Canada's BSE program has been changed to meet updated international standards set by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). The updated standards are driven by the dramatic decline in global prevalence and increased knowledge of the disease.
What you need to know:
- if you are called to assess and possibly treat a sick bovine or post-mortem a dead bovine that is over 30 months, in addition to your differential diagnoses, it could also be a BSE surveillance candidate
- a producer should be engaging you to assess a sick bovine or post-mortem a dead bovine for diagnostic purposes not because they think a bovine is a BSE surveillance candidate
- if you euthanize a sick bovine or are performing a post-mortem, use the online questionnaire to find out if the bovine is a BSE surveillance candidate
- if the bovine is a surveillance candidate, the online questionnaire will provide a unique identifier (UID)
- if the producer wants to dispose of the bovine on their premises, you must collect an obex sample on farm
- for information on sample collection and packaging visit BSE surveillance sampling manual for veterinarians
- if the bovine is sent to a pathology lab for post-mortem, the BSE sampling can also be done at the lab
- the UID must be documented on the pathology lab submission form so that the lab knows to collect the appropriate brain sample
Invoicing the CFIA
With a UID you can invoice us for a call fee and mileage. This is a financial benefit to the producer but they will not know whether this incentive will apply until after you have visited the premises, evaluated the bovine, decided to treat or euthanize the bovine and used the online questionnaire.
By providing the producer with the UID they can invoice us for the transport to the pathology lab. The cost of the post-mortem is not covered by us.
To learn more about the updated program, visit the BSE Surveillance Program overview.