Numbers of cases:
- The thousands of confirmed clinical cases was 2 in 1988, 7 in 1989, 14 in 1990, 25 in 1991, 37 in 1992, 34 in 1993, 24 in 1994, 14 in 1995, 8 in 1996, 4 in 1997, 3 in 1998, 2 in 1999, 1 in 2000, ~ 0.5 in 2001. See graph of numbers of monthly cases of BSE since 1994 in http://www.defra.gov.uk/ (search with BSE then cases).
- The disease should be almost extinct in the year 2001 (when no animals fed ruminant-derived protein are left).
- These cases were distributed amongst 67% of all dairy farms and 16% of all beef farms. More than 3 cases have been found on only 30% of the farms.
- A further 750 thousand cases of subclinical BSE may have occurred and been culled before the peak age for clincal disease of 5.5yr. Brains and spinal cords from 440K of these could have contributed to the human food chain before the offal regulations of 1989.