NOTICE: Calves Under 12 Months of Age No Longer Sampled for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)

Beginning September 24, 2014, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Veterinary Services (VS) will stop collecting samples from calves less than 12 months of age as part of its ongoing BSE surveillance testing.  This is a change from the current process where cattle of any age showing central nervous system (CNS) signs are tested for BSE.

 

We are making this change for several reasons:

• Classical BSE has never been detected in an animal born in the United States, and we’ve tested more than one million animals since the beginning of the BSE surveillance program.
• BSE has never been detected in cattle less than 12 months of age worldwide.
• Neither the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) nor the VS BSE surveillance system assigns a surveillance value or points to cattle less than 12 months of age.

To continue to test these young animals for BSE is neither an effective nor a responsible use of limited Federal funds and government resources.

 

This change applies only to the BSE Ongoing Surveillance Program. If epidemiological investigations of BSE cases lead to animals less than 12 months of age, they will be tested.

 

For additional information contact:

 

Cattle Health Center

USDA APHIS VS SPRS

Email address: VS.SPRS.CattleHealthCenter@aphis.usda.gov

  

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