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Listen to this siteThursday 9 October 2003
This research project aims to determine whether BSE can be transmitted to UK red deer by including infected material in their feed.
Study Duration : April 2003 to April 2010
Contractor : Veterinary Laboratories Agency
The major cause of the spread of the BSE epidemic was attributed to the feeding of contaminated meat and bonemeal (MBM) in the protein rations fed to cattle. The use of MBM in animal feed was not restricted to cattle rations and it is known that MBM was included in the concentrates fed to farmed deer. BSE has been shown to be naturally or experimentally transmissible to a wide range of different ungulate species and deer are known to be susceptible to an endemic TSE (chronic wasting disease, CWD) which is prevalent in North America. However, to date, no TSE infections of UK deer have been reported.
Should BSE infection have been transmitted into the UK red deer population, the CWD precedent would suggest that there is potential for both spread and maintenance of the disease in both free living and captive UK deer populations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the susceptibility of UK red deer to BSE infection and to determine the clinical and pathological phenotype.
The initial objective of the study is to determine whether orally infected UK red deer are susceptible to bovine BSE agent. Groups of orally dosed deer will be sacrificed at 6, 12 and 60 months post inoculation and necropsies carried out. A range of tissue samples will be retained for further analysis such as immunohistochemistry. All animals will also be monitored clinically throughout the experiment to define any clinical phenotype.
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