Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE) Surveillance

New Zealand is free from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), scrapie and chronic wasting disease of deer (CWD). These diseases are known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs. As a country with an economy reliant on its large livestock industry, New Zealand must protect its TSE-free status to facilitate trade.

MAFBNZ runs a comprehensive TSE preventive/surveillance programme to both prevent the entry and spread of TSE agents and to verify to international markets that New Zealand's animal products are free of BSE, scrapie and CWD. There is a targeted surveillance programme of susceptible livestock - cattle, sheep, goats and deer. As well contingency plans have been developed for dealing with any suspect cases in livestock.

The targeted surveillance programme involves testing the brains of animals that show signs of neurological disease. These brains are submitted by veterinarians to laboratories where they are screened for endemic and TSE diseases. As well, MAFBNZ is evaluating collecting and testing tissue from sheep and goats that have been found dead on farms, for evidence of scrapie.

Important changes to the TSE Surveillance Programme