Jul 30, 2026 · 19 min · 10 segments
Welcome to episode #46 of Scrubbed In: The DVM Journey – the podcast where we dive into the wild, rewarding, and sometimes unpredictable world of becoming a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. In this…
Grace GaynorHost
A four-year-old ewe is presented after several months of progressive weight loss despite maintaining a normal appetite.
The producer has noticed the ewe rubbing against fence posts, wool loss over her shoulders, and increasing difficulty walking.
What disease is at the top of your differential list? Hopefully, you're thinking scrapie.
Scrapie is a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by an abnormal prion protein.
Unlike bacteria or viruses, prions are misfolded proteins that induce normal proteins to misfold, resulting in progressive damage to the central nervous system.
Scrapie primarily affects sheep, although as I mentioned, goats can become infected too, and they're reportable in both species.
Lambs are commonly exposed through contact with the placenta, fetal fluids, and other contaminated birthing materials from infected ewes.
The incubation period is quite long, typically two to five years, which is why affected sheep are usually adults by the time clinical signs appear.
So why is this important? Scrapie is a reportable disease because of its economic importance and the need for surveillance and eradication programs.
Clinical signs you may see with scrapie include progressive weight loss despite a normal appetite, just like in our case, intense pruritus and wool loss on the tail head, rump, thighs, and dorsum, behavioral changes such as sudden aggression, progressive ataxia, which can include bunny hopping in the pelvic limbs or high stepping in the thoracic limbs, and recumbency in advanced cases.
The disease progresses slowly over months, so you may see some of these things initially until it may progress to recumbency.
In order to diagnose scrapie, we often diagnose this disease based on clinical suspicion, age, and neurologic signs.
Definitive diagnosis relies on detecting the abnormal prion protein in lymphoid or nervous tissue.
Post-mortem immunohistochemistry testing of the brain is commonly used for definitive diagnosis, while certain lymphoid tissues such as rectal mucosa or third eyelids may be sampled in live animals as part of surveillance programs.
Control focuses on preventing transmission and eliminating the disease from flocks.
Important prevention measures include identification and reporting of suspect animals, removal of infected animals, breeding for genetic resistance where appropriate, proper disposal of placentas and contaminated tissues, and participation in the National Scrapie Eradication Program.
Whenever you hear scrapie, immediately think of an adult sheep with intense itching, progressive neurologic disease, and weight loss.
A four-year-old ewe is presented after several months of progressive weight loss despite maintaining a normal appetite.
The producer has noticed the ewe rubbing against fence posts, wool loss over her shoulders, and increasing difficulty walking.
What disease is at the top of your differential list? Hopefully, you're thinking scrapie.
Scrapie is a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by an abnormal prion protein.
Unlike bacteria or viruses, prions are misfolded proteins that induce normal proteins to misfold, resulting in progressive damage to the central nervous system.
Scrapie primarily affects sheep, although as I mentioned, goats can become infected too, and they're reportable in both species.
Lambs are commonly exposed through contact with the placenta, fetal fluids, and other contaminated birthing materials from infected ewes.
The incubation period is quite long, typically two to five years, which is why affected sheep are usually adults by the time clinical signs appear.
So why is this important? Scrapie is a reportable disease because of its economic importance and the need for surveillance and eradication programs.
Clinical signs you may see with scrapie include progressive weight loss despite a normal appetite, just like in our case, intense pruritus and wool loss on the tail head, rump, thighs, and dorsum, behavioral changes such as sudden aggression, progressive ataxia, which can include bunny hopping in the pelvic limbs or high stepping in the thoracic limbs, and recumbency in advanced cases.
The disease progresses slowly over months, so you may see some of these things initially until it may progress to recumbency.
In order to diagnose scrapie, we often diagnose this disease based on clinical suspicion, age, and neurologic signs.
Definitive diagnosis relies on detecting the abnormal prion protein in lymphoid or nervous tissue.
Post-mortem immunohistochemistry testing of the brain is commonly used for definitive diagnosis, while certain lymphoid tissues such as rectal mucosa or third eyelids may be sampled in live animals as part of surveillance programs.
Control focuses on preventing transmission and eliminating the disease from flocks.
Important prevention measures include identification and reporting of suspect animals, removal of infected animals, breeding for genetic resistance where appropriate, proper disposal of placentas and contaminated tissues, and participation in the National Scrapie Eradication Program.
Whenever you hear scrapie, immediately think of an adult sheep with intense itching, progressive neurologic disease, and weight loss.
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