The European Union summary report on surveillance for the presence of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) in 2020

This report presents the results of surveillance on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) in cattle, sheep, goats, cervids and other species, and genotyping in sheep, carried out in 2020 by 27 Member States (MS, EU27), the United Kingdom (UK) and other seven non‐EU countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Switzerland. In total, 1,122,671 cattle were tested by EU27 and the UK (−2.4%, compared with 2019), and 51,775 cattle by the other seven non‐EU, with three cases of H‐BSE in France, Ireland and Spain, and two L‐BSE in France and Switzerland. In total, 332,579 sheep and 120,615 goats were tested in the EU27 and the UK (−1.6% and −16%, respectively). In sheep, 688 cases of scrapie were reported by 16 MS and the UK: 589 classical scrapie (CS) by seven MS [81 index cases (IC), one of ARR/ARR genotype and 97% with genotypes of susceptible groups], 98 atypical scrapie (AS) (88 IC) by 14 MS and the UK, and one CH1641‐like. In addition, Italy reported 12 inconclusive cases. In total, 26,053 sheep and 712 goats were tested in the other non‐EU countries with 53 CS in Iceland and 12 AS in Norway. Random genotyping was reported by nine MS: with Cyprus excluded, 8.8% carried the genotypes of susceptible groups. In goats, 328 cases of scrapie were reported: 319 CS (52 IC) by six MS and the UK, and nine AS (9 IC) by five MS. The last of the 3‐year surveillance programme for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden resulted in 6,974 tested cervids and two CWD cases in wild moose, in Finland and Sweden. Other six MS and the UK tested 2,197 cervids, all negative. Norway tested 22,528 cervids of which one wild moose and one wild reindeer were positive. In total, 101 animals from three other species tested negative in Finland.