Mad cow disease could spread through urine, Swiss study

Featured Article
Main Category: CJD / vCJD / Mad Cow Disease
Article Date: 14 Oct 2005 - 16:00 PDT

email icon email to a friend   printer icon printer friendly   write icon opinions  

Current Article Ratings:

Patient / Public:3 and a half stars

3.25 (4 votes)

Healthcare Prof:3 stars

3 (2 votes)


Researchers from the University Hospital of Zurich have found that prions can be spread through urine. Prions are proteins that cause mad cow disease, CJD and scrapie.

You can read about this study in the journal Science.

Lead researcher, Adriano Aguzzi, said that prions could be found in the urine of scrapie infected mice with kidney inflammation. Mice without kidney inflammation (infected with scrapie) had no prions in their urine.

Hence, they concluded that prions could be transmitted through urine.

Before this study, it was thought that the only way to infect an animal or human with BSE or CJD is through contaminated foods or feeds.

Perhaps we should monitor the urine, not just animal remains, say the researchers.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

Visit our cjd / vcjd / mad cow disease section for the latest news on this subject.
There are no references listed for this article.
Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

MLA
Paul Lachynsky. "Mad cow disease could spread through urine, Swiss study." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 14 Oct. 2005. Web.
14 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/32053.php>

APA
Paul Lachynsky. (2005, October 14). "Mad cow disease could spread through urine, Swiss study." Medical News Today. Retrieved from
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/32053.php.

Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.


CJD / vCJD / Mad Cow Disease

Most Popular Articles



Follow Our CJD News On Twitter

Follow Us On Twitter
Get the latest news for this category delivered straight to your Twitter account. Simply visit our CJD / vCJD / Mad Cow Disease Twitter account and select the 'follow' option.



View list of all 'What Is...' articles »