<http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/156393_madcow13.html>

The article presents some disturbing possibilities. Prion-vectored
diseases may be more widespread (in animals and humans) than we thought,
due to underreporting and misdiagnosis.

We just do not know very much about this class of diseases, and the
cross-species transmission mechanisms. I doubt that every burger is a
lethal biohazard. But I'm also a bit skeptical about the claims from
the government and cattle industry that the meat supply is completely
safe. It's hard to feel confident in those claims when they are only
testing animals that are so sick that they are falling off their feet.

--
Julian Vrieslander

Julian Vrieslander > wrote:

>
><http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/156393_madcow13.html>
>
>The article presents some disturbing possibilities. Prion-vectored
>diseases may be more widespread (in animals and humans) than we thought,
>due to underreporting and misdiagnosis.
>
>We just do not know very much about this class of diseases, and the
>cross-species transmission mechanisms. I doubt that every burger is a
>lethal biohazard. But I'm also a bit skeptical about the claims from
>the government and cattle industry that the meat supply is completely
>safe. It's hard to feel confident in those claims when they are only
>testing animals that are so sick that they are falling off their feet.

As long as feed is not contaminated by MBM(meat/blood meal) from animals with
BSE, there is no reason to fear the spread of the disease. It is only vectored
by direct transmission of the infectious prion from an infected animal to
another infected animal through eating.

Long before cows or beef appeared on their table, the cannibals of New Guinea
suffered from a disease they called 'Kuru' which they got from eating the brains
of their defeated enemies .

BTW, recent research has revealed that the evolutionary function of prions may
be a role in identifying what should be tagged for storage in long-term memory.
I can't recall the source of the research at the moment but I read about it in
the 01/01/2004 issue of 'The Economist'

Dennis

In article >,
Dennis G. > wrote:

> As long as feed is not contaminated by MBM(meat/blood meal) from animals with
> BSE, there is no reason to fear the spread of the disease. It is only vectored
> by direct transmission of the infectious prion from an infected animal to
> another infected animal through eating.

After the mad cow fright in England, the US Government enacted
restrictions against feeding beef protein products back to cattle. But
some ranchers have apparently been scoffing at the rules. One of the
federal auditing agencies (CBO?) found a significant non-compliance
rate. And, if I remember correctly, current US laws do not ban the
adding of cow blood products to cattle feeds. Nor do they ban the
feeding of beef byproducts to chickens and pigs, which can be rendered
and fed back to cattle. The article that I linked in my original post
mentions research which suggests that prions can be passed through one
species without causing disease, and into another species which becomes
ill.

--
Julian Vrieslander

Julian Vrieslander wrote:
> <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/156393_madcow13.html>
>
> The article presents some disturbing possibilities. Prion-vectored
> diseases may be more widespread (in animals and humans) than we thought,
> due to underreporting and misdiagnosis.
>
> We just do not know very much about this class of diseases, and the
> cross-species transmission mechanisms. I doubt that every burger is a
> lethal biohazard. But I'm also a bit skeptical about the claims from
> the government and cattle industry that the meat supply is completely
> safe. It's hard to feel confident in those claims when they are only
> testing animals that are so sick that they are falling off their feet.
>

Buy Aussie beef

Dennis G. wrote:

> Julian Vrieslander > wrote:
>
>>
>><http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/156393_madcow13.html>
>>
>>The article presents some disturbing possibilities. Prion-vectored
>>diseases may be more widespread (in animals and humans) than we thought,
>>due to underreporting and misdiagnosis.

From what I understand, most of this is hysteria. I think anthrax is a lot
more widespread then we think. The little anthrax scare after 9/11 for
instance. I think a couple of those cases were brought on my monkey
business, but the one old lady who died of it, come on.

Have the doctor warn you about a stiff neck and a normal neck will come to
seem "stiff".


>>
>>We just do not know very much about this class of diseases, and the
>>cross-species transmission mechanisms. I doubt that every burger is a
>>lethal biohazard. But I'm also a bit skeptical about the claims from
>>the government and cattle industry that the meat supply is completely
>>safe. It's hard to feel confident in those claims when they are only
>>testing animals that are so sick that they are falling off their feet.

Tis true and I do not count on Powerball making me a millionaire either.



>
> As long as feed is not contaminated by MBM(meat/blood meal) from animals
> with BSE, there is no reason to fear the spread of the disease. It is only
> vectored by direct transmission of the infectious prion from an infected
> animal to another infected animal through eating.

There is a reason why canibalism is not popular not only amongst humans but
in the whole animal kingdom (in general).


>
> Long before cows or beef appeared on their table, the cannibals of New
> Guinea suffered from a disease they called 'Kuru' which they got from
> eating the brains
> of their defeated enemies .

IIRC kuru is also also prion transmitted disease.



>
> BTW, recent research has revealed that the evolutionary function of prions
> may be a role in identifying what should be tagged for storage in
> long-term memory. I can't recall the source of the research at the moment
> but I read about it in the 01/01/2004 issue of 'The Economist'

In Wisconsin we are also dealing with a prion disease amongst our Whitetail
deer herd: chronic wasting disease (CWD). I was reading sometime ago (in an
article by James Swan writing for National Reveiew Online) about research
which indicates CWD is actually a copper deficiency. The prions responsible
are the natural carriers of copper in a whitetail and when copper is
insufficient the prions glom onto other trace elements become misshappen
and then start to form hunks of gunk which punch holes in the deer's brain.
It is yet to be proven this a problem for humans.

The CWD outbreak seems to be centered in the south-central part of WI where
there is much farmland, rough terrain and little woods. I can not recall
the exact plant but Mr. Swan talked about one species of plant incompatible
with farming which typically contains sufficient amounts of copper in its
browse.

I lived in the Mid East when the UK had its mad cow outbreak and all the
restaruants which served beef had signs saying they did not serve beef from
the UK. It was all I could do not to roll my eyes.