Scrapie in imported sheep in New Zealand

Extract

The disease known as Scrapie was diagnosed in New Zealand for the first time in June, 1952. Two positive cases and, one suspected case occurred in Canterbury in Suffolk sheep which were imported from England early in 1950. The disease appeared after a typiqally long incubation period and ran a characteristic course in the affected sheep. The outbreak of Scrapie in New Zealand and the drastic measures necessary to control it have placed new emphasis on the difficulty of preventing the introduction of this and other diseases which develop insidiously after a long incubation period, and for which no biological test is available. The same factors have also been responsible for the peculiar difficulties encountered by overseas workers in investigating Scrapie and in establishing clearly the facts of its etiology and transmission.