Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) cases born after the total feed ban
(2017) EFSA Journal — Vol. 15, n° 7, p. 4885 [1-45] (2017)
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- Abstract
- Sixty bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) cases of Classical or unknown type (BARB-60 cases)were born after the date of entry into force of the EU total feed ban on 1 January 2001. The EuropeanCommission has requested EFSA to provide a scientific opinion on the most likely origin(s) of theseBARB-60 cases; whether feeding with material contaminated with the BSE agent can be excluded asthe origin of any of these cases and, if so, whether there is enough scientific evidence to conclude thatsuch cases had a spontaneous origin. The source of infection cannot be ascertained at the individuallevel for any BSE case, including these BARB-60 cases, so uncertainty remains high about the origin ofdisease in each of these animals, but when compared with other biologically plausible sources ofinfection (maternal, environmental, genetic, iatrogenic), feed-borne exposure is the most likely. Thisexposure was apparently excluded for only one of these BARB-60 cases. However, there isconsiderable uncertainty associated with the data collected through thefield investigation of thesecases, due to a time span of several years between the potential exposure of the animal and theconfirmation of disease, recall difficulty, and the general paucity of documented objective evidenceavailable in the farms at the time of the investigation. Thus, feeding with material contaminated withthe BSE agent cannot be excluded as the origin of any of the BARB-60 cases, nor is it possible todefinitively attribute feed as the cause of any of the BARB-60 cases. A case of disease is classified asspontaneous by a process of elimination, excluding all other definable possibilities; with regard to theBARB-60 cases, it is not possible to conclude that any of them had a spontaneous origin.
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EFSA Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ), Ricci, A., Allende, A., Bolton, D., Chemaly, M., Davies, R., Fernández Escámez, P. S., Gironés, R., Herman, L., Koutsoumanis, K., Lindqvist, R., Nørrung, B., Robertson, L., Sanaa, M., Simmons, M., Skandamis, P., Snary, E., Speybroeck, N., Kuile, B. T., et al. (2017). Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) cases born after the total feed ban. EFSA Journal, 15(7), 4885 [1-45]. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4885 (Original work published 2017)