What are public health authorities doing in the US?
There was just a big meeting in Washington with people from the American agricultural sector, veterinary medicine, USDA, and cattlemen groups. Ruminant (cattle and sheep) -based feeds are already excluded in the US on a voluntary basis, but this will soon become an FDA regulation. There is no indication of BSE infection in US cattle. APHIS, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the USDA, will be increasing its surveillance measures. In my personal opinion, this kind of direct surveillance based upon histopathological examination of brains of selected cattle, has been modest in scope and scale until now — I suspect that the level of such surveillance will increase. Another kind of surveillance is also ticking up: trained APHIS inspectors working in cattle sales yards and slaughter house yards are on the lookout for animals with clinical signs of BSE. Education is also being improved for practicing veterinarians and farmers. The USDA has also announced that it will increase
