Open Access
Copyright: The authors. This article is an open access
article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) which permits unrestricted use,
distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly
cited.
Review Article
14.
Review on prion diseases in animals with emphasis to
bovine spongiform encephalopathy - Mukund S. Londhe, Nand K. Mahajan, Rajender P.
Gupta, Renu M. Londhe
Vet World. 2012; 5(7): 443-448
doi:
10.5455/vetworld.2012.443-448
Abstract
Prion
diseases are known as transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies (TSE). These are degenerative brain
disorders characterized by tiny microscopic holes
that give the brain 'spongy' appearance. The
causative agent is proteinaceous infective particle
called prion. Prion diseases affect a variety of
mammals including humans. The disease is transmitted
by contaminated food or feed containing prion
protein. In animals the diseases caused by prions
are scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE),
transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME), chronic
wasting disease (CWD), feline spongiform
encephalopathy (FSE) and exotic ungulate
encephalopathy (EUE). Currently the only reliable
test is histopathological examination of tissues.
Control measures are surveillance, culling sick
animals and banning specified risk materials. In
India no case of BSE has been reported so far but
the disease warrants constant monitoring and
surveillance if once introduced or imported would be
a herculean task to eradicate it.
Keywords:
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, Brain disorders,
Degenerative disease, Prion Disease, Proteinaceous.
