Mad Cow Update - Enough To Make One Mad

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Mad Cow Update - Enough To Make One Mad

New Case Of Mad Cow Found In Poland

 

From Patricia Doyle, PhD

dr_p_doyle

1-6-6

 

Hello, Jeff - There were 18 animals on the farm. Eight had been

exposed to the risk of mad cow and were culled. Hmm...What about the

other 10? They remain on the farm? The other articles below will also

provoke some anger and amazement.

 

Patty

 

 

New Case Of Mad Cow Disease In Poland

12-28-5

 

WARSAW (AFX) - A new case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE),

or mad cow disease, has been detected in Poland, the country's

veterinary service said.

 

The head of the national veterinary service, Krzysztof Jazdzewski,

said that the infected animal was found on a farm in the northwest of

the country and had been put down.

 

'The disease was detected on a farm with a total of 18 animals. Eight

of them have been identified as exposed to risk (of contamination) and

have been killed,' he said.

 

There have been more than 22 cases of mad cow disease in Poland since

it began testing for BSE in 2001.

 

newsdesk

http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/12/28/afx2416658.html

 

 

Japan Lab May Have Succeeded In Inducing Mad Cow Infection l

 

1-5-6

 

Japanese scientists believe they may have successfully infected cattle

with mad cow disease as part of an experiment aimed at an early

detection for the fatal bovine illness, a laboratory official said

Thursday.

 

The Hokkaido Animal Research Center in northern Japan injected prions

from infected cows into the brains of 14 Holstein calves in 2004 --

six in February, three in July and five in September -- and some in

the first group have developed what seems to be early symptoms of the

mad cow disease, said Tsutomu Ogi, director of the institute's

livestock engineering section. Prions are proteins thought to cause

the disease.

 

Several of the calves became groggy when walking -- changes considered

typical early symptoms of bovine spongeform encephalopathy, or BSE,

Ogi said.

 

" They've become jerky when they walk and we noticed the change since

last month, " he said. " But we're not absolutely certain yet and we

want to make sure before making a conclusion. "

 

Ogi said the six Holsteins, all still alive, have been sent to the

National Institute of Animal Health near Tokyo, where they will be

dissected and analyzed in detailed tests later this month to confirm

the infection.

 

If confirmed, they will be the first successful cases of artificially

induced mad cow disease in Japan, Ogi said. British scientists have

succeeded in similar experiments.

 

Researchers hope the findings will eventually lead to developing a

method of early detection while the animal is alive and further study

of how the affected prions spread inside the animal. All 21 past cases

of mad cow in Japan were detected only after the cattle were killed

for blanket testing before shipment for sale.

 

Ogi said regular sampling of urine and blood of the controlled cows

could also show how prions spread in an infected cow before they

develop a full-blown case and help scientists to find a possible

marker to detect early signs of infection.

 

Injecting mashed-up brain parts taken from sickened cows is the

fastest way to induce BSE in a healthy cow and is believed to take

about two years, he said.

 

Eating beef from cattle infected with mad cow disease can cause the

fatal brain disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

 

Japan has reported 21 cases of mad cow disease since 2001, and one

human victim who died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in December 2004. (AP)

 

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20060105p2a00m0na021000c.html

 

 

 

US Safeguards Against Mad Cow Disease Said Inadequate

Strict Regulations On Cattle Feed Are Needed, Critics Say

 

By Libby Quaid

Associated Press

1-5-6

 

WASHINGTON -- Researchers and the nation's number one burger seller

say the government is not fully protecting animals or people from mad

cow disease.

 

Stronger steps are needed to keep infection from entering the food

chain for cattle, the critics wrote in comments to the Food and Drug

Administration.

 

The group includes McDonald's Corp., seven scientists and specialists,

and a pharmaceutical supplier, Serologicals Corp.

 

The government proposed new safeguards two months ago, but researchers

said that effort ''falls woefully short " and could fail to keep cattle

from eating infected feed, the primary way mad cow disease is spread.

 

''We do not feel that we can overstate the dangers . . . from these

diseases and the need to control and arrest them to prevent any

possibility of spread, " the researchers wrote.

 

McDonald's said the risk of exposure to the disease should be reduced

to zero, or as close as possible. ''It is our opinion that the

government can take further action to reduce this risk, " wrote Dick

Crawford, company vice president.

 

In people, eating meat or cattle products contaminated with mad cow

disease is linked to a rare but fatal nerve disorder, variant

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

 

No one is known to have contracted the disease in the United States.

The disease has turned up in two people who lived in the United

States, but it's believed that they were infected in the United

Kingdom during an outbreak there in the 1980s and 1990s.

 

The United States has found two cases of mad cow disease in cows.

Since the first case, confirmed in December 2003 in a Canadian-born

cow in Washington state, the government has tested more than half a

million of the nation's 95 million cows. The second case was confirmed

in June in a Texas-born cow.

 

''While this surveillance has not uncovered an epidemic, it does not

clear the US cattle herd from infection, " the researchers said.

 

The primary firewall against mad cow disease is a ban on using cattle

remains in cattle feed, which the United States put in place in 1997.

The feed ban, however, has loopholes that create potential pathways

for mad cow disease. For example, restaurant plate waste is allowed in

cattle feed.

 

The Food and Drug Administration proposed in October to tighten the

rules, but critics said glaring loopholes would remain.

 

The FDA, which regulates animal feed, accepted public comments on the

proposal through last month. An agency spokeswoman said yesterday that

it would be inappropriate to respond to those comments.

 

The critics said their biggest concern is that tissue from dead

animals would be allowed in the feed chain if brains and spinal cords

have been removed. Brains and spinal cords are tissues that can carry

mad cow disease, but in dead cattle that had the disease, the

infection had spread beyond the brains and spinal cords.

 

Leaving tissue from dead cattle in the feed chain would negate the

FDA's attempt to strengthen its safeguards, the critics said.

 

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/01/05/us_safeg

uards_against_mad_cow_disease_called_inadequate/

 

 

History Of Human Cannibalism Eats Away At Researchers

 

New Study Challenges Previous Reports Of Cannibalism As A Worldwide

Selective Force

 

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

1-3-6

 

New study challenges previous reports of cannibalism as a worldwide

selective force

 

In a new study published by the journal Genome Research, a team of

scientists reports that 'mad cow'-like diseases have not been a major

force in human history, nor have been cannibalistic rituals that are

known to be associated with disease transmission. Prof. Jaume

Bertranpetit, a scientist at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and his

colleagues used a fresh set of genetic data to show that balancing

selection associated with cannibalism has not been a major selective

driving force on the prion protein gene, as has recently been

proposed. Their work also has important scientific implications for

researchers using a specific class of DNA markers called SNPs (single

nucleotide polymorphisms) to examine genetic associations with

diseases or to evaluate historical patterns of human migration.

 

The prion protein gene (PRNP) encodes a protein that can abnormally

fold and amass in brain tissues to cause fatal neurodegenerative

diseases such as mad cow disease. These diseases are cumulatively

known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) and in

humans, include CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) and kuru. Kuru is

confined to a human population in Papua-New Guinea and is transmitted

by cannibalism at ritualistic mortuary feasts.

 

A high-profile study published nearly three years ago suggested that

individuals who were heterozygous for a common polymorphism in the

PRNP gene were relatively resistant to the disease. Over time,

homozygotes who participated in the cannibalistic rituals purportedly

diminished in numbers due to their increased susceptibility to kuru.

This indicated that cannibalism conferred an effect of balancing

selection on the PRNP gene throughout human history.

 

Bertranpetit and his colleagues sequenced 2,378 base pairs of the PRNP

gene in 174 individuals; in addition, they genotyped two SNPs (or

single nucleotide polymorphisms) from the PRNP gene in 1000

individuals from populations worldwide. They identified 28 different

haplotypes or combinations of DNA variants in the PRNP gene and used

this data to assess the ages of the mutations, to identify geographic

patterns of variation, and to evaluate selective forces that have

potentially influenced these patterns.

 

" In contrast to the previous study, which concluded that variation in

the PRNP gene was strongly skewed toward intermediate frequency

variants, our results showed that there was, in fact, a deficit of

intermediate frequency variants, " says Bertranpetit. " Our results are

consistent with a complex history of episodic or fluctuating

selection, including positive selection, purifying selection, and

possibly even short periods of balancing selection. "

 

On a more technical note, the study cautions researchers involved in

SNP-based population genetics studies. The work is one of the first to

empirically demonstrate how SNP ascertainment can introduce a strong

bias in population genetics studies and severely affect the

conclusions. Bertranpetit and his colleagues point out that at a time

when a flood of ascertained SNP data is being generated, it is

essential that SNP ascertainment be taken into consideration in data

analyses.

 

The first author on the study is Dr. Marta Soldevila, who completed

her Ph.D. at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and performed a substantial

part of the sequencing work at DeCODE Genetics (Reykjavik, Iceland).

 

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-01/cshl-hoh010306.php

 

 

Patricia A. Doyle, DVM, PhD- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics

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