Virology
Scrapie and TSE research
Dr. Hugh Reid
No disease of animals has been of such sustained public concern as BSE. Although the possibility that BSE transferred to sheep is diminishingly remote and there is no evidence of scrapie in sheep having been transferred to humans, there is still a perceived risk that TSE infections can cross the species barrier. The EU has therefore initiated a concerted effort to eradicate scrapie and monitor TSE infections in all ruminant species destined for human consumption.
DEFRA has awarded Moredun, in collaboration with VLA Lasswade, £7 million of funding over a five year period to undertake extensive studies in sheep to clarify the significance of the different scrapie isolates that have been found and to determine how they could potentially affect the current DEFRA National scrapie plan. Moredun and VLA Lasswade are also examining the mechanism of adsorption of scrapie infectivity and looking at how infection progresses in different cells of the immune system. These are all substantial and long term studies. However there are indications already that they will produce data vital to our understanding of scrapie to ensure the efficient eradication of this disease.
As the EU wish to establish active surveillance for TSE infection in all ruminant species destined for human consumption, it has been proposed that red deer should also be tested. However, as there are no known BSE-infected tissues for red deer, which will be essential to validate a suitable test for this surveillance, it is necessary to generate suitable tissues from experimentally infected deer. Moredun, conjointly with the VLA Lasswade was successful in securing a £900,000 contract from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in 2003 to carry out this study. There are no results available at this time but when they are they will be of considerable comparative value with respect to a condition known as Chronic Wasting Disease, which is affecting deer in North America. Our results will therefore be of international interest as well as facilitating the establishment of a valid surveillance test for TSE infection of European deer.
This research is funded by DEFRA & FSA.