During the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic, Portugal was the third most affected country. As a result of a successful national eradication plan, the number of BSE affected animals has been progressively declining in Portugal with no cases identified in 2013. However, within the scope of this active surveillance scheme, we have identified the first H-type BSE case born after the introduction of the reinforced ban in fallen stock. Here, we report the phenotypic features of this case and the analysis of the protein coding sequence of prnp as well as the prnp promoter and intron 1 insertion-deletions.
Keywords: BARB, born after the reinforced ban of meat and bone meal; BSE, bovine spongiform encephalopathy; EU, European Union; H-BSE; MBM, meat and bone meal; OIE, Office International of Epizooties; Portugal; PrP, prion protein; PrPres; PrPres, protease resistant prion protein; aa, amino acid; prnp; prnp, prion protein gene.