Demographic characteristics of scrapie-affected holdings identified by active and passive surveillance schemes in Great Britain: 2002–2005

Several surveillance techniques have been used to quantify the prevalence of both classical and atypical scrapie in British sheep, namely the recording of clinical suspects (RC) and the testing of animals slaughtered at abattoir (AS) or reported as fallen stock (FS). Any estimate of prevalence based on a particular source is likely to have been affected by demographic differences in the populations sampled. In this study, the demographic characteristics of scrapie-affected holdings detected by each of the surveillance streams (RC, AS, FS) in Great Britain were compared. Analyses of all three streams indicated that the probability of an affected holding being detected by a particular stream differed by geographical area, the number of animals brought onto the holding, the type of scrapie identified (classical vs. atypical) and the year. More detailed analysis of AS and FS suggested that the annual and regional differences between these surveys could be explained by differences in sampling effort.