Active Surveillance to Target BSE
The public perception of BSE has changed
dramatically over the last ten years. At first, BSE was thought to be a
problem of individual countries such as the U.K. and Switzerland. Meanwhile
BSE has been recognized to be a worldwide problem. This change in perception
of the disease is the result of improved Surveillance Systems.
A company at the forefront of BSE diagnostics and prion research:
Prionics.
In the second half of the 1990s Prionics’ leading prion experts built up
active BSE surveillance enabling objective evaluation of the European BSE
situation for the first time. For this purpose Prionics developed the first
rapid BSE-test for routine use, the Prionics®- Check WESTERN. The success of
this surveillance concept led to the establishment of official EU-wide BSE-screening
programs in 2001. The preferred test in these programs is still the Prionics®-Check
WESTERN, considered by experts to be the most precise BSE test available.
This rapid test, now complemented by the Prionics®-Check LIA, has
significantly promoted the improvement of preventive consumer protection and
at the same time helped to regain consumer confidence in the safety of beef.
What can we do against prion diseases?
As currently no immunization or therapy is available against prion
diseases, measures have to concentrate on preventing the transmission of the
pathogen. Animals that have a high amount of infectivity though not yet
obviously ill with BSE remain a risk for the consumer. Only an ACTIVE
SURVEILLANCE program using diagnostic screening tests can prevent such
animals from entering the food chain. This measure needs to be complemented
by the removal of tissues known to harbour particularly high amounts of
infectivity from the food chain.
The first ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE study was carried out by Prionics and the
Swiss Veterinary authorities in 1998 and showed that rapid tests identify
apparently healthy BSE-cows in normal slaughter preventing them from
entering the food chain. It also showed that the prevalence of BSE was
highest in fallen stock, and emergency slaughtered animals. This led to the
TARGETED ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE model of the 1999 Swiss surveillance program
which focuses mainly on the high risk categories such as fallen stock but
also includes a certain percentage of normal slaughtered animals. The
Targeted Active Surveillance model is now the standard for a minimum BSE-surveillance
as recommended by the United Nations.
www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/18603-en.html
BSE: a global threat. In the early 1990s BSE was uncovered in single countries like the UK or
Switzerland. No one suspected the whole dimension of the disease at this
time. Some ten years later most of Western Europe’s countries reported first
cases of BSE and the WHO warned that the disease is likely to represent a
global problem. This suspicion was enhanced only a few months later when in
the Czech Republic the first BSE case outside of Western Europe was revealed
with the Prionics®-Check rapid test. The announcement of the first North
American BSE case detected in Canada prompted the United Nations to urge all
countries to adopt an Active Surveillance plan. Find an overview on the
Milestones of Active BSE-Surveillance on:
www.prionics.ch/prionics-e-diagnostics-western-milestones.pdf
The book of TSEs is by no means closed. On the contrary, science has only
just begun to understand the global impact of prion diseases. Prionics as
the leading company in the field of prion diagnostics is aware of its
responsibility to human and animal health and attaches therefore great
importance to the quality of its products. The company’s philosophy is to
stay at the pulse of scientific insights, technical improvements and
laboratory practice.
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