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If you choose to follow any links to the abstract and/or complete text of the item listed below, you will be leaving the Strategian Web site. If you wish to return to this page from the Web page you are sent to, please use the Back option of your browser. David N. Irani and Richard T. Johnson Diagnosis and Prevention of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. (... the authors review the current status [as of 2003] of the diagnosis and prevention of bovine spongiform encephalopathy [BSE or, more commonly called, mad cow disease] in cattle and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans. The authors state that an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy arose in the United Kingdom as a result of prions entering and being recycled through the ruminant [cattle, sheep, goats, deer, etc.] food chain. Prions enter the food chain when tissue from a diseased animal is eaten by another animal. Prions are an abnormal form of a normally harmless protein found in the brain. Prions are responsible for a variety of fatal neurodegenerative diseases of both animals and humans called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies [TSE]. These diseases include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease, fatal familial insomnia, and kuru in humans and, in animals, the diseases include scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and chronic wasting disease of mule deer and elk. The authors further say that humans have since developed a variant form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease [vCJD] ... that occurs in younger individuals and causes prominent psychiatric and/or behavioral manifestations early in disease. Laboratory studies now provide strong evidence that the causative agent of BSE in cattle and vCJD in humans share a common origin. Because of a lack of information regarding the incubation period of vCJD and the number of people who may have been exposed, the future scope of this disease remains unknown. Control of the current and any future outbreaks in cattle requires strict measures to prevent contamination of the animal food chain with prions of any species. Prevention of human exposure mandates the avoidance of neural tissue in all human foods. Other keywords and phrases -- prion -- from the text of the abstract and from the text of the Encyclopaedia Britannica Online) Annual Review of Medicine Volume 54 (February 2003): pages 305-319. **The complete text of the abstract is currently available through the Web site of the Annual Review of Medicine** How to find the above journal, magazine, or other publication? See Step 3: Locate of the Information Strategy for details. Questions? Please let me know. |
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