Transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to sheep and goats.

Spongiform encephalopathy has been confirmed in both 'positive' and 'negative' lines of Cheviot sheep (selected for their differential response on experimental exposure to scrapie) after intracerebral injection or oral dosing with brain homogenate derived from cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). With either challenge the incubation period of the disease ranged from 440 to 994 days in both lines of sheep. In a similar experiment, three Anglo-Nubian goats developed the disease 506 to 570 days after intracerebral infection with the same BSE homogenate, and two of three goats developed the disease 941 and 1501 days after oral dosing; the other goat and some sheep from each of the experimental groups remain alive 1720 days after exposure. This is the first report of the experimental transmission of BSE to sheep and goats.