWD infection.***

 

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I strenuously once again urge the FDA and its industry constituents, to make it MANDATORY that all ruminant feed be banned to all ruminants, and this should include all cervids as soon as possible for the following reasons...

 

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In the USA, under the Food and Drug Administrations BSE Feed Regulation (21 CFR 589.2000) most material (exceptions include milk, tallow, and gelatin) from deer and elk is prohibited for use in feed for ruminant animals. With regards to feed for non-ruminant animals, under FDA law, CWD positive deer may not be used for any animal feed or feed ingredients. For elk and deer considered at high risk for CWD, the FDA recommends that these animals do not enter the animal feed system.

 

***However, this recommendation is guidance and not a requirement by law.

 

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31 Jan 2015 at 20:14 GMT

 

*** Ruminant feed ban for cervids in the United States? ***

 

31 Jan 2015 at 20:14 GMT

 


 


 

Friday, May 22, 2015

 

*** Chronic Wasting Disease and Program Updates - 2014 NEUSAHA Annual Meeting 12-14 May 2014 ***

 


 

Saturday, May 30, 2015

 

PRION 2015 ORAL AND POSTER CONGRESSIONAL ABSTRACTS

 


 


 

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

 

Zoonotic Potential of CWD Prions

 

LATE-BREAKING ABSTRACTS

 


 

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

 

Minimise transmission risk of CJD and vCJD in healthcare settings Last updated 15 May 2015

 


 

Thursday, June 11, 2015

 

Ireland Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Identifies Suspected BSE Case

 


 

 

TSS

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