Volume 16: Reference Material
3. Statistics
Cases Born After the feed Ban (BABs)

3.17 When the ruminant feed ban was introduced on 18 July 1988 (see vol. 3: The Early Years, 1986-88), hopes were high that the BSE epidemic would subside relatively quickly. Hence the dismay and alarm when confirmed cases of the disease in cattle born after the ban, having started as a trickle in 1991, then rapidly increased to a peak in 1994. Cross-contamination of feedstuffs was blamed as the most likely cause (see vol. 5: Animal Health, 1989-96). The tables below summarise the course of the 'BABs epidemic'.

Figure 3.31: Number of confirmed BSE cases Born After the feed Ban (BABs) by (A) month and year of restriction, and (B) month and year of confirmation, Great Britain

Figure 3.31: Continued

Figure 3.31: Continued

Figure 3.32: Confirmed BSE cases Born After the feed Ban (BABs) by month of birth, Great Britain: totals as at end of June 2000

Figure 3.33: Confirmed BSE cases in cattle, from 1993, with BABs shown as a percentageof total cases, as at end of June 2000*