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World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, formerly OIE)

WOAH is the intergovernmental body for animal health, founded in 1924 in Paris as the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) and now working with 183 Members. It kept the OIE acronym after a 2003 name change and switched to WOAH in May 2022. For prion disease it matters in three ways. It sets the international standards for BSE and scrapie in its Terrestrial Code and Manual. It grants official BSE risk status to countries and zones, a status that drives trade and national surveillance. And it designates reference laboratories for animal prion diseases, several of which are atlas entities: Lethbridge for BSE, Ottawa and the Norwegian Veterinary Institute for CWD, and laboratories at Weybridge and Zaragoza. It does not deal with human prion disease, which sits with health agencies. Information only, not medical or veterinary advice.

Key facts

  • Founded in 1924 as the Office International des Epizooties, WOAH is an intergovernmental organisation headquartered in Paris, working with 183 Members; its Director General is elected by the World Assembly of Delegates for a five-year term.
  • The name World Organisation for Animal Health was adopted in May 2003 while the OIE acronym was kept; on 28 May 2022 the organisation launched a new brand and the acronym WOAH (OMSA in French and Spanish), then citing 182 Members.
  • Official status recognition is voluntary and covers six diseases; for BSE WOAH recognises a risk status. The procedure dates from a May 1994 World Assembly request on foot and mouth disease, and WOAH places its WTO mandate to recognise disease-free areas in 1998.
  • A country or zone reaches negligible BSE risk when the risk of the classical BSE agent being recycled in cattle has been negligible for at least the preceding eight years, with surveillance over the same period; controlled status applies when one condition has been met for under eight years, and others are undetermined.
  • Members apply with a questionnaire under Terrestrial Code chapter 1.8 and must show compliance with chapter 11.4; the Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases assesses applications with an ad hoc BSE expert group, the World Assembly adopts the list each May, and recognised Members must reconfirm each year by the end of November.
  • The current BSE list was adopted as Resolution No. 23 at the 93rd General Session in May 2026 and names about 60 Members with negligible status, including the United States and Japan.
  • WOAH revised its BSE standards at the 90th General Session in May 2023. Atypical BSE is not a listed disease and is excluded from risk categorisation because it is thought to arise spontaneously at a very low rate in all cattle, but Members must show any atypical case was destroyed and kept out of feed and food.
  • WOAH says there is no confirmatory test in live cattle; BSE diagnosis relies on prion detection by immunohistochemistry, western blot and rapid tests, and histopathology is no longer the preferred method.
  • Scrapie is a WOAH listed disease with standards in Terrestrial Code chapter 14.8 and Manual chapter 3.8.11; the agent of chronic wasting disease is filed as non-listed, affecting wildlife.
  • WOAH reference laboratories in the prion field include CFIA Lethbridge for BSE (since 2006), CFIA Ottawa Fallowfield for scrapie and CWD (designated at the 75th General Session, announced 25 May 2007) and the Norwegian Veterinary Institute for CWD (announced April 2018, the first in Europe).
  • WOAH annual laboratory reports, seen only as search excerpts, list APHA Weybridge as a BSE and scrapie reference laboratory and a Zaragoza centre as a BSE and scrapie reference laboratory.
  • A 2025 WOAH presentation, seen only through a search summary, put the network at 270 reference laboratories for 109 diseases or topics in 39 countries plus 80 collaborating centres.
  • WOAH granted the UK negligible BSE risk status on 9 June 2025.

Timeline

  1. 1924Office International des Epizooties founded.
  2. 1994World Assembly asks for an official status recognition procedure, starting with foot and mouth disease.
  3. 2003Name World Organisation for Animal Health adopted, OIE acronym kept.
  4. 2006Lethbridge designated a WOAH reference laboratory for BSE.
  5. 2007Ottawa Fallowfield scrapie and CWD laboratories designated at the 75th General Session.
  6. 2018Norwegian Veterinary Institute announces its CWD reference laboratory designation.
  7. 2022Brand relaunch and switch to the WOAH acronym.
  8. 2023Revised BSE standards adopted at the 90th General Session; atypical BSE left outside risk categorisation.
  9. 2025UK granted negligible BSE risk status.
  10. 2026BSE status list adopted as Resolution No. 23 at the 93rd General Session.
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