Early reports of this disease surfaced in 1990. The disease occurs worldwide, with over 80 cases in England reported as well as cases occurring in Ireland and Italy. This disease can affect all breeds of domestic cats and probably most wild felids. The disease seems to only involve adult cats over 5 years of age. Clinical Signs FSE has an incubation period of months to years before the onset of clinical signs.
Signs depend on the site of the brain that is involved.
Inflammation such as brain abcessation, encephalitis and meningitis can cause similar FSE-like signs Transmission Epidemiological studies suggest that animals contract the disease by external exposure to the infectious agent, by eating infected bovine meat containing the prion protein. There is speculation that this may have been due to horizontal transmission from the man to his cat. Nothing has been proven though. The pathogenesis of FSE is not definitively known, although much research is currently ongoing in research of other related transmissible spongiform encephalopahies. Diagnosis Unfortunately, there are no validated tests to detect FSE in live animals.