Aetiology of scrapie in certain circumstances is not evidence against another aetiology in different circumstances

BMJ 1996;312:180 (20 January)

Letters

Aetiology of scrapie in certain circumstances is not evidence against another aetiology in different circumstances

EDITOR,--We are pleased that, in the commentary on our articleon the myth of maternal transmission of spongiform encephalopathy,R G Will agrees that maternal transmission does not occur inhuman or experimental forms of spongiform encephalopathy andthat the only circumstance in which it requires serious considerationis natural scrapie.¹

The genetics of natural scrapie and the genetics of susceptibilityto experimental transmission of scrapie in sheep differ. Thecharacteristics and quantity of the agent, the route of exposure,and the interaction between the host genotype and the strainof agent are known only for, or are relevant only to, experimentaltransmission; in some cases they apply only to the laboratorydisease in rodents. Data on experimental transmission are thereforeof only limited relevance to natural scrapie.

The occurrence of scrapie in two of 20 Suffolk sheep exportedfrom New Zealand in the 1960s is interesting, but, obviously,if . . . [Full text of this article]

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