A detailed review is presented of the history, geographical distribution, cause, epidemiology, clinical features, pathogenesis, pathology, diagnosis, prevention, control and economic effects of scrapie in sheep. Brief mention is made of the disease in goats and moufflon. The nature of the agent causing scrapie, the genetic control of the incubation period in sheep and the natural transmission o...

ABSTRACT: Scrapie is a contagious disease of sheep and goats caused by prions (PrPSc). This study described an outbreak in the state Santa Catarina, Brazil. An 1-year 3-month-old developed clinical signs characterized motor incoordination pelvic limbs, pruritus alopecia for three days. The 38 from flock that were over 1 year age underwent biopsies third eyelid rectal mucosa, addition to anti-Pr...

In the course of scrapie, a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy caused by an unconventional agent, a normal cellular protein is converted to an abnormal form that copurifies with infectivity and aggregates to form deposits of amyloid. We have used immunocytochemistry and methods that enhance detection of amyloidogenic proteins to investigate the types of cells in the central nervous system ...

In the past, natural scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) infections have essentially not been diagnosed in sheep homozygous for the A136R154R171 haplotype of the prion protein. This genotype was therefore assumed to confer resistance to BSE and classic scrapie under natural exposure conditions. Hence, to exclude prions from the human food chain, massive breeding efforts have been...

Prions are pathogens with an unusually high tolerance to inactivation and constitute a complex challenge to the re-processing of surgical instruments. On the other hand, however, they provide an informative paradigm which has been exploited successfully for the development of novel broad-range disinfectants simultaneously active also against bacteria, viruses and fungi. Here we report on the de...

Due to the apparent absence of an agent-specific nucleic acid genome, scrapie strains cannot be classified by genome characterization, which is commonly used for the classification of many viruses. However, scrapie strains can be distinguished to some extent by biological properties such as transmissibility to experimental animals and distribution of neuropathological lesions and by biochemical...

BACKGROUND Evidence for scrapie transmission from VRQ/VRQ ewes to lambs via milk was first reported in 2008 but in that study there were concerns that lateral transmission may have contributed to the high transmission rate observed since five control lambs housed with the milk recipients also became infected. This report provides further information obtained from two follow-up studies, one wher...

Scrapie strain replication in the nerve growth factor-induced, differentiated PC12 cell culture system was examined. Differences in replication between mouse-derived agents were demonstrated, with the 139A scrapie strain yielding 100- to 1000-fold higher levels of infectivity than the ME7 scrapie strain. Replication was not detected in PC12 cells infected with either the hamster-derived 263K or...

The possibility of the agent causing bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) infecting small ruminants is of serious concern for human health. Among scrapie cases, the CH1641 source in particular appears to have certain biochemical properties similar to the BSE strain. In France, several natural scrapie cases were identified as "CH1641-like" natural scrapie isolates in sheep and goats. The Tg(Ov...

Susceptibility of sheep to scrapie, a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of small ruminants, is strongly influenced by polymorphisms of the prion protein gene (PRNP). Breeding programs have been implemented to increase scrapie resistance in sheep populations; though desirable, a similar approach has not yet been applied in goats. European studies have now suggested that several polymorphis...