The routes of infection with sheep scrapie and agents that cause related prion diseases

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We will define the routes by which the infective agents for scrapie, a debilitating disease of sheep, reach the nervous system after being consumed with food. Scrapie is from the same disease group (prion diseases) as mad cow disease. There would be a large economic cost were prion diseases to infect agricultural animals in Australia, through bioterrorism or accident. An outbreak in sheep could ruin the industry, as our export markets would be immediately blocked, and thousands of animals would be killed to stop disease spread. The benefit of clearly understanding how the infective agents reach the nervous system is that this may lead to strategies to intervene, and thus limit the spread and seriousness of infection.