Volume 16: Reference Material
3. Statistics
Other spongiform encephalopathies

3.24 Feline Spongiform Encephalopathy (FSE), in domestic cats, was first recognised in 1990. At the time, domestic cats were the sixth species in which a scrapie-like spongiform encephalopathy had been diagnosed. Commercially produced cat food including MBM was the most likely source of the disease. ¹ By December 1998, when the outbreak appeared to be tailing off, there had been 85 cases, including one each in Northern Ireland, Norway and Liechtenstein. Figure 3.36 below shows the course of the disease from 1989 to 1997: by the end of June 1997, the number of cases had reached 80.

Figure 3.36: Distribution of Feline Spongiform Encephalopathy cases by month and year, by date of onset of clinical signs, Great Britain, 1989-97

3.25 In contrast to FSE, which had a similar clinical duration and mean age at clinical onset as BSE, spongiform encephalopathies in exotic ungulates in Great Britain occurred at an earlier age, and had a much shorter duration. In cases involving big cats, it is supposed that the animals became infected from being fed raw bovine tissues, including the spinal cord and brain. ² The ungulates were infected through MBM in their feed.

Figure 3.37: Spongiform encephalopathies in exotic species in Great Britain, as at 31 December 1999