Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are a group of diseases that affect the brain and nervous system of humans and animals. TSEs are caused by an abnormal form of a protein called prion.
TSEs of animals include: bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, scrapie in sheep and goats, chronic wasting disease in cervids, transmissible mink encephalopathy in mink, feline spongiform encephalopathy in cats. TSEs of humans are: Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD), vCJD, Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome, Fatal Familial Insomnia and kuru in humans.
In 2023, the Commission awarded overall €4.7 million to 26 EU countries for BSE and TSE in sheep and goats, and €2.7 million to 25 EU countries for BSE to contribute to:
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Maintaining the number of classical BSE cases in the Union at a very low level (below three cases per year for all EU countries);
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Increasing the number of EU countries with a negligible BSE risk (at least 26 EU countries by the end of 2022);
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Decreasing the number of index cases of classical scrapie in sheep and goats (15 EU countries with no classical scrapie over the last 7 years).
As from 2024, co-financing is awarded for the control and eradication of BSE only.
Related links
authorising certain Member States to revise their annual BSE monitoring programme
on genotyping of positive TSE cases in goats, the determination of age in ovine and caprine animals, the measures applicable in a herd or flock with atypical scrapie and the conditions for imports of products of bovine, ovine and caprine origin
on the eradication measures for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in goats and endangered breeds
on the rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
on the monitoring of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in caprine animals