A paired case–control study of risk factors for scrapie in Irish sheep flocks

We did a case–control study of the association of several animal, flock and management factors with scrapie in Irish sheep flocks. The characteristics of 61 sheep flocks with at least one laboratory-confirmed case of scrapie (1990–1998) were compared to 61 flocks with no history of scrapie and matched by geographical location and attending veterinary surgeon. The 61 scrapie-affected flocks were from the database of known scrapie flocks in the Republic of Ireland at the start of the study. In conditional multiple logistic regression, factors associated with increased odds of scrapie in a sheep flock were (i) larger breeding-flock size, (ii) purchasing replacement sheep through the market, (iii) spreading sheep compost on the land and (iv) disposing of the placenta in the compost. Factors associated with decreased odds of scrapie were (i) using cattle slurry on the land and (ii) feeding proprietary concentrates to lambs.