§ Sir Richard BodyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will call for a report on recent research in Switzerland concerning tests capable of detecting sub-clinical infection of BSE. [120652]
§ Ms QuinA Swiss company, Prionics, has developed a test for the post mortem diagnosis of BSE in cattle, the Prionics Check Test. In a recent evaluation of selected BSE screening diagnostic tests conducted under the auspices of the European Commission, the Prionics Check Test detected all clinically affected animals which were histopathologically positive. Prionics have also published the results of a validation of their test on clinical cattle. Swiss authorities have used the test to survey healthy cattle slaughtered for human consumption, casualty animals also slaughtered for human consumption and fallen stock. They have identified a small number of positive animals, especially among the casualty and fallen stock categories.
376WThis test was employed in a survey of British cattle more than five years of age slaughtered under the over-thirty-months scheme. The survey involved the examination of a systematic sample of 4,136 cattle. The Prionics Check Test was not found to be more sensitive than conventional histopathological examination of brain samples. The comparative data obtained by histopathological diagnosis at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency indicate that the Prionics Check Test is capable of detecting BSE-infected animals only three months or less before the onset of clinical signs and, at present, cannot be regarded as being capable of detecting BSE-infected animals at an earlier stage.