Epidemiosurveillance of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Belgium in 1999

In 1999, 201 cattle with neurological disorders and 203 without neurologica l disorders were analysed for the detection of bovine spongiform encephalop athy (BSE), During this year, BSE was diagnosed in three cows aged from 108 , 66 and 73 months in the provinces of Liege (case 99/1), and Hainaut (case 99/2) and Namur (case 99/3) respectively. The current proposed hypotheses for contamination of these cows are : the use of animal meals in the feedin g of these cattle before the ban (27/7/1994) and contamination of compound feed for polygastric animals with compound feed for monogastric animals con taining meals of animal, during the manufacturing process, the storage, the transport or the distribution.