TY - JOUR AU - Vulin, Johann AU - Biacabe, Anne-Gaëlle AU - Cazeau, Géraldine AU - Calavas, Didier AU - Baron, Thierry T1 - Molecular Typing of Protease-Resistant Prion Protein in Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies of Small Ruminants, France, 2002–2009 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2011 VL - 17 IS - 1 SP - 55 SN - 1080-6059 AB - The agent that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) may be infecting small ruminants, which could have serious implications for human health. To distinguish BSE from scrapie and to examine the molecular characteristics of the protease-resistant prion protein (PrPres), we used a specifically designed Western blot method to test isolates from 648 sheep and 53 goats. During 2002–2009, classical non-Nor98 transmissible spongiform encephalopathy had been confirmed among ≈1.7 million small ruminants in France. Five sheep and 2 goats that showed a PrPres pattern consistent with BSE, or with the CH1641 experimental scrapie source, were identified. Later, bioassays confirmed infection by the BSE agent in 1 of the 2 goats. Western blot testing of the 6 other isolates showed an additional C-terminally cleaved PrPres product, with an unglycosylated band at ≈14 kDa, similar to that found in the CH1641 experimental scrapie isolate and different from the BSE isolate. KW - Prion KW - BSE KW - TSE KW - CH1641 KW - scrapie KW - sheep KW - goat KW - molecular typing KW - France KW - research DO - 10.3201/eid1701.100891 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/17/1/10-0891_article ER - End of Reference