# The European Union summary report on surveillance for the presence of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) in 2024

**Authors:** Romolo Nonno, Giuseppe Ru, Roxani Aminalragia‐Giamini, Catalin Iancu, Angel Ortiz‐Pelaez, Kamela Kryemadhi, Francesca Baldinelli

PMC · DOI: 10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9732 · EFSA Journal · 2025-11-13

## TL;DR

This report summarizes the 2024 EU surveillance for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in various animal species and genotyping results.

## Contribution

The report provides updated surveillance data and genotyping results for TSE in multiple species across EU and non-EU countries in 2024.

## Key findings

- 3 atypical BSE cases were reported in EU27 and XI, with no BSE cases in non-EU reporting countries.
- 458 scrapie cases were reported in sheep, including 380 classical and 78 atypical cases.
- 71 scrapie cases were reported in goats, with no polymorphisms at codon 146 and 222 in genotyped cases.

## Abstract

This report presents results of surveillance on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in bovines, sheep, goats, cervids and other species, and genotyping in sheep and goats, carried out in 2024 by 27 EU Member States (EU27, MS), the UK (in respect of Northern Ireland, (XI)) and 8 non‐EU reporting countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Türkiye. In total, 980,624 bovines were tested by EU27 and XI (+3.4% compared to 2023), with 3 atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) cases reported (2 H‐type: 1 in France, 1 in Ireland; 1 L‐type in Poland); and 41,397 bovines by 8 non‐EU reporting countries with no BSE cases reported. Four additional BSE cases were reported by the UK (1 classical and 1 H‐type), the USA (1 L‐type), Brazil (1 H‐type). In total, 277,064 sheep were tested in EU27 and XI (−2.7% compared to 2023). In sheep, 458 scrapie cases were reported by 14 MS and XI: 380 classical scrapie (CS) by 6 MS (139 index cases (IC)) with genotypes of susceptible groups in 98.9% of the cases; 78 atypical scrapie (AS) (78 IC) by 13 MS. In non‐EU reporting countries 25,337 sheep were tested, with Iceland reporting 61 CS and 2 AS cases, and Norway 9 AS cases. Random genotyping was reported by five MS and susceptible genotypes accounted for 7.8%. In goats, out of 93,960 tested (−8.5% compared to 2023), 71 cases of scrapie were reported, all from EU27 and XI: 65 CS (14 IC) by five MS and 6 AS (6 IC) by three MS. None of the genotyped cases in goats carried polymorphisms at codon 146 and 222. In total, 1761 cervids were tested for chronic wasting disease by 9 MS, none tested positive. Norway tested 10,932 cervids with 2 European moose positive, Serbia tested 186 animals and Iceland 96 animals.

## Linked entities

- **Diseases:** bovine spongiform encephalopathy (MONDO:0025149), scrapie (MONDO:0006961)

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** MS (MESH:D009103), TSE (MESH:D017096), AS (MESH:D012608), BSE (MESH:D016643), wasting disease (MESH:D019282)
- **Species:** Capra hircus (domestic goat, species) [taxon 9925], Ovis aries (domestic sheep, species) [taxon 9940], Alces americanus (American moose, species) [taxon 999462], Bos taurus (bovine, species) [taxon 9913]

## Full text

_Full body text omitted from this summary view._ Fetch the complete paper as Markdown: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12612633/full.md

## Figures

5 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12612633/full.md

## References

14 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12612633/full.md

---
Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12612633