Australian Wildlife Health Network

Forum : Diseases and disease agents

Topic:Prion diseases (BSE, CWD and others)
Name:R Woods	Date:20/04/2009 11:27:00 AM
Email:rwoods@zoo.nsw.gov.au	Phone:

Name	Date Of Event	Posted	Details
R Woods		20/04/2009	Prion diseases have not been diagnosed in Australian wildlife. Australia is free from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) because entry of the disease agent was prevented through import bans on meat and bone meal that date from 1966. In addition, bans on imports of live cattle from UK date from 1988 (See http://www.animalhealthaustralia.com.a u/aahc/index.cfm?06A8C531-AF9F-1690-A1E2-B4BC33FBD 25A). The Australian Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Freedom Assurance Program (TSEFAP) includes a mandatory ruminant feed ban that dates from 1997, measures for the disposal or isolation and monitoring of cattle and zoo animals imported from countries that have recorded native-borne cases of BSE, and surveillance of diseases of the nervous system of cattle.
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