Читать книгу Farm Animal Medicine and Surgery - Graham R Duncanson - Страница 134

This condition was first diagnosed in the UK in 1986. It has been found in Europe, the Middle East, Japan, the USA and Canada. Cows become infected by eating infectious proteins in cattle feed contaminated from animal sources. Horizontal transmission is of minor importance. The incubation period can be many years. Animals are very unlikely to be infected under 2 years of age. The disease has an insidious onset with just a slight change of character. Full-blown signs of aggression and paraplegia are often brought on by parturition. Diagnosis other than that from clinical signs relies on histology of the CNS. The disease is similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in man and is notifiable in the UK.