Epidemiosurveillance of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Belgium during 1998

In 1998, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was diagnosed in cows aged from 54 to 71 months in the Western Flanders (3 cases), Eastern Flanders (2 cases) and in the area of Liege (1 case), Today, the proposed hypotheses are: occurrence of sporadic cases without identifiable cause; cross-contamination between compound feed for monogastric animals containing meals of animal origin and compound feed for polygastric animals without meals of animal origin, during the manufacturing process, the storage or distribution; use of animal meals in the compound feed for bovines before the ban (27/7/1994), The presence of contaminated meals of animal origin cannot be excluded as BSE risk factor in Belgium. However, the origin of these meals is not determined yet.