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

我们将确定羊瘙痒病（一种使绵羊衰弱的疾病）的感染因子在与食物一起食用后到达神经系统的途径。羊瘙痒病与疯牛病属于同一疾病组（朊病毒疾病）。如果朊病毒疾病通过生物恐怖主义或事故感染澳大利亚的农业动物，将造成巨大的经济损失。绵羊疫情的爆发可能会毁掉这个行业，因为我们的出口市场将立即被封锁，成千上万的动物将被杀死，以阻止疾病的传播。清楚地了解感染因子如何到达神经系统的好处是，这可能会导致干预策略，从而限制感染的传播和严重性。

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.