TSE confirmatory and discriminatory testing
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) carries out confirmatory testing to diagnose transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) and discriminatory testing to identify the specific type or strain of disease. These pages describe the methods APHA uses and requirements for samples.
Submitting samples
Guidelines for submitting samples
Testing methods and protocols
Strain characterisation handbook: TSE in small ruminants
How to take samples for TSE testing and confirmation
Routine PrP IHC staining worksheet
Diagnosing TSEs
Neuropathology: confirmatory diagnosis of TSEs in cattle and small ruminants
Procedures for the diagnosis of animal TSEs
Confirming bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in bovines
WOAH rules for official confirmation of BSE in bovines
Publications
DISCONTOOLS: Identifying gaps in controlling bovine spongiform encephalopathy (2018) Simmons M, Ru G, Casalone C, Iulini B, Cassar C, Seuberlich T. Transbound Emerg Dis, Suppl 1:9-21
Four BSE cases with an L-BSE molecular profile in cattle from Great Britain (2013) Stack MJ, Chaplin MJ, Davis LA, Everitt S, Simmons M M, Windl O, Hope J, Burke P. Vet Rec, 172(3):70
Experimental H-type and L-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle: observation of two clinical syndromes and diagnostic challenges (2012) Konold T, Bone GE, Clifford D, Chaplin MJ, Cawthraw S, Stack MJ, Simmons MM. BMC Vet Res, 8:22
Neuroanatomical distribution of abnormal prion protein in naturally occurring atypical scrapie cases in Great Britain (2008) Moore SJ, Simmons M, Chaplin M, Spiropoulos J. Acta Neuropathol, 116(5):547-59
A review of cleaning and disinfection guidelines and recommendations following an outbreak of classical scrapie (2021) Alarcon P, Marco-Jimenez F, Horigan V, Ortiz-Pelaez A, Rajanayagam B, Dryden A, Simmons H, Konold T, Marco C, Charnley J, Spiropoulos J, Cassar C, Adkin A. Prev Vet Med 193:105388.
Four types of scrapie in goats differentiated from each other and bovine spongiform encephalopathy by biochemical methods (2019) Langeveld JPM, Pirisinu L, Jacobs JG, Mazza M, Lantier I, Simon S, Andréoletti O, Acin C, Esposito E, Fast C, Groschup M, Goldmann W, Spiropoulos J, Sklaviadis T, Lantier F, Ekateriniadou L, Papasavva-Stylianou P, van Keulen LJM, Acutis PL, Agrimi U, Bossers A, Nonno R. Vet Res 50(1):97
Paraffin-embedded tissue blot as a sensitive method for discrimination between classical scrapie and experimental bovine spongiform encephalopathy in sheep (2011) Webb PR, Denyer M, Gough J, Spiropoulos J, Simmons MM, Spencer YI. J Vet Diagn Invest 23(3):492-8