title: Brief review on the epidemiology of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE).
abstract: Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) form a group of human and animal diseases that share common features such as (a) distinct pathological lesions in the central nervous system, (b) transmissibility at least in experimental settings, and (c) a long incubation period. Considerable differences exist in the host range of individual TSEs, their routes of transmission, and factors influencing the host susceptibility (such as genotype). The objective of this review was to briefly describe the main epidemiological features of TSEs with emphasis on small ruminant (sheep, goats) TSE, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bremgartenstrasse 109a, P.O. Box 8466, 3001 Bern, Switzerland. marcus.doherr@itn.unibe.ch
authors.forename: Marcus G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Doherr
mesh_terms: D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003670:Deer; D006041:Goats; D006801:Humans; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000662:veterinary*; D012756:Sheep