This infosheet is by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) What is scrapie and why is surveillance important? Scrapie is a very rare, devastating disease that affects the central nervous system of goats and sheep. It is in the same class of diseases as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in elk and deer. Like these diseases, once an animal is infected with scrapie, it is always fatal. Sheep and goats can get scrapie by either coming into direct contact with the saliva, urine, feces, blood or birthing fluids of an infected animal, or indirectly by ingesting anything from, living in or spending time in a contaminated environment like a barn or pasture. Males are…
