Assessment of clinical criteria to diagnose scrapie in Italy

D’Angelo, Antonio; Maurella, Cristiana; Bona, Cristina; Borrelli, Antonio; Caramelli, Maria; Careddu, Maria Elena; Jaggy, A.; Ru, Giuseppe

doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2006.04.007

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The signs selected for identification of suspect cases (tremor, positive scratch test, extensive hair loss, ataxia and absent menace response) were highly specific but most of the scrapie cases would not have been detected using these criteria. This was to be expected since it has been shown previously that the postmortem tests are superior to a clinical examination of sheep in scrapie-affected flocks, even if limited to brain examination only [26]. The conduction of the short clinical assessment lasted approximately five minutes per animal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Monitoring of clinical signs in goats with transmissible spongiform encephalopathies

Konold¹,

Bone²,

Phelan³

et al. 2010

BMC Vet Res

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BackgroundAs there is limited information about the clinical signs of BSE and scrapie in goats, studies were conducted to describe the clinical progression of scrapie and BSE in goats and to evaluate a short clinical protocol for its use in detecting scrapie-affected goats in two herds with previously confirmed scrapie cases. Clinical assessments were carried out in five goats intracerebrally infected with the BSE agent as well as five reported scrapie suspects and 346 goats subject to cull from the two herds, 24 of which were retained for further monitoring. The brain and selected lymphoid tissue were examined by postmortem tests for disease confirmation.ResultsThe sensitivity and specificity of the short clinical protocol in detecting a scrapie case in the scrapie-affected herds was 3.9% and 99.6%, respectively, based on the presence of tremor, positive scratch test, extensive hair loss, ataxia and absent menace response. All BSE- and scrapie-affected goats displayed abnormalities in sensation (over-reactivity to external stimuli, startle responses, pruritus, absent menace response) and movement (ataxia, tremor, postural deficits) at an advanced clinical stage but the first detectable sign associated with scrapie or BSE could vary between animals. Signs of pruritus were not always present despite similar prion protein genotypes. Clinical signs of scrapie were also displayed by two scrapie cases that presented with detectable disease-associated prion protein only in lymphoid tissues.ConclusionsBSE and scrapie may present as pruritic and non-pruritic forms in goats. Signs assessed for the clinical diagnosis of scrapie or BSE in goats should include postural and gait abnormalities, pruritus and visual impairment. However, many scrapie cases will be missed if detection is solely based on the display of clinical signs. PrPd accumulation in the brain appeared to be related to the severity of clinical disease but not to the display of individual neurological signs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Monitoring of clinical signs in goats with transmissible spongiform encephalopathies

Konold¹,

Bone²,

Phelan³

et al. 2010

BMC Vet Res

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“…This TSE has been circulating for at least 300 years (Gainger, 1924) and is now present worldwide, except in Australia and New Zealand (Gavier-Widén et al, 2005). Scrapie was first reported in Italy in 1975(D'Angelo et al, 2007; since the implementation of the mandatory reporting system in 1991, 436 outbreaks have been confirmed in sheep and goats. Scrapie has been historically considered as a non-pathogenic TSE for humans as no epidemiologic data have linked scrapie in small ruminants to human CJD incidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interlaboratory trial on TSE rapid tests for the control of the Italian scrapie surveillance network

Nappi¹,

Ingravalle²,

Vietro³

et al. 2009

Veterinary Microbiology

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Scrapie, a neurodegenerative disease of sheep and goats and one of several transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) has been subject to mandatory active surveillance in EU through rapid testing since 2002. Regulation EC/999/2001 on TSE surveillance requires that each Member State's National Reference Laboratory for TSE periodically verifies diagnostic standards and methods by comparative testing. In 2007 the Italian Reference Centre carried out the first ring trial for classical scrapie on a set of 21 negative and 9 positive homogenated brainstems, the latter consisting of three replicates of an ARQ/ARQ scrapie positive sample diluted 1:10, 1:20 and 1:50. The purpose of the study was to verify the interlaboratory agreement in term of Cohen's kappa (k) of the rapid systems currently used by the 25 national rapid test laboratories (RTLs) [laboratories: Biorad TeSeE (17 laboratories), Enfer TSE version 2.0 (4 laboratories), Idexx Herd chek BSE-scrapie antigen kit (3 laboratories) and Prionics check LIA SR (1 laboratory)]. Our results show that the agreement among the laboratories using the same rapid test varied between 0.84 and 1, while the estimated overall agreement among the 25 laboratories was very good (k-combined=0.87, 95% confidence interval 0.85-0.89). Nevertheless, as regards differences in analytical sensitivity among the rapid tests in use, under-recognition of pre-clinical scrapie cases by lower performing systems must be expected.

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“…During July to December 2008, 16 animal-based indicators were tested on 1158 sheep from 38 farms across England and Wales by a varying group of 2-3 observers. The proportion of the study population observed by the TSO with each indicator is shown in Table 3.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Signs of skin irritation were assessed using the nibble test [16]. This was performed by rubbing the fingertips on the skin of the sheep along the lumbar, flank and shoulder regions.…”

Section: Pruritismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, whilst pruritis might be detected by observation of areas of wool loss and signs of intense rubbing against fences and objects, it is possible that animals with pruritic skin conditions may not always be identified during a relatively brief period of undisturbed observation. Therefore, it is recommended that a combination of group-assessment and individual, physical examination of a selection of sheep, particularly those with signs of wool loss, to assess skin, and fleece condition, and the 'nibble test' [16] to avoid missing small skin lesions that may be of high welfare importance. This concurs with more recent findings which identified that fleece condition and skin lesions were reliable indicators for Australian sheep [22] and possibly reflects the higher prevalence of these lesions, which facilitated agreement analysis.…”

Section: Welfare Indicator Test Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Assessing the Validity of Animal-Based Indicators of Sheep Health and Welfare: Do Observers Agree?

2019

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Sixteen animal-based indicators of sheep welfare, previously selected by a stakeholder panel, and based on the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) Five Freedoms, were assessed in terms of the level of inter-observer agreement achieved during on-farm testing. Eight observers independently tested the 16 indicators on 1158 sheep from 38 farms in England and Wales. Overall inter-observer agreement was evaluated by Fleiss’s kappa (κ), and the pair-wise agreement of each observer was compared to a ‘test standard’ observer (TSO). Inter-observer assessments of the welfare indicators; dental abnormality, cleanliness score (ventral abdomen), mastitis, tail length, skin lesions, body condition scoring and lameness produced ‘fair to good’ levels of agreement (0.40 < κ < 0.75) and joint swellings had ‘excellent’ levels of agreement (κ ≥ 0.75). The very low apparent prevalence (<0.8%) of sheep with specific outcomes such as pruritis, wool loss, myiasis, thin body condition, diffuse or severe skin lesions limited kappa analysis for these indicators. Overall, findings suggest that observers of differing experience, training and occupation were reliable in assessing key animal-based indicators of sheep health and welfare.

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Assessment of clinical criteria to diagnose scrapie in Italy

Cited by 9 publications

References 22 publications

Monitoring of clinical signs in goats with transmissible spongiform encephalopathies

Monitoring of clinical signs in goats with transmissible spongiform encephalopathies

Interlaboratory trial on TSE rapid tests for the control of the Italian scrapie surveillance network

Assessing the Validity of Animal-Based Indicators of Sheep Health and Welfare: Do Observers Agree?

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