Scrapie test biopsy sample. Veterinarian's gloved hand holding a container with a biopsy sample taken to allow testing for scrapie, a disease that affects sheep and goats. To obtain this sample, a local anaesthetic is applied, and a small piece of tissue is snipped off. Scrapie is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) that is caused by a virus-like prion which damages nerve function. Other examples of TSEs are bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or 'mad cow disease') in cows, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans.