In Sweden, paratuberculosis is compulsorily notifiable in all animals and a stamping out policy is applied in infected herds. A total of 53 infected cattle herds have been identified since 1993, all linked to animal imports. Screening activities, based on faecal culture, have been undertaken in dairy cattle in 2001 and 2004, and there is a voluntary control programme for beef cattle, also based on faecal culture. Paratuberculosis has never been detected in Swedish sheep, but an infected ram was identified in quarantine in 1999. Since 1993, yearly screening of the sheep population has been undertaken. For 10 years serology (AGID) was used, but in 2004 this was replaced by faecal culture (modified Löwenstein-Jensen medium with mycobactin and modified Middlebrook 7H10 with mycobactin for 6 months). An average of one sero-positive sample was found every year, but further investigations into these herds, including slaughtering of the positive animal and testing of all other animals in the herd, revealed no paratuberculosis. No positive faecal samples have been found. Apart from the screening activities, suspect clinical cases and suspect cases found at post mortem or slaughter are further investigated.Although it isn't safe to say that Swedish sheep are free from paratuberculosis, it can be concluded that the infection, if present, remains at a very low level.