Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Hansard, 29 October 1992)

§ Mr. Hinchliffe
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has on the exact ages in years and months of BSE-infected cattle, both clinically diagnosed and confirmed histologically, in the period 1 June to 30 September.

§ Mr. Soames
During the period 1 June to 30 September 1992, a total of 12,528 cattle were slaughtered or died while clinically suspected of having BSE. Of these, 8,621 have been confirmed at histopathological post-mortem exami-nation and the results of 2,334 are not yet available. The dates of birth and dates of clinical onset of disease of these animals are collected on-farm as part of the ongoing epidemiological study of the disease.

§ Mr. Hinchliffe
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has concerning the tissues involved in the cow itself as the infective agent for BSE migrating from the intestine after ingestion to the brain.

§ Mr. Soames
More than 50 different tissues have been collected from confirmed cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathies and are being assayed for infectivity by mouse inoculation. Infectivity has so far been detected only in brain.
The following tissues have given negative results: Spleen, semen, buffy coat, musculus diaphragma, musculus semitendinosus, bone marrow, placenta, prefemoral lymph nodes, milk and udder, supramammary lymph nodes, mesenteric and carcase lymph nodes.
Other results are awaited.

§ Mr. Hinchliffe
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has on the amount of infective material required to be eaten to cause BSE in cattle.

§ Mr. Soames
A study is in progress to address this question.

§ Mr. Hinchliffe
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has on new types of BSE identified during the current year.

§ Mr. Soames
No new types of BSE have been identified in the current year following the histopathological examination that is applied to all confirmed cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

§ Mr. Hinchliffe
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has concerning the age at which BSE-infected cattle first show infectivity in the brain or in any other tissue.

§ Mr. Soames
A study is in progress to indicate when infectivity can be first detected in the brain and possibly in other tissues.