Bse Risk in Canada, Part 2: Current Methods of Testing for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (bse)

There are widespread calls for increased surveillance to more accurately detect the incidence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in North American cattle, following the discovery of two cases of BSE in 2003. The need for improved surveillance and testing to determine the prevalence of BSE arises from a number of factors, including the long latent incubation times for this disease (4-6 years) and the fact that the exact world-wide distribution of BSE in national cattle herds cannot yet be established with sufficient certainty (http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/bse/bse21_en.html; Brown et al. 2001). In this context there is some debate about how much, and what kind, of BSE testing in Canada is appropriate or necessary. This paper is intended to contribute to that debate by giving an overview of the currently-available testing methods.