The establishment of a tissue bank of naturally-occurring ovine scrapie cases in the Republic of Ireland

Research on scrapie has become a priority following experimental observations that vCJD and BSE are caused by the same strain of pathogen and that BSE can be transmitted to sheep to produce a disease which is indistinguishable from scrapie. In order to facilitate a variety of research projects, a bank of biological material and an extensive data base of naturally-occurring scrapie cases in the Republic of Ireland was established. To date this has facilitated a number of projects whose overall aims are to improve knowledge of the epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathology and genetics of naturally-occurring scrapie in Irish sheep.