[Strategies of epidemiologic research applied to BSE]

Published epidemiological literature relating BSE was reviewed to point out strategies and methods used by the veterinary epidemiologists involved. Classification keys were used to identify descriptive, analytical and theoretical epidemiological studies used to formulate etiologic hypotheses, to assess the relevance of several risk factors and to monitor and predict the future of the epidemic. Case series, incidence and ecological studies, case-control studies, a cohort study and modelling epidemiology studies have been considered.