Find information on thousands of medical conditions and prescription drugs.

Scrapie

Scrapie is a fatal, degenerative disease that affects the nervous systems of sheep and goats. It is one of several transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), which are related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or "mad cow disease"). more...

Home
Diseases
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
Sabinas brittle hair...
Saccharopinuria
Sacral agenesis
Saethre-Chotzen syndrome
Salla disease
Salmonellosis
Sandhoff disease
Sanfilippo syndrome
Sarcoidosis
Say Meyer syndrome
Scabies
Scabiophobia
Scarlet fever
Schamberg disease...
Schistosomiasis
Schizencephaly
Schizophrenia
Schmitt Gillenwater Kelly...
Sciatica
Scimitar syndrome
Sciophobia
Scleroderma
Scrapie
Scurvy
Selachophobia
Selective mutism
Seminoma
Sensorineural hearing loss
Seplophobia
Sepsis
Septo-optic dysplasia
Serum sickness
Severe acute respiratory...
Severe combined...
Sezary syndrome
Sheehan syndrome
Shigellosis
Shingles
Shock
Short bowel syndrome
Short QT syndrome
Shprintzen syndrome
Shulman-Upshaw syndrome
Shwachman syndrome
Shwachman-Diamond syndrome
Shy-Drager syndrome
Sialidosis
Sickle-cell disease
Sickle-cell disease
Sickle-cell disease
Siderosis
Silicosis
Silver-Russell dwarfism
Sipple syndrome
Sirenomelia
Sjogren's syndrome
Sly syndrome
Smallpox
Smith-Magenis Syndrome
Sociophobia
Soft tissue sarcoma
Somniphobia
Sotos syndrome
Spasmodic dysphonia
Spasmodic torticollis
Spherocytosis
Sphingolipidosis
Spinal cord injury
Spinal muscular atrophy
Spinal shock
Spinal stenosis
Spinocerebellar ataxia
Splenic-flexure syndrome
Splenomegaly
Spondylitis
Spondyloepiphyseal...
Spondylometaphyseal...
Sporotrichosis
Squamous cell carcinoma
St. Anthony's fire
Stein-Leventhal syndrome
Stevens-Johnson syndrome
Stickler syndrome
Stiff man syndrome
Still's disease
Stomach cancer
Stomatitis
Strabismus
Strep throat
Strongyloidiasis
Strumpell-lorrain disease
Sturge-Weber syndrome
Subacute sclerosing...
Sudden infant death syndrome
Sugarman syndrome
Sweet syndrome
Swimmer's ear
Swyer syndrome
Sydenham's chorea
Syncope
Syndactyly
Syndrome X
Synovial osteochondromatosis
Synovial sarcoma
Synovitis
Syphilis
Syringomas
Syringomyelia
Systemic carnitine...
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Systemic mastocytosis
Systemic sclerosis
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Medicines

Like other spongiform encephalopathies, scrapie is believed to be caused by a prion. Scrapie has been known since the 18th century (1732) and does not appear to be transmissible to humans.

The name scrapie is derived from one of the symptoms of the condition, wherein affected animals will compulsively scrape off their fleece against rocks, trees or fences. The disease apparently causes an uncontrollable itching sensation in the animals. Other symptoms include excessive lip-smacking, strange gaits, and convulsive collapse.

Scrapie is infectious and transmissible among similar animals, and so one of the most common ways to contain scrapie (since it is incurable) is to quarantine and destroy those affected. However, scrapie tends to persist in flocks and can also arise apparently spontaneously in flocks that have not previously had cases of the disease. The mechanism of transmission between animals and other aspects of the biology of the disease are only poorly understood and these are active areas of research.

In the United Kingdom, the government has put in place a National Scrapie Plan, which encourages breeding from sheep that are genetically more resistant to scrapie. It is intended that this will eventually reduce the incidence of the disease in the UK sheep population. Scrapie occurs in Europe and North America, but to date Australia and New Zealand (both major sheep-producing countries) are scrapie-free.

A test is now available which is performed by sampling a small amount of lymphatic tissue from the third eyelid.

Out of fear of scrapie, many European countries banned some traditional sheep or goat products made without removing the spinal cord such as smalahove and smokie.

Read more at Wikipedia.org


[List your site here Free!]


Brain killer stable in soil - virus-like particle that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle and scrapie in sheep
From Science News, 2/9/91 by Rick Weiss

Brain killer stable in soil

It reads like a script from a grade-B horror movie: A mysterious infectious agent turns the brains of cattle and sheep spongy, forcing ranchers to bury the dead animals in mass graves.

Yet the story is true, and a new report adds a frightening twist: The agent seems to persist underground, its lethal powers intact.

Scientists have yet to nail down the virus-like particle responsible for bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cows and scrapie in sheep, but whatever causes these diseases appears to remain infectious even after three years in soil, according to Paul Brown and D. Carleton Gajdusek of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Their finding implies that the current practice of burying infected carcasses may be imprudent.

In an experiment that has stirred, in Brown's words, "a little electricity" among scientists worried about environmental contamination, the researchers loaded soil-filled pots with doses of the infectious material and buried the pots in Brown's backyard garden. Three years later, they dug up the pots. Experiments in hamsters confirmed that the material was still lethal, they report in the Feb. 2 LANCET.

Brown says the degree of infectiousness remaining after three years leads him to suspect that the material could remain deadly in soil for a decade or more. And although most infected animals are buried with corrosive quicklime, he doubts that ranchers use enough of the chemical to kill all the infectious particles. Brown recommends research to determine the concentration of corrosives needed to render infected carcasses harmless.

"I would at least think that burial sites ought to be identified so someone doesn't 10 years down the road use it as a pasture," he says. In the past, he notes, flocks of sheep have developed scrapie after grazing in areas where infected carcasses had been buried.

Two researchers studying the infectious particle told SCIENCE NEWS that while the backyard experiment lacked some scientific rigor, the warnings may prove appropriate.

COPYRIGHT 1991 Science Service, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

Return to Scrapie
Home Contact Resources Exchange Links ebay