USAHA News
United States Animal Health Association
Contact - Larry Mark - (703) 451-3954 - ldmark@erols.com


For immediate release:


PREVALENCE STUDY FOR SCRAPIE IN GOATS IS UNDERWAY

     MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Oct. 18, 2006 -- The U.S. Animal Health Association (USAHA)
Committee on Scrapie received an update on a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
slaughter study to determine the prevalence of scrapie in goats at its meeting here this week. 
Scrapie is a fatal, degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system of sheep and goats.  

     Scraie is among a number of diseases classified as transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies (TSE's).  Others include bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle
and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk.

     Kathleen O'Rourke, with USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), reported to the
Committee on a case study of scrapie in two goats.  She also reported on new research on scrapie
diagnostics.  

     Jack Rhyan, with USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), reported
on a prion vaccine study using a mouse model.  Prions are the infectious agents thought to cause
TSE's.  The vaccine that was studied showed some protection against scrapie in mice in a
laboratory environment.

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