APHIS’ Enhanced

Surveillance Program

for Bovine Spongiform

Encephalopathy

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal

and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has

undertaken an intensive animal health surveillance

program for BSE. The program is designed as a

one–time effort that will provide a snapshot of the

domestic cattle population to help define whether

BSE is present in the United States, and if so, help

calculate at what level.

Experience in the Europe since the first BSE

diagnosis has shown that testing high–risk cattle is

the method most likely to identify BSE if it is present.

APHIS’ increased surveillance of the U.S. cattle 

population is designed to test as many cattle from the

high–risk population as possible in a

12–to–18–month period. The program is tailored to

collect the majority of samples from the following 

categories:

• Nonambulatory cattle;

• Cattle exhibiting signs of a central nervous 

system disorder, such as staggering, excess 

nervousness, or apprehension;

• Cattle exhibiting other signs that may be 

associated with BSE, such as emaciation or 

injury; or,

• Dead cattle.

In order to reach as many high–risk cattle as

possible, samples will be taken from the farm,

slaughter facilities, rendering facilities, livestock 

auctions, veterinary clinics, and public health 

laboratories. The surveillance program will also

include a limited number of random samples from

apparently normal, aged animals. The sampling of

apparently normal animals will come from the 40 U.S.

slaughter plants that handle 86 percent of the aged

cattle processed for human consumption each year in

the United States. The carcasses from these animals

will be held and not allowed to enter the human food

chain until test results show the samples are negative

for BSE.

Under the enhanced surveillance program, 

sampling 201,000 animals would allow APHIS to

detect BSE at the rate of 1 positive in 10 million adult

cattle at a 95 percent confidence level assuming that 

all of the positives are in the targeted high–risk 

population. If 268,500 animals were sampled, APHIS

could detect BSE at the same rate at a 99 percent

confidence level. In other words, the enhanced 

program could detect BSE even if there were only

five positive animals in the targeted population in the

entire country.

BSE surveillance samples will be tested at

APHIS’ National Veterinary Services Laboratories

(NVSL) and at other network laboratories.

Rapid–screen testing will be performed and any 

suspect samples will undergo confirmatory testing by

other methods such as immunohistochemistry and/or

Western Blot.

If additional cases of BSE are identified in the

United States, the cattle owners would be 

compensated for any cattle taken as a result of the

traceback/traceforward investigations. Based on what

we know about transmission of BSE, APHIS would

not be depopulating an entire herd. APHIS will only

be looking for individual animals that may have been

exposed at a young age to the same feed as the

affected animal. Any quarantine of affected animals

would be temporary and losses due to the 

investigation would be reimbursed.

USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services (HHS) have strong safeguards in

place to prevent the spread of BSE in the United

States. Since 1989, USDA has banned the import of

live ruminants and most ruminant products from the

United Kingdom and other countries having BSE.

HHS prohibited the use of most mammalian protein

in the manufacture of animal feed intended for cows

and other ruminants.

Several safeguards are also in place to protect

public health. Most importantly, USDA has taken

action to ensure that the tissues associated with BSE

from animals considered most likely to have the 

disease have been banned from the human food

chain. USDA has also made sweeping changes in

slaughter and processing establishments that further

reduce any risk to public health.

BSE Surveillance Program Outreach

As part of the enhanced surveillance program,

APHIS is reaching out to cattle producers, renderers,

slaughter facility operators and others to encourage

their participation. The goal of the enhanced 

surveillance program is to provide consumers, trading

partners, and industry increased assurances about

the safety of the U.S. cattle population. To reach this

goal, it is essential that animals identified as

high–risk cattle are reported in a timely fashion so

that viable samples can be collected.

Factsheet

Veterinary Services June 2004

APHIS
To report high–risk animals, as described above,

call APHIS’ toll–free number 1–866–536–7593. You

will be connected to the Area Veterinarian in Charge

and given instructions on how to proceed.

More information on the BSE surveillance 

program is available online at

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse.html.

General information about BSE is available online

at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse_geninfo.html.

United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination

in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national

origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to

all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative

means for communication of program information (Braille, large

print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at

(202) 720–2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of

Civil Rights, Room 326–W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence

Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250–9410 or call (202) 720–5964

(voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and

employer.