Is there systematic surveillance for TSE in sheep and goats?
Yes. Monitoring and passive surveillance of the sheep and goats population for the presence of scrapie has been an EU requirement since 1998. Scrapie is a notifiable animal disease since 1993. Farmers must notify all suspected TSEs in animals to the Member State authorities. Tissues from sheep or goats suspected of suffering from scrapie or any other TSE must be examined in a laboratory. The TSE Regulation also requires Member States to ensure that veterinarians, farmers and relevant staff are familiar with the clinical signs and epidemiology of TSEs and laboratory staff carrying out checks must have competence in interpreting laboratory findings relating to TSEs. All sheep also undergo ante-mortem inspection by a veterinarian before slaughter. Active surveillance of a sample of healthy slaughter and risk animals over the age of 18 months by using the TSE-rapid test was introduced in January 2002. It utilises the same tests as used for BSE-testing in cattle since those are designed to
