Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease preventive risk management in the Russian Federation

To date, Russia has not reported any cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in its own territory. Qualitative self risk assessment indicated that if BSE occurred in the Russian Federation, the economic consequences would be devastating for its agriculture and economy. Preventive measures taken by the Russian Government to anticipate and reduce the probability of BSE occurring in its livestock and to protect public health from vCJD are reviewed in this paper. Evidence-based recommendations focus on strengthening measures to prevent the introduction and spread of prion disease.

Keywords: bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, scrapie, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, vCJD, Russian Federation, risk management, risk communication, Russia, mad cow disease, variant CJD, risk assessment, prion disease, food safety