- Hello Jeff - Why were they able to find the anomolous
mutated prion disease in the two cows? They found it because they test
every cow over 30 months. If this had occurred in the US, which I am sure
there are cases in the US, we would not have identified the cases. In short,
prion disease, and the new mutations of, are easily able to slip through
and meat from these cows ends up on our dinner table.
-
- "Both the human and cattle diseases cause holes
to form in the brain. The Italian researchers found that, in addition to
the holes, 2 cows had an accumulation of amyloid plaque in their brains.
Amyloid plaques are an indication of Alzheimer's disease in humans. They
have also been found in people with sporadic CJD but had not been found
in cattle, the researchers said. the Italian research workers named the
new form with amyloid plaques as bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy
(BASE). "Although observed in only 2 cattle, the BASE phenotype could
be more common than expected," they reported. Monaco said that he
believes that the incidence could be as high as 5 percent among cattle
with mad cow symptoms."
-
- Patricia
-
- BOVINE AMYLOIDOTIC SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY - ITALY
- A ProMED-mail post
-
- ProMED-mail is a program of the
- International Society for Infectious Diseases
- www.isid.org
-
- Date: Wed 18 Feb 2004
- From: ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
- Source: Newsday.com, Tue 17 Feb 2004 [edited]
-
- http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ats-ap_health
- 15feb16,0,6976781.story?coll=sns-health-headlines
-
- BASE: A New Form of Mad Cow Disease Discovered in 2 Italian
Cows
-
- Italian scientists have found a 2nd form of mad cow disease
that more closely resembles the human Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) than
the usual cow form of the illness. The brain-wasting diseases bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE)-- also known as mad cow disease -- and human CJD are
caused by different forms of mutant proteins called prions. A number of
people, mainly in the United Kingdom, have also suffered from what is called
variant CJD [abbreviated as CJD (new var.) or vCJD in ProMED-mail], a brain
disease believed to be acquired by eating meat from infected cows.
-
- Now a team of Italian researchers reports a study of
8 cows with mad cow disease that found 2 of them had brain damage resembling
the human victims of CJD. They said the cows were infected with prions
that resembled those involved in the standard form of the human disease,
called sporadic CJD, not the variant caused by eating infected meat. Salvatore
Monaco, lead author of the new study, said the findings may indicate that
cattle can also develop a sporadic form of the disease, but it might also
be a new foodborne form of the illness.
-
- Dr. Paul Brown of the National Institutes of Health said
the finding does not indicate an increased threat to humans. If a new form
of the disease were affecting humans, there would be an increase in the
incidence of CJD, said Brown, who was not part of the research team. However,
scientists in Europe have studied all cases of sporadic CJD for the last
decade, and the incidence has not changed, said Brown, an expert in the
disease, who works at the National Institute of Neurological Disease and
Stroke.
-
- Both the human and cattle diseases cause holes to form
in the brain. The Italian researchers found that, in addition to the holes,
2 cows had an accumulation of amyloid plaque in their brains. Amyloid plaques
are an indication of Alzheimer's disease in humans. They have also been
found in people with sporadic CJD but had not been found in cattle, the
researchers said. the Italian research workers named the new form with
amyloid plaques as bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy (BASE).
"Although observed in only 2 cattle, the BASE phenotype could be more
common than expected," they reported. Monaco said that he believes
that the incidence could be as high as 5 percent among cattle with mad
cow symptoms.
-
- But while human CJD and BASE share several characteristics,
the Italian researchers cautioned against assuming a link between them.
The findings of the team led by Monaco, of the Department of Neurological
and Visual Science, Policlinico G.B. Rossi, in Verona, Italy, are reported
in this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of
Science. [The full text of the Abstract of this paper is reproduced below.
- Mod.CP] Dr. Paul Brown said there have also been some unpublished reports
from Japan of cows with a different form of mad cow disease.
-
- The 1st case of mad cow disease in the United States
was reported in December 2003 in Washington state, involving a cow imported
from Canada. An investigation seeking other cattle from the same herd ended
last week with Agriculture officials saying they had located all but 11
suspect animals and concluding the rest could not be found.
-
- [Byline: Randolph E. Schmid]
-
- --
- ProMED-mail
- <promed@promedmail.org
-
- [The reference to the paper referred to above and the
full text of the Abstract are as follows:
-
- "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
of the USA,
- 10.1073/pnas.0305777101
- <http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0305777101v1
-
- Title: Identification of a second bovine amyloidotic
spongiform encephalopathy: Molecular similarities with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease. Authors: Cristina Casalone and seven others from the Centro di
Referenza Nazionale per le Encefalopatie Animali, Istituto Zooprofilattico
Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d'Aosta, Via Bologna, 148, 10195
Turin, Italy; Department of Neurological and Visual Science, Section of
Clinical Neurology, Policlinico G.B. Rossi, Piazzale L.A. Scuro, 10, 37134
Verona, Italy; Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia ed
Emilia Romagna, Via Bianchi, 9, 25124 Brescia, Italy; and Istituto Nazionale
Neurologico "Carlo Besta," Via Celoria 11, 20133 Milan, Italy.
-
- Abstract: Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs),
or prion diseases, are mammalian neurodegenerative disorders characterized
by a post-translational conversion and brain accumulation of an insoluble,
protease-resistant isoform (PrPSc) of the host-encoded cellular prion protein
(PrP/C). Human and animal TSE agents exist as different phenotypes that
can be biochemically differentiated on the basis of the molecular mass
of the protease-resistant PrP/Sc fragments and the degree of glycosylation.
Epidemiological, molecular, and transmission studies strongly suggest that
the single strain of agent responsible for bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE) has infected humans, causing variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The
unprecedented biological properties of the BSE agent, which circumvents
the so-called "species barrier" between cattle and humans and
adapts to different mammalian species, has raised considerable concern
for human health. To date, it is unknown whether more than one strain might
be responsible for cattle TSE or whether the BSE agent undergoes phenotypic
variation after natural transmission. Here we provide evidence of a second
cattle TSE. The disorder was pathologically characterized by the presence
of PrP-immunopositive amyloid plaques, as opposed to the lack of amyloid
deposition in typical BSE cases, and by a different pattern of regional
distribution and topology of brain PrPSc accumulation. In addition, Western
blot analysis showed a PrP/Sc type with predominance of the low molecular
mass glycoform and a protease-resistant fragment of lower molecular mass
than BSE-PrP/Sc. Strikingly, the molecular signature of this previously
undescribed bovine PrP/Sc was similar to that encountered in a distinct
subtype of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease."
-
- It should be emphasized that both Italian cows, one 15
years old and one 11, appeared healthy. Their unusual strain was discovered
only because Italy tests all cattle over 30 months old slaughtered for
human food. By August 2003, it had tested 1.6 million and found 103 that
tested positive for prions. - Mod.CP]
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at:
- http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads
- /postlist.php?Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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