Veterinary research at the Central Veterinary Laboratory, Weybridge, with special reference to scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

A Veterinary Laboratory Service was commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of the United Kingdom in 1894 and the Service commenced veterinary research in 1905. The Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL) was opened in 1917 and has become known world-wide under the name 'Weybridge'. In 1922, a network of Veterinary Investigation Centres was established in England and Wales and these continue to make an important contribution to surveillance for animal diseases. Problems recognised at these centres provide an important stimulus for research at the CVL, a good example being the case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Research into many non-infectious and infectious diseases is conducted, and research into scrapie was already in progress when BSE was discovered in 1986. A research programme was commenced to investigate the clinical signs, diagnostic methods, pathology, pathogenesis and epidemiology of BSE and the transmission characteristics of the BSE agent in farm animals. Some of the results of these studies and prospects for the future are discussed.