Epidemiological analysis helps in evaluating the potential risks of eating French beef.
Abstract
The United Kingdom has reported the largest number of cases so far of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (177,490 animals), but native-born cases have been reported in other European countries as well (Republic of Ireland, 524; Portugal, 447; Switzerland, 350; France, 143; Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain, each fewer than 20 cases)1. Here I analyse BSE-incidence data2 from France ( Fig. 1a) to estimate the size and course of the epidemic there and find that at least 1,200 French cattle have been infected with the aetiological agent that causes BSE since mid-1987. This suggests that, even under the most optimistic assumptions regarding the incidence of BSE infection in France, an estimated 49 infected animals will have been slaughtered for human consumption in France during 2000.
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Donnelly, C. Likely size of the French BSE epidemic. Nature 408, 787–788 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35048666
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35048666
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