Atypical Mad Cow Disease Cases Baffle US Scientists

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Main Category: CJD / vCJD / Mad Cow Disease
Article Date: 12 Jun 2006 - 7:00 PDT

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Texas and Alabama have two new cases of Mad Cow Disease (BSE) which are baffling scientists who say they could be of a different strain and may appear spontaneously. Authorities are at a loss as to how the animals got infected.

In these two cases experts could not find the spongy lesions that prions cause - these lesions are always found in infected animals. Prions are usually distributed in a typical fashion in infected animals, this time the distribution was different. The US Department of Agriculture has said the cases must be treated as typical BSE ones unless science tells us otherwise.

According to lab studies, atypical BSE strains can be contagious among animals. Experts suspect the animals in this case may have become infected in an odd way. Usually, BSE infection happens via the animal feed, not from animal to animal.

It is possible, say some experts, that this strain may be the result of BSE mutation. There is even a chance that it originates from some sheep disease.

Even though scientists are baffled, authorities have decided to proceed as they would on typical BSE infections and base their assumptions on what is scientifically known and understood.

Cases of atypical BSE have cropped up in some other countries and caught the attention of scientists on both sides of the Atlantic.

BSE is an incurable fatal disease of cattle. Experts say it is caused by a prion. Nobody quite knows how a cow becomes infected. It is a progressive neurological disorder in which the animal becomes more and more disoriented, clumsy and aggressive.

If a human eats infected beef there is a risk of developing the human equivalent of Mad Cow Disease, which is called vCJD. VCJD is also an incurable fatal disease.

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

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