BSE cloud lifts

Abstract

Cases of BSE are plummeting in the UK but fears continue for the wider impact. Nigel Williams reports. Cases of BSE are plummeting in the UK but fears continue for the wider impact. Nigel Williams reports. The European Commission last month finally lifted the ban on the export of British beef, as the number of cases of BSE in the country has fallen dramatically. But any relief felt by farmers has not yet moved through to those researching the human and other consequences of this devastating disease. Scientific advisers to the EU Commission in Brussels signalled the end of the ban when they agreed that Britain's anti-BSE measures had brought the disease to heel within its cattle population and its farmers should once more be allowed to compete for a share of international markets. The legislation needed to back up the recommendation could be in force later this month. Markos Kyprianou, EU commissioner for health and consumer protection, said the commission “has taken no chances when it comes to dealing with BSE”, but Britain had made “great strides in tackling the disease, meeting all the necessary criteria.” In Britain, the epidemic peaked in 1992, with over 36,000 cases confirmed, but since then the number of cases has declined dramatically. There have been only 124 cases confirmed in animals born after the introduction of the reinforced ban in 1996. Overall the British epidemic is in steep decline with only 203 cases confirmed in 2005. But there is little sign that the agenda for Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) and research teams is showing a concomitant tailing off. The committee monitors BSE and the other related spongiform encephalopathies including variant CJD, thought to derive from the BSE agent, and the sheep scrapie agent. Since the introduction of new tests in 2002, around 100 cases of what is called atypical scrapie have been detected in sheep in the UK. These results have been highlighted as a continuing cause for concern. And the confirmation of another case of variant CJD through blood transfusion in February has led SEAC to step up the gathering of better data on the prevalence, age and genotype distribution, based on population studies of vCJD. These, it believes, “are required with some urgency”. These agents are still a threat to human and animal health.