Pigs and sheep may not be resistant to prion disease transfer

US RESEARCH published in Nature today casts doubt on the assumption that certain species such as pigs and chickens are resistant to the transfer of prion diseases from another species.

The findings support a ban on feeding pigs and poultry with meat and bone meal made from the remains of cattle and sheep.

The scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at Hamilton, Montana, found that the infectious agent could lie dormant in a species that was not itself susceptible to the disease.

The use of meat and bone meal in feeds for pigs and poultry has been banned in the UK since 1996.

• Financial Times 23/04/98 page 19