Deutsche Fassung     return to overview

List of the confirmed and suspected BSE cases
in Germany in 2000

Roland Heynkes (Translation Ingrid Schütt-Abraham), last update: 04 April 2002

Marked in red are the cases not slaughtered as healthy as far as this could be derived from the often rather poor public announcements.

No. Herd of the BSE-case Birth Diagnosis
Age in months
confirmed Details
  later cases        
7 Niedersachsen
Regional district Weser-Ems
Local district Osnabrück, Nortrup
15/5/96 28/12/00
55 months
yes The dairy cow had become recumbent on the 20/12/2000 immediately prior to calving and her healthy calf was delivered by cesarean section. Afterwards the cow was not able to rise and underwent - on the day her calf was delivered - casualty slaughter in a small abattoir. Based on a screening test on the evening of the 23. and a repetition of the test on the 24/12/2000 the State Veterinary Laboratory in Oldenburg stated a BSE suspicion. On the 26/12/2000 an immunhistochemical examination carried out by the State Veterinary Laboratory Oldenburg gave a result which could not be interpreted. The BFAV confirmed the BSE suspicion.
6 Bayern
Regional district Schwaben
Local district Unterallgäu
13/3/96 27/12/00
57 months
yes The German Braunvieh cow which had been born on the farm was regularly slaughtered in the communal slaughter house of Kempten on the 13/12/2000 and gave unclear results in the range of the detection limit in a private laboratory as well as during several test repetitions in the LUA Nordbayern on the 15/12/2000. An additional immunohistochemical examination initiated in the LUA Nordbayern on the 16/12/2000 led again to an unclear result on the 20/12/2000. Only then the BFAV got finally involved which confirmed the BSE diagnosis on the 27/12/2000.
  Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ? 25/12/00 no? The bovine was regularly slaughtered in Teterow (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) on the 19/12/2000. Three BSE screening tests carried out in a private laboratory in Hamburg gave varying results. Subsequently brain stem samples were additionally examined in Schwerin on the 22/12/2000 by the BioRad test and in the State Veterinary and Food Laboratory in Rostock by the Prionics test, all with negative results. The final verification of the BSE suspicion was not carried out by OIE-Western-Blot - the only reference method with a sensitivity comparable to the BioRad screening test - in the BFAV but commissioned by the BFAV in the State Veterinary and Food Laboratory in Potsdam using a rather less sensitive immunohistological method which could likewise not confirm the initially positive result in Hamburg.
  Schleswig-Holstein ? 25/12/00 no? The bovine was regularly slaughtered in Teterow (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) on the 19/12/2000. Three BSE screening tests carried out in a private laboratory in Hamburg gave varying results. Subsequently in brain stem samples further tests were carried out in Schwerin on the 22/12/2000 using the BioRad test and by the State Veterinary and Food Laboratory in Rostock using the Prionics test, all of which gave negative results. The final verification of the BSE suspicion was not carried out by using the OIE-Western-Blot which is the only reference method with a sensitivity comparable to the BioRad test in the BFAV, but commissioned by the BFAV in the State Veterinary and Food Laboratory in Potsdam which used a rather less sensitive immunohistological examination and could likewise not confirm the initially positive result in Hamburg.
  Schleswig-Holstein ? 25/12/00 no? The bovine was regularly slaughtered in Teterow (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) on the 19/12/2000. Three BSE screening tests carried out in a private laboratory in Hamburg gave varying results. Subsequently brain stem samples were further tested by screening tests on the 22/12/2000 in Schwerin using the Bio-Rad method and in the State Veterinary and Food Laboratory in Rostock using the Prionics test, which all gave negative results. The final evaluation did not take place in the BFAV by using the OIE-Western-Blot - the only suitable reference methode with a sensitivity comparable to the Bio-Rad test - but in commission for the BFAV in the State Veterinary and Food Laboratory Potsdam using the rather less sensitive immunohistological examination, which likewise could not confirm the initially positive result in Hamburg.
5 Bayern
Regional district Oberpfalz
Local district Neumarkt, Community of Pilsach
26/10/95 21/12/00
62 months
yes The cow which had been born on the farm had been regularly slaughtered in the slaughter plant of Crailsheim (local district Schwäbisch Hall, Baden-Württemberg and gave a weak positive result in a Bio-Rad screening test carried out in a private laboratory in Hamburg on the 15/12/2000, which was confirmed by a second screening test on the 17/12/2000. The BFAV confirmed the BSE suspicion.
4 Bayern
Regional district Oberbayern
Local district Weilheim-Schongau
14/3/94 21/12/00
81 months
yes The cow (which had according to the press release been born on the 24/3/1994) had been euthanatized on the 2/11/2000 because of a central nervous disorder and had been examined within the frame of the obligatory EU-TSE-Surveillance program using the histological method (which was at that time EU standard). Although a negative result was obtained on the 29/11/2000, an immunohistochemical examination was additionally carried out by the Landesuntersuchungsamt für das Gesundheitswesen Nordbayern (LUA Nord) which gave a positive result on the 19/12/2000. The BFAV confirmed the BSE suspicion.
3 Bayern
Regional district Oberpfalz
Local district Cham
12/3/96 19/12/00
57 months
yes The cow which had been born on the farm was regularly slaughtered in the slaughter establishment of Furth im Wald on the 15/12/2000 and proved to be BSE positive in a screening test on the 16/12/2000 . The BFAV confirmed the BSE suspicion.
2 Bayern
Regional district Schwaben
Local district Oberallgäu
5/10/95 17/12/00
62 months
yes The cow which had been born on the farm had been regularly slaughtered on the 13/12/2000 and was positive in a BSE screening test. The BFAV confirmed the BSE suspicion.
  Brandenburg ? 14/12/00 no The brain sample of a bovine from the south of Brandenburgs underwent 3 BSE screening tests in Berlin the results of all of which were not clearly negative. A laboratory in Frankfurt/Oder and also the BFAV could not confirm the BSE suspicion.
1 Schleswig-Holstein
Local district Rendsburg-Eckernförde
Hörsten
2/8/96 26/11/00
52 months
yes The Red Pied cow which had been born on the farm had been regularly slaughtered in Itzehoe on the 22/11/2000 and was tested with a positive result for BSE in a private laboratory in Hamburg using a BSE screening test within the frame of a voluntary test program on the 24/11/2000. The BFAV confirmed the BSE suspicion.

Abbreviations used

BFAV = Bundesforschungsanstalt für Viruserkrankungen der Tiere (formerly located in Tübingen, currently on the Baltic Sea island of Riems) running the National Reference Laboratory for Scrapie and BSE (Mad Cow Disease).

LUA = Landesuntersuchungsamt für das Gesundheitswesen

Descriptions of various breeds of cattle like Fleckvieh (German Simmental), Braunvieh (German Braunvieh) und Schwarzbunte (Black Pied) may be found with the Agrar Information Service (AID).

Homepage

Additional information and critical comments are highly appreciated.

Copyright Roland Heynkes (Translation by Ingrid Schütt-Abraham)