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What practitioners should know about bovine spongiform encephalopathy to serve clients and the cattle industry.

B spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has been one of the most widely discussed animal diseases of the past 20 years. Its prominence in the US dialogue increased greatly following diagnosis of the first case in the United States in December 2003. Yet, knowledge of the disease and its many impacts on agriculture and society is limited. Many excellent review sources are available that detail the disease and its theorized agent, pathogenesis, and epidemiologic characteristics. The information provided here focuses on the responsibilities of veterinarians regarding the disease and their role as disease experts, agriculture advocates, and public health defenders. It is imperative that veterinarians understand and be able to explain at least the basic premise of current testing and regulatory efforts to control BSE. Most experts agree that the US government was proactive in creating firewalls to prevent the entry and dissemination of BSE. These have been improved and elaborated on over time, with the most notable alteration being the implementation of additional public health safeguards and launching of a new surveillance program in response to the 2003 case. All protective measures (proposed and in place) can be divided into 3 semi-independent categories: measures to prevent spread or dissemination of BSE within the cattle population, measures to protect public health, and surveillance systems to determine prevalence and guide future policy decisions. It is important to understand that there are interrelated goals among the 3 categories. For example, when there is no disease in the cattle population, it can pose no risk to public health and the surveillance systems measure the success of the policies to prevent dissemination and guide decisions about future control measures. However, each of the 3 components has unique goals and methods.