US detects first scrapie case in sheep in over five years, raising traceability concerns

The US has identified its first case of classical scrapie in a sheep since 2018, prompting calls for improved traceability and raising questions over progress toward international disease-free status.

The US Department of Agriculture has confirmed classical scrapie in a sheep slaughtered at an Oregon facility, the first detected US case in more than five years, according to the agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

APHIS and state animal health officials are trying to identify the flock of origin, but investigators said the animal had no ear tag, limiting traceability. The National Veterinary Services Laboratories will carry out tissue-matching and parentage testing on the affected sheep and two others that travelled with it.

Scrapie is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease in sheep and goats that is typically transmitted around pregnancy and lambing, making rapid trace-back central to containment. The case comes through the National Scrapie Eradication Programme’s regulatory slaughter surveillance, which examines brains from adult sheep and goats at slaughter.

Industry officials stressed the value of official identification. Cindy Wolf and Roselle Busch, co-chairs of the American Sheep Industry Association’s Animal Health Council, said traceable tags are essential to finding the source and limiting spread.

USDA said it expects little effect on international trade, with restrictions generally confined to affected flocks or premises. It also said the detection could affect the timetable for the United States to qualify for the World Organisation for Animal Health’s seven-year benchmark for self-declared scrapie freedom in January 2028.

Image Source: American Sheep Industry