SCRAPIE USA

Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy TSE Prion PrP sheep and goats

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Location: BACLIFF, Texas, United States

My mother was murdered by what I call corporate and political homicide i.e. FOR PROFIT! she died from a rare phenotype of CJD i.e. the Heidenhain Variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease i.e. sporadic, simply meaning from unknown route and source. I have simply been trying to validate her death DOD 12/14/97 with the truth. There is a route, and there is a source. There are many here in the USA. WE must make CJD and all human TSE, of all age groups 'reportable' Nationally and Internationally, with a written CJD questionnaire asking real questions pertaining to route and source of this agent. Friendly fire has the potential to play a huge role in the continued transmission of this agent via the medical, dental, and surgical arena. We must not flounder any longer. ...TSS

Friday, September 30, 2011

A Review of Archived Canadian Scrapie Cases for Evidence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

Envt.13: A Review of Archived Canadian Scrapie Cases for Evidence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

Noel Harrington,† Jasmine Rendulich and Aru Balachandran

Canadian Food Inspection Agency; Ottawa, ON Canada†Presenting author; Email: Noel.Harrington@inspection.gc.ca

Prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are a group of chronic, progressive and invariably fatal neurodegenerative disorders characterized by the accumulation of disease-specific prion protein (PrPd) in tissues. Scrapie, the TSE of small ruminants, occurs as an endemic infection whereas bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) developed as an epidemic transmitted via contaminated meat and bone meal and subsequently linked to the emergence of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Although scrapie and BSE do not share the same public health concerns and BSE is now largely under control, the possible spread of the BSE agent to small ruminant populations has been of concern as a potential new source of contamination. Indeed, successful oral challenge of sheep occurs with as little as 0.5 g of brain from BSE-affected cattle, and there are reports of natural BSE infection of a goat in France and a potential similar case from archived material of a goat in Scotland. The Canadian small ruminant population, if exposed to the BSE agent, may have become unknowingly infected as past diagnostic criteria did not distinguish natural scrapie infection from BSE. The aim of this study was to examine archived brain and lymphoid tissue of Canadian sheep and goats diagnosed with scrapie (1999–2009) for the potential presence of BSE-derived disease using two prion strain discrimination techniques: immunohistochemistry and western blotting. These techniques respectively analyze the protease sensitivity and cleavage site of PrPd in vitro or its intracellular truncation pattern in situ. The PrPd patterns of archived scrapie cases were compared to those of experimental BSE-challenged sheep. There was no evidence to indicate that BSE has been naturally transmitted to small ruminants in Canada.

http://www.prion2011.ca/files/PRION_2011_-_Posters_(May_5-11).pdf



good news.


lets review some science, shall we, and see what the potential concerns are all about ;


Canada

Increased Atypical Scrapie Detections

Press reports indicate that increased surveillance is catching what otherwise would have been unreported findings of atypical scrapie in sheep. In 2009, five new cases have been reported in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. With the exception of Quebec, all cases have been diagnosed as being the atypical form found in older animals. Canada encourages producers to join its voluntary surveillance program in order to gain scrapie-free status. The World Animal Health will not classify Canada as scrapie-free until no new cases are reported for seven years. The Canadian Sheep Federation is calling on the government to fund a wider surveillance program in order to establish the level of prevalence prior to setting an eradication date. Besides long-term testing, industry is calling for a compensation program for farmers who report unusual deaths in their flocks.

http://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/This%20Week%20in%20Canadian%20Agriculture%20%20%20%20%20Issue%2028_Ottawa_Canada_11-6-2009.pdf


Monday, June 20, 2011

2011 Annual Conference of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture ATYPICAL NOR-98 LIKE SCRAPIE UPDATE USA

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-annual-conference-of-national.html


Thursday, July 14, 2011

Histopathological Studies of "CH1641-Like" Scrapie Sources Versus Classical Scrapie and BSE Transmitted to Ovine Transgenic Mice (TgOvPrP4)

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/07/histopathological-studies-of-ch1641.html


P.9.21

Molecular characterization of BSE in Canada

Jianmin Yang1, Sandor Dudas2, Catherine Graham2, Markus Czub3, Tim McAllister1, Stefanie Czub1 1Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Centre, Canada; 2National and OIE BSE Reference Laboratory, Canada; 3University of Calgary, Canada

Background: Three BSE types (classical and two atypical) have been identified on the basis of molecular characteristics of the misfolded protein associated with the disease. To date, each of these three types have been detected in Canadian cattle.

Objectives: This study was conducted to further characterize the 16 Canadian BSE cases based on the biochemical properties of there associated PrPres. Methods: Immuno-reactivity, molecular weight, glycoform profiles and relative proteinase K sensitivity of the PrPres from each of the 16 confirmed Canadian BSE cases was determined using modified Western blot analysis.

Results: Fourteen of the 16 Canadian BSE cases were C type, 1 was H type and 1 was L type. The Canadian H and L-type BSE cases exhibited size shifts and changes in glycosylation similar to other atypical BSE cases. PK digestion under mild and stringent conditions revealed a reduced protease resistance of the atypical cases compared to the C-type cases. N terminal- specific antibodies bound to PrPres from H type but not from C or L type. The C-terminal-specific antibodies resulted in a shift in the glycoform profile and detected a fourth band in the Canadian H-type BSE.

Discussion: The C, L and H type BSE cases in Canada exhibit molecular characteristics similar to those described for classical and atypical BSE cases from Europe and Japan. This supports the theory that the importation of BSE contaminated feedstuff is the source of C-type BSE in Canada. *It also suggests a similar cause or source for atypical BSE in these countries.

http://www.prion2009.com/sites/default/files/Prion2009_Book_of_Abstracts.pdf


Saturday, November 6, 2010

TAFS1 Position Paper on Position Paper on Relaxation of the Feed Ban in the EU Berne, 2010 TAFS

INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR TRANSMISSIBLE ANIMAL DISEASES AND FOOD SAFETY a non-profit Swiss Foundation

http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2010/11/tafs1-position-paper-on-position-paper.html


Saturday, June 12, 2010

PUBLICATION REQUEST AND FOIA REQUEST Project Number: 3625-32000-086-05 Study of Atypical Bse

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/06/publication-request-and-foia-request.html


Wednesday, July 28, 2010

re-Freedom of Information Act Project Number 3625-32000-086-05, Study of Atypical BSE UPDATE July 28, 2010

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/07/re-freedom-of-information-act-project.html


1: J Infect Dis 1980 Aug;142(2):205-8

Oral transmission of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie to nonhuman primates.

Gibbs CJ Jr, Amyx HL, Bacote A, Masters CL, Gajdusek DC.

Kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease of humans and scrapie disease of sheep and goats were transmitted to squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) that were exposed to the infectious agents only by their nonforced consumption of known infectious tissues. The asymptomatic incubation period in the one monkey exposed to the virus of kuru was 36 months; that in the two monkeys exposed to the virus of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was 23 and 27 months, respectively; and that in the two monkeys exposed to the virus of scrapie was 25 and 32 months, respectively. Careful physical examination of the buccal cavities of all of the monkeys failed to reveal signs or oral lesions. One additional monkey similarly exposed to kuru has remained asymptomatic during the 39 months that it has been under observation.

snip...

The successful transmission of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie by natural feeding to squirrel monkeys that we have reported provides further grounds for concern that scrapie-infected meat may occasionally give rise in humans to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

PMID: 6997404

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=6997404&dopt=Abstract


12/10/76

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COUNCIL REPORT OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTE ON SCRAPIE

Office Note CHAIRMAN: PROFESSOR PETER WILDY

snip...

A The Present Position with respect to Scrapie A] The Problem Scrapie is a natural disease of sheep and goats. It is a slow and inexorably progressive degenerative disorder of the nervous system and it ia fatal. It is enzootic in the United Kingdom but not in all countries. The field problem has been reviewed by a MAFF working group (ARC 35/77). It is difficult to assess the incidence in Britain for a variety of reasons but the disease causes serious financial loss; it is estimated that it cost Swaledale breeders alone $l.7 M during the five years 1971-1975. A further inestimable loss arises from the closure of certain export markets, in particular those of the United States, to British sheep. It is clear that scrapie in sheep is important commercially and for that reason alone effective measures to control it should be devised as quickly as possible. Recently the question has again been brought up as to whether scrapie is transmissible to man. This has followed reports that the disease has been transmitted to primates.

One particularly lurid speculation (Gajdusek 1977) conjectures that the agents of scrapie, kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and transmissible encephalopathy of mink are varieties of a single "virus". The U.S. Department of Agriculture concluded that it could "no longer justify or permit scrapie-blood line and scrapie-exposed sheep and goats to be processed for human or animal food at slaughter or rendering plants" (ARC 84/77)" The problem is emphasised by the finding that some strains of scrapie produce lesions identical to the once which characterise the human dementias" Whether true or not. the hypothesis that these agents might be transmissible to man raises two considerations. First, the safety of laboratory personnel requires prompt attention. Second, action such as the "scorched meat" policy of USDA makes the solution of the acrapie problem urgent if the sheep industry is not to suffer grievously.

snip...

76/10.12/4.6

http://web.archive.org/web/20010305223125/www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1976/10/12004001.pdf



Nature. 1972 Mar 10;236(5341):73-4.

Transmission of scrapie to the cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis).

Gibbs CJ Jr, Gajdusek DC. Nature 236, 73 - 74 (10 March 1972); doi:10.1038/236073a0

Transmission of Scrapie to the Cynomolgus Monkey (Macaca fascicularis)

C. J. GIBBS jun. & D. C. GAJDUSEK National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

SCRAPIE has been transmitted to the cynomolgus, or crab-eating, monkey (Macaca fascicularis) with an incubation period of more than 5 yr from the time of intracerebral inoculation of scrapie-infected mouse brain. The animal developed a chronic central nervous system degeneration, with ataxia, tremor and myoclonus with associated severe scrapie-like pathology of intensive astroglial hypertrophy and proliferation, neuronal vacuolation and status spongiosus of grey matter. The strain of scrapie virus used was the eighth passage in Swiss mice (NIH) of a Compton strain of scrapie obtained as ninth intracerebral passage of the agent in goat brain, from Dr R. L. Chandler (ARC, Compton, Berkshire).

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v236/n5341/abs/236073a0.html


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

IN CONFIDENCE

SCRAPIE TRANSMISSION TO CHIMPANZEES

IN CONFIDENCE

http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2011/02/in-confidence-scrapie-transmission-to.html


Sunday, April 18, 2010

SCRAPIE AND ATYPICAL SCRAPIE TRANSMISSION STUDIES A REVIEW 2010

http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2010/04/scrapie-and-atypical-scrapie.html


Monday, April 25, 2011

Experimental Oral Transmission of Atypical Scrapie to Sheep

Volume 17, Number 5-May 2011

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2011/04/experimental-oral-transmission-of.html


EVIDENCE OF SCRAPIE IN SHEEP AS A RESULT OF FOOD BORNE EXPOSURE

This is provided by the statistically significant increase in the incidence of sheep scrape from 1985, as determined from analyses of the submissions made to VI Centres, and from individual case and flock incident studies. ........

http://web.archive.org/web/20010305222246/www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1994/02/07002001.pdf


Over the next 8-10 weeks, approximately 40% of all the adult mink on the farm died from TME.

snip...

The rancher was a ''dead stock'' feeder using mostly (>95%) downer or dead dairy cattle...

http://web.archive.org/web/20030516051623/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09/tab05.pdf


Monday, November 30, 2009

USDA AND OIE COLLABORATE TO EXCLUDE ATYPICAL SCRAPIE NOR-98 ANIMAL HEALTH CODE

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2009/11/usda-and-oie-collaborate-to-exclude.html


I strenuously urge the USDA and the OIE et al to revoke the exemption of the legal global trading of atypical Nor-98 scrapie TSE. ...TSS

Friday, February 11, 2011

Atypical/Nor98 Scrapie Infectivity in Sheep Peripheral Tissues

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2011/02/atypicalnor98-scrapie-infectivity-in.html


Thursday, June 2, 2011

USDA scrapie report for April 2011 NEW ATYPICAL NOR-98 SCRAPIE CASES Pennsylvania AND California

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2011/06/usda-scrapie-report-for-april-2011-new.html


Monday, June 27, 2011

Comparison of Sheep Nor98 with Human Variably Protease-Sensitive Prionopathy and Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker Disease

http://prionopathy.blogspot.com/2011/06/comparison-of-sheep-nor98-with-human.html


Friday, May 13, 2011

EFSA Joint Scientific Opinion on any possible epidemiological or molecular association between TSEs in animals and humans

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/05/efsa-joint-scientific-opinion-on-any.html


Wednesday, January 19, 2011

EFSA and ECDC review scientific evidence on possible links between TSEs in animals and humans Webnachricht 19 Januar 2011

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/01/efsa-and-ecdc-review-scientific.html



Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Agent strain variation in human prion disease: insights from a molecular and pathological review of the National Institutes of Health series of experimentally transmitted disease

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/01/agent-strain-variation-in-human-prion.html


Thursday, December 23, 2010

Molecular Typing of Protease-Resistant Prion Protein in Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies of Small Ruminants, France, 2002-2009 Volume 17, Number 1 January 2011

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2010/12/molecular-typing-of-protease-resistant.html


Sunday, December 12, 2010

EFSA reviews BSE/TSE infectivity in small ruminant tissues News Story 2 December 2010

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2010/12/efsa-reviews-bsetse-infectivity-in.html



Thursday, November 18, 2010

Increased susceptibility of human-PrP transgenic mice to bovine spongiform encephalopathy following passage in sheep

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/11/increased-susceptibility-of-human-prp.html


BSE: TIME TO TAKE H.B. PARRY SERIOUSLY

If the scrapie agent is generated from ovine DNA and thence causes disease in other species, then perhaps, bearing in mind the possible role of scrapie in CJD of humans (Davinpour et al, 1985), scrapie and not BSE should be the notifiable disease. ...

http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20090505194948/http://bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1988/06/08004001.pdf



Peiffer, J. : Gerstmann-Straussler's disease, atypical multiple sclerosis and carcinomas in a family of sheepbreeders. Acta Neuropath. 56: 87-92, 1982. Peiffer (1982) described a family of sheepbreeders in which a father and 2 sons had GSS. All 3 also had congenital hip dysplasia, as did at least 3 other members of the kindred, all females. Atactic symptoms, dysarthria, and personality changes characterized the clinical course of this disorder, which might be labeled atypical multiple sclerosis. Like CJD , GSS is a form of subacute spongiform encephalopathy. Cases of GSS are clinically similar to the atactic type of CJD. Although there are many neuropathologic similarities, GSS differs from CJD by the presence of kuru-plaques and numerous multicentric, floccular plaques in the cerebral and cerebellar cortex, basal ganglia, and white matter. Whereas only 5 to 15% of CJD cases are familial, most cases of GSS are familial.

http://www.mad-cow.org/Alzheimer_cjd.html


PRION MAD COW UDPATE NORTH AMERICA 2011

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Experimental H-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy characterized by plaques and glial- and stellate-type prion protein deposits

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/06/experimental-h-type-bovine-spongiform.html


Sunday, April 3, 2011

PRION 2011 NEWWORLD MONTREAL CANADA MAY 16 - 19

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/04/prion-2011-newworld-montreal-canada-may.html



i wonder if CFIA Canada uses the same OBEX ONLY diagnostic criteria as the USDA ? ...let's hope not.



Tuesday, November 02, 2010

BSE - ATYPICAL LESION DISTRIBUTION (RBSE 92-21367) statutory (obex only) diagnostic criteria CVL 1992

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/11/bse-atypical-lesion-distribution-rbse.html


USA AND MEXICO BSE AKA MAD COW CASES ??? anyone's guess $$$



The most recent assessments (and reassessments) were published in June 2005 (Table I; 18), and included the categorisation of Canada, the USA, and Mexico as GBR III. Although only Canada and the USA have reported cases, the historically open system of trade in North America suggests that it is likely that BSE is present also in Mexico.

http://www.oie.int/boutique/extrait/06heim937950.pdf



Saturday, June 25, 2011

Transmissibility of BSE-L and Cattle-Adapted TME Prion Strain to Cynomolgus Macaque

"BSE-L in North America may have existed for decades"

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/06/transmissibility-of-bse-l-and-cattle.html




Over the next 8-10 weeks, approximately 40% of all the adult mink on the farm died from TME.

snip...

The rancher was a ''dead stock'' feeder using mostly (>95%) downer or dead dairy cattle...



http://web.archive.org/web/20030516051623/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09/tab05.pdf



Sunday, June 26, 2011

Risk Analysis of Low-Dose Prion Exposures in Cynomolgus Macaque

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/06/risk-analysis-of-low-dose-prion.html



Thursday, July 21, 2011

A Second Case of Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker Disease Linked to the G131V Mutation in the Prion Protein Gene in a Dutch Patient

Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology:

August 2011 - Volume 70 - Issue 8 - pp 698-702

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/07/second-case-of-gerstmann-straussler.html



Saturday, August 14, 2010

BSE Case Associated with Prion Protein Gene Mutation (g-h-BSEalabama) and VPSPr PRIONPATHY

(see mad cow feed in COMMERCE IN ALABAMA...TSS)

http://prionpathy.blogspot.com/2010/08/bse-case-associated-with-prion-protein.html


Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Galveston, Texas - Isle port moves through thousands of heifers headed to Russia, none from Texas, Alabama, or Washington, due to BSE risk factor

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/06/galveston-texas-isle-port-moves-through.html


Sunday, August 28, 2011

Rick Perry, Texas, BSE aka mad cow disease, CJD, and 12 years of lies there from

http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/2011/08/rick-perry-texas-bse-aka-mad-cow.html


Wednesday, November 18, 2009

BSE RISK USA UPDATE NOVEMBER 2009

http://bseusa.blogspot.com/2009/11/bse-risk-usa-update-november-2009.html


Saturday, July 23, 2011

CATTLE HEADS WITH TONSILS, BEEF TONGUES, SPINAL CORD, SPECIFIED RISK MATERIALS (SRM's) AND PRIONS, AKA MAD COW DISEASE

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/07/cattle-heads-with-tonsils-beef-tongues.html


Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Atypical BSE in Cattle

To date the OIE/WAHO assumes that the human and animal health standards set out in the BSE chapter for classical BSE (C-Type) applies to all forms of BSE which include the H-type and L-type atypical forms. This assumption is scientifically not completely justified and accumulating evidence suggests that this may in fact not be the case. Molecular characterization and the spatial distribution pattern of histopathologic lesions and immunohistochemistry (IHC) signals are used to identify and characterize atypical BSE. Both the L-type and H-type atypical cases display significant differences in the conformation and spatial accumulation of the disease associated prion protein (PrPSc) in brains of afflicted cattle. Transmission studies in bovine transgenic and wild type mouse models support that the atypical BSE types might be unique strains because they have different incubation times and lesion profiles when compared to C-type BSE. When L-type BSE was inoculated into ovine transgenic mice and Syrian hamster the resulting molecular fingerprint had changed, either in the first or a subsequent passage, from L-type into C-type BSE.

In addition, non-human primates are specifically susceptible for atypical BSE as demonstrated by an approximately 50% shortened incubation time for L-type BSE as compared to C-type. Considering the current scientific information available, it cannot be assumed that these different BSE types pose the same human health risks as C-type BSE or that these risks are mitigated by the same protective measures.

This study will contribute to a correct definition of specified risk material (SRM) in atypical BSE. The incumbent of this position will develop new and transfer existing, ultra-sensitive methods for the detection of atypical BSE in tissue of experimentally infected cattle.

http://www.prionetcanada.ca/detail.aspx?menu=5&dt=293380&app=93&cat1=387&tp=20&lk=no&cat2


Thursday, August 12, 2010

Seven main threats for the future linked to prions

First threat

The TSE road map defining the evolution of European policy for protection against prion diseases is based on a certain numbers of hypotheses some of which may turn out to be erroneous. In particular, a form of BSE (called atypical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), recently identified by systematic testing in aged cattle without clinical signs, may be the origin of classical BSE and thus potentially constitute a reservoir, which may be impossible to eradicate if a sporadic origin is confirmed.

***Also, a link is suspected between atypical BSE and some apparently sporadic cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. These atypical BSE cases constitute an unforeseen first threat that could sharply modify the European approach to prion diseases.

Second threat

snip...

http://www.neuroprion.org/en/np-neuroprion.html


Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee

The possible impacts and consequences for public health, trade and agriculture of the Government’s decision to relax import restrictions on beef Final report June 2010

2.66 Dr Fahey also told the committee that in the last two years a link has been established between forms of atypical CJD and atypical BSE. Dr Fahey said that: They now believe that those atypical BSEs overseas are in fact causing sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. They were not sure if it was due to mad sheep disease or a different form. If you look in the textbooks it looks like this is just arising by itself. But in my research I have a summary of a document which states that there has never been any proof that sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has arisen de novo—has arisen of itself. There is no proof of that. The recent research is that in fact it is due to atypical forms of mad cow disease which have been found across Europe, have been found in America and have been found in Asia. These atypical forms of mad cow disease typically have even longer incubation periods than the classical mad cow disease.50

http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/rrat_ctte/mad_cows/report/report.pdf


Monday, May 23, 2011

Atypical Prion Diseases in Humans and Animals 2011

Top Curr Chem (2011)

DOI: 10.1007/128_2011_161

# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011

Michael A. Tranulis, Sylvie L. Benestad, Thierry Baron, and Hans Kretzschmar

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2011/05/atypical-prion-diseases-in-humans-and.html


Monday, May 23, 2011

CDC Assesses Potential Human Exposure to Prion Diseases Travel Warning

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/05/cdc-assesses-potential-human-exposure.html


14th ICID International Scientific Exchange Brochure -

Final Abstract Number: ISE.114

Session: International Scientific Exchange

Transmissible Spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) animal and human TSE in North America update October 2009

T. Singeltary

Bacliff, TX, USA

Background:

An update on atypical BSE and other TSE in North America. Please remember, the typical U.K. c-BSE, the atypical l-BSE (BASE), and h-BSE have all been documented in North America, along with the typical scrapie's, and atypical Nor-98 Scrapie, and to date, 2 different strains of CWD, and also TME. All these TSE in different species have been rendered and fed to food producing animals for humans and animals in North America (TSE in cats and dogs ?), and that the trading of these TSEs via animals and products via the USA and Canada has been immense over the years, decades.

Methods:

12 years independent research of available data

Results:

I propose that the current diagnostic criteria for human TSEs only enhances and helps the spreading of human TSE from the continued belief of the UKBSEnvCJD only theory in 2009. With all the science to date refuting it, to continue to validate this old myth, will only spread this TSE agent through a multitude of potential routes and sources i.e. consumption, medical i.e., surgical, blood, dental, endoscopy, optical, nutritional supplements, cosmetics etc.

Conclusion:

I would like to submit a review of past CJD surveillance in the USA, and the urgent need to make all human TSE in the USA a reportable disease, in every state, of every age group, and to make this mandatory immediately without further delay. The ramifications of not doing so will only allow this agent to spread further in the medical, dental, surgical arena's. Restricting the reporting of CJD and or any human TSE is NOT scientific. Iatrogenic CJD knows NO age group, TSE knows no boundaries. I propose as with Aguzzi, Asante, Collinge, Caughey, Deslys, Dormont, Gibbs, Gajdusek, Ironside, Manuelidis, Marsh, et al and many more, that the world of TSE Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy is far from an exact science, but there is enough proven science to date that this myth should be put to rest once and for all, and that we move forward with a new classification for human and animal TSE that would properly identify the infected species, the source species, and then the route.

http://ww2.isid.org/Downloads/14th_ICID_ISE_Abstracts.pdf


WHAT ARE THE EVER INCREASING ''CLASSIFICATION PENDING'' CASES OF CJD IN NORTH AMERICA (CANADA AND USA) {Mexico ???} ???



CANADA CJD UPDATE 2011

CJD Deaths Reported by CJDSS1, 1994-20112 As of January 31, 2011

3. Final classification of 49 cases from 2009, 2010, 2011 is pending.

snip...

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hcai-iamss/cjd-mcj/cjdss-ssmcj/pdf/stats_0111-eng.pdf


USA 2011

USA

National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center

Cases Examined1

(November 1, 2010)

Year Total Referrals2 Prion Disease Sporadic Familial Iatrogenic vCJD

1996 & earlier 51 33 28 5 0 0

1997 114 68 59 9 0 0

1998 87 51 43 7 1 0

1999 121 73 65 8 0 0

2000 146 103 89 14 0 0

2001 209 119 109 10 0 0

2002 248 149 125 22 2 0

2003 274 176 137 39 0 0

2004 325 186 164 21 0 13

2005 344 194 157 36 1 0

2006 383 197 166 29 0 24

2007 377 214 187 27 0 0

2008 394 231 205 25 0 0

2009 425 258 215 43 0 0

2010 333 213 158 33 0 0

TOTAL 38315 22656 1907 328 4 3

1 Listed based on the year of death or, if not available, on year of referral;

2 Cases with suspected prion disease for which brain tissue and/or blood (in familial cases) were submitted;

3 Disease acquired in the United Kingdom;

4 Disease was acquired in the United Kingdom in one case and in Saudi Arabia in the other case;

5 Includes 18 cases in which the diagnosis is pending, and 18 inconclusive cases;

6 Includes 23 (22 from 2010) cases with type determination pending in which the diagnosis of vCJD has been excluded.

http://www.cjdsurveillance.com/pdf/case-table.pdf


Please notice where sporadic CJD cases in 1996 went from 28 cases, to 215 cases in 2009, the highest recorded year to date. sporadic CJD is on a steady rise, and has been since 1996.

I also urge you to again notice these disturbing factors in lines 5 and 6 ;

5 Includes 18 cases in which the diagnosis is pending, and 18 inconclusive cases;

6 Includes 23 (22 from 2010) cases with type determination pending in which the diagnosis of vCJD has been excluded.

========end=====tss=====2011



SEE MEXICO CJD CASES ???

Research Paper

Can prion disease suspicion be supported earlier? Clinical, radiological and laboratory findings in a series of cases

Volume 5, Issue 3 July/August/September 2011

Alejandra González-Duarte, Zaira Medina, Rainier Rodriguez Balaguer and Jesus Higuera Calleja

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The subacute spongiform encephalopathies are prion diseases characterized by acute and rapid neurodegeneration that lead to the death of the patient within months to a few years. The epidemiology of CJD is complicated and the frequency in Mexico is unknown. We aim to describe the cases of prion disease in Mexico. Consecutive patients who met the diagnostic criteria by the WHO were enrolled. We describe 26 patients with clinical manifestations, imaging and laboratory studies compatible with prion disease. The mean age at onset was 52 years old. The main clinical manifestations were cognitive alterations (69%) followed by extrapyramidal movements (50%), abnormal cerebellar function (46%), behavioral alterations (46%), myoclonus (46%), and mood depression (23%), among other features. Half of the patients progressed rapidly to a state of akinetic mutism (53%). Only 2 (7.6%) patients had a family history of a similar disease. Time interval between onset and diagnosis varied between 71 days to 24 months, with a median of 6 months. The classical bilateral basal ganglia hyperintensities were present in the very early stage of the disease. Protein 14-3-3 immuneassay in the CSF was positive in all measured cases. Bilateral basal ganglia hyperintensities was the most important early finding, while protein 14-3-3 was a late finding and the results were usually obtained after the patient was discharged. Around 1.5 cases of CJD cases per year are reported in our country. When suspected, MRI can support the diagnosis earlier than other studies.

http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/prion/article/16187/?nocache=1286599802


Saturday, March 5, 2011

MAD COW ATYPICAL CJD PRION TSE CASES WITH CLASSIFICATIONS PENDING ON THE RISE IN NORTH AMERICA

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/03/mad-cow-atypical-cjd-prion-tse-cases.html


Sunday, August 21, 2011

The British disease, or a disease gone global, The TSE Prion Disease

(see videos)

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/08/british-disease-or-disease-gone-global.html



Monday, September 26, 2011

L-BSE BASE prion and atypical sporadic CJD

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2011/09/l-bse-base-prion-and-atypical-sporadic.html




TSS

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Monday, November 22, 2010

SHEEP WITH MASTITIS TRANSMIT INFECTIOUS PRIONS THROUGH THE MILK

J. Virol. doi:10.1128/JVI.02022-10 Copyright (c) 2010, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

SHEEP WITH MASTITIS TRANSMIT INFECTIOUS PRIONS THROUGH THE MILK

Ciriaco Ligios*, Maria Giovanna Cancedda, Antonello Carta, Cinzia Santucciu, Caterina Maestrale, Francesca Demontis, Mariangela Saba, Cristiana Patta, James C. DeMartini, Adriano Aguzzi*, and Christina J. Sigurdson* Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sardegna, Sassari, Italy; Research Unit: Genetics and Biotechnology, DIRPA, AGRIS Sardinia, Olmedo, Italy; Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA; Institute of Neuropathology, UniversitätsSpital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland; Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA; Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of California, Davis, CA USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: ciriaco.ligios@izs-sardegna.it . adriano.aguzzi@usz.ch . csigurdson@ucsd.edu .

Abstract Prions are misfolded proteins that are infectious and naturally transmitted, causing a fatal neurological disease in humans and animals. Prion shedding routes have been shown to be modified by inflammation in excretory organs such as kidney. Here we show that sheep with scrapie and lentiviral mastitis secrete prions into the milk and infect nearly 90% of suckling naive lambs. Thus lentiviruses may enhance prion transmission, conceivably sustaining prion infections in flocks for generations. This study also indicates a risk of prion spread to sheep and potentially to other animals through dietary exposure to pooled sheep milk or milk products.


snip...


Previous studies have found that the cellular fraction of milk harbours the most infectivity (4), and the higher leukocyte count in milk that occurs with mastitis could conceivably have increased the infectious prion titres in milk. Although our studies in ARQ/ARQ sheep suggest that mammary gland inflammation is necessary for prion transmission through milk, it remains possible that large milk volumes from sheep without mastitis would transmit prions to nursing lambs. Milk from VRQ/VRQ sheep without clinical mastitis was previously shown to transmit prion infection to the lambs as evidenced by PrPSc deposits in lymphoid tissue biopsies (3).


Taken together, these findings demonstrate that ingestion of as little as 1 – 2 L of milk from sheep with scrapie and lymphofollicular mastitis can cause prion infection in ARQ/ARQ lambs with an attack rate of 86%. These data show that a common lentivirus can induce an inflammatory setting highly conducive for prion propagation and release into the environment, although a role for the virus in transporting prions into the milk or stimulating PrPSc release from infected cells (6) cannot be excluded. Considering that MVV and other lentiviruses are endemic in sheep and goat populations worldwide, the possibility that lentiviruses have enabled prion transmission through milk and ultimately propagation of scrapie through some flocks should be considered. Together with two other recent reports on infectious prions in sheep milk (3, 4), these studies indicate a risk of prion spread to sheep and potentially other animals through dietary exposure to sheep milk or milk products. World milk production contributes to 13% of the protein supply for humans, thus studies to determine the extent of infectious prions entering our global food supply would be worthwhile and important for accurate risk assessment.

Acknowledgements

snip...end

http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/JVI.02022-10v1?etoc



Fourth threat

Prion infectivity has now been detected in blood, urine and milk and this has potential consequences on risk assessments for the environment and food as well as for contamination of surfaces including medical instruments. Furthermore the procedures recommended for decontamination of MBM (Meat and Bone Meal), which are based on older methodologies not designed for this purpose, have turned out to be of very limited efficacy and compromise current policies concerning the reuse of these high value protein supplements (cross-contamination of feed circuits are difficult to control). It should be noted that the destruction or very limited use of MBM is estimated to still cost 1 billion euros per year to the European economy,

whereas other countries, including the US,

Brazil, and Argentine do not have these constraints.



http://www.neuroprion.org/en/np-neuroprion.html


Thursday, August 12, 2010

Seven main threats for the future linked to prions

http://prionpathy.blogspot.com/2010/08/seven-main-threats-for-future-linked-to.html


http://prionpathy.blogspot.com/


PPo3-40: Mother to Offspring Transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease

Candace K. Mathiason, Amy V. Nalls, Kelly Anderson, Jeanette Hayes-Klug, Nicholas Haley and Edward A. Hoover

Colorado State University, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Fort Collins, CO USA

Key words: Chronic wasting disease, vertical transmission, muntjac deer

We have developed a new cervid model in small Asian muntjac deer (Muntiacus reevesi) to study potential modes of vertical transmission of chronic wasting disease (CWD) from mother to offspring. Eight of eight (8/8) muntjac doe orally infected with CWD tested PrPCWD lymphoid positive by 4 months post infection. Six fawns were born to these CWD-infected doe. Six fawns were born to 6 CWD-infected doe; 4 of the fawns were non-viable. The viable fawns have been monitored for CWD infection by immunohistochemistry and sPMCA performed on serial tonsil and rectal lymphoid tissue biopsies. PrPCWD has been detected in one fawn as early as 40 days of age. Moreover, sPMCA performed on rectal lymphoid tissue has yield positive results on another fawn at 10 days of age. In addition, sPMCA assays have also demonstrated amplifiable prions in maternal placental (caruncule) and mammary tissue of the dam.

Additional pregnancy related fluids and tissues from the doe as well as tissue from the nonviable fawns are currently being probed for the presence of CWD. In summary, we have employed the muntjac deer model, to demonstrate for the first time the transmission of CWD from mother to offspring. These studies provide the foundation to investigate the mechanisms and pathways of maternal prion transfer.

PRION 2010 Meeting Report International Prion Congress: From agent to disease; September 8–11, 2010; Salzburg, Austria Volume 4, Issue 3 July/August/September 2010

http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/prion/article/12764/


P.4.31

Prion infectivity in milk from ARQ/ARQ sheep experimentally infected with Scrapie and MAEDI-VISNA virus

Ciriaco Ligios1, Maria Giovanna Cancedda1, Antonello Carta2, Cinzia Santucciu1 Caterina Maestrale1, Francesca Demontis1, Sonia Attene1, Maria Giovanna Tilocca1, Cristiana Patta1, Massimo Basagni5, Paola Melis1, James C. De- Martini3, Christina Sigurdson4 1Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sardegna, Italy; 2Research Unit: Genetics and Biotechnology, DIRPA, AGRIS Sardinia, Italy; 3Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA; 4Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, USA; 5Prion Diagnostica Rho, Italy

Background:

Scrapie in sheep is characterized by the deposition of misfolded and aggregated prion protein (PrPSc) in the central nervous system (CNS) and within the lymphoreticular system (LRS). PrPSc was shown to accumulate in organs beyond the CNS and the LRS when lymphofollicular or granulomatous inflammation was also present.

Objectives:

Our aim was to determine whether ectopic PrPSc accumulation in the inflamed mammary gland of sheep with scrapie results in infectious prion secretion into the milk.

Methods:

We fed approximately 1.1 - 2.1 L of milk from sheep with lymphofollicular mastitis and clinical scrapie to each of 8 ARQ/ARQ lambs derived from scrapie-free flocks. The milk donor sheep had been previously inoculated with Maedi-Visna virus (MVV) intratracheally and intravenously and scrapie brain homogenate orally. In addition, 3 ARQ/ARQ lambs were fed approximately 1.4 – 1.7 L of milk from ARQ/ARQ sheep that had been experimentally infected with only scrapie. Additional control ARQ/ARQ lambs were inoculated with scrapie brain homogenate only, or with milk from uninfected sheep.

Results:

Two lambs which had received milk from sheep with mastitis and scrapie developed clinical signs of scrapie at 677 and 745 days post-inoculation. One additional clinically healthy lamb from this group, which was sacrificed for a cause unrelated to scrapie, was found to have PrPSc in brain and tonsil. The control lambs and those which received milk from sheep affected only with scrapie are, to date, clinically healthy.

Discussion:

This is the first evidence of clinical scrapie in sheep fed milk from scrapie sick sheep. The experiment is ongoing, however these preliminary results indicate that milk and/or colostrum from ARQ/ARQ sheep with clinical scrapie and lymphofollicular mastitis could contribute to scrapie transmission.

http://www.prion2009.com/sites/default/files/Prion2009_Book_of_Abstracts.pdf


Monday, August 03, 2009

Prions Are Secreted in Milk from Clinically Normal Scrapie-Exposed Sheep

Journal of Virology, August 2009, p. 8293-8296, Vol. 83, No. 16 0022-538X/09/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.00051-09 Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/83/16/8293


http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2009/08/prions-are-secreted-in-milk-from.html


TAFS INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR TRANSMISSIBLE ANIMAL DISEASES AND FOOD SAFETY a non-profit Swiss Foundation (January, 2009) TAFS1 STATEMENT ON TRANSMISSION OF SCRAPIE VIA MILK

http://www.tafsforum.org/position_papers/TAFS_POSITION_PAPER_TRANSMISSION_SCRAPIE_MILK_2009.pdf


Prions in Milk from Ewes Incubating Natural Scrapie

http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1000238


ProMED-mail

Archive Number 20050211.0467 Published

Date 11-FEB-2005 Subject PRO/AH/EDR> CJD (new var.) update 2005 (02)

snip...

******

[3] Date: Thu 20 Jan 2005 From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

Chronic Lymphocytic Inflammation Specifies the Organ Tropism of Prions

Chronic Lymphocytic Inflammation Specifies the Organ Tropism of Prions

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[The following is the summary of a paper by Mathias Heikenwalder and 8 others, published in Science online, 10.1126/science.1106460, Thu 20 Jan 2005 .

This paper describes work that illustrates that chronic inflammatory conditions may affect and expand the natural and iatrogenic transmission of prions - Mod.CP]

Prions typically accumulate in nervous and lymphoid tissues. Because proinflammatory cytokines and immune cells are required for lymphoid prion replication, we tested whether inflammatory conditions affect prion pathogenesis. We administered prions to mice with 5 inflammatory diseases of kidney, pancreas or liver. In all cases, chronic lymphocytic inflammation enabled prion accumulation in otherwise prion-free organs. Inflammatory foci consistently correlated with lymphotoxin upregulation and ectopic induction of PrPC-expressing FDC-M1+ cells, whereas inflamed organs of mice lacking lymphotoxin-alpha or its receptor accumulate neither PrPSc nor infectivity upon prion inoculation. By expanding the tissue distribution of prions, chronic inflammatory conditions may act as modifiers of natural and iatrogenic prion transmission.

****** [4] Date: Thu 20 Jan 2005 From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Source: Reuters News Agency, Thu 20 Jan 2005 [edited]



Study Finds that Illness May Promote Spread of Mad Cow Prion

------------------------------------------------------------

The agent that transmits mad cow disease and related diseases may spread further in the body of an animal suffering from certain illnesses, scientists said on Thu 20 Jan 2005. Their finding raises the question of whether measures aimed at curbing the spread of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), are adequate, the researchers said.

Tests on mice showed that prions, the protein-like fragments that transmit BSE and related diseases [e.g. variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans], can show up in organs they are not supposed to if the mouse has an inflammatory condition. Scientists have believed that BSE-causing prions are limited to the brain, spleen, spinal cord and lymph tissue, although some tests have suggested blood and muscle tissue may also harbor the prions. The latest study, published in the journal Science, suggests prions may also sometimes be found in the kidney, pancreas and liver. "We administered prions to mice with 5 inflammatory diseases of kidney, pancreas or liver," wrote the researchers, led by top prion expert Dr. Adriano Aguzzi of the University Hospital of Zurich in Switzerland.

Aguzzi and colleagues in Britain and the United States inoculated specially bred mice with prions and checked to see if the prions spread in their bodies when the mice had an inflammatory condition. This is because other studies had suggested that prions might be attracted to immune system inflammatory cells. "In all cases, chronic lymphocytic inflammation enabled prion accumulation in otherwise prion-free organs," the researchers wrote.

BSE peaked in British cattle herds in the mid-1990s, and a few cases have been reported in other countries. Canada reported its 3rd case this month. People who eat BSE-infected beef products can develop a related human brain disease called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or vCJD. There is no treatment or cure. [As of 4 Feb 2005, so far in the UK for the year 2005 there have 8 referrals of suspected CJD; and there have been 8 deaths from sporadic CJC, one from GSS and none from familial, iatrogenic or variant CJD. - Mod.CP]. It has killed 148 Britons, and 5 [now 6] Britons are alive with the disease, according to the British Department of Health's monthly report on the disease. The World Health Organization says it has reports of 6 cases in France, one in Ireland, one in Italy, one in Canada and one in the United States [and one in Japan: see; ProMED-mail post "CJD (new var.) - Japan: death 20050204.0381" - Mod.CP]

Experts believed BSE first appeared when cattle were fed improperly rendered remains of sheep infected with scrapie, a related disease. In 1997, the United States and Canada imposed animal feed bans, and have mandated the removal of materials believed to carry infectious prions. These include the skull, brain, nerves attached to the brain, eyes, tonsils, spinal cord and attached nerves, plus a portion of the small intestine. The study suggests that even symptom-free animals may also have prions in their liver, kidney, and pancreas.

-- Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

****** [5] Date: Fri 21 Jan 2005 From: ProMED-mail Souce: New York Times, Fri 21 Jan 2005 [edited]



Study Finds Broader Reach for Mad Cow Proteins

----------------------------------------------

Mad cow disease has long been thought to occur in just the brains and nervous systems of infected animals. But scientists are reporting today that the proteins thought to cause the disease can travel to other organs as well. The research is based on experiments with mice, but if it is borne out in other species, it may suggest that no part of an infected animal is safe to eat. The disease leads to a fatal brain disease in humans [variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease].

In the mouse experiments, reported in the journal Science [see [3] above], researchers in Switzerland found that prions, proteins that are the infectious agent in mad cow disease, follow immune cells, called lymphocytes, in the body. When mice were given chronic infectious diseases of the liver, kidney and pancreas and then inoculated with prions, the prions made their way to the infected organs. Dr. Adriano Aguzzi, a neuropathologist at the University Hospital in Zurich, who led the experiments, said this meant that cows and sheep infected with prions could harbor the disease in any inflamed organ.

But Dr. David R. Smith, a veterinarian at the University of Nebraska, said the research did not raise alarms about American beef. For one thing, he said, livestock with obvious signs of systemic infection, like a fever, are not allowed into the food supply. And most American cattle are slaughtered while they are young and at reduced risk of infection.

Many countries, including the United States, require the removal of skulls, brains, eyes, spinal cords and other nervous tissues from slaughtered animals because prions are known to accumulate in those tissues. Even in countries with mad cow disease, mainly in Europe, meat is considered safe if those tissues are removed, Dr. Aguzzi said. But the disease could spread more readily if infections are not obvious or if inspections are sloppily done, he said.

[Byline: Sandra Blakeslee]

-- ProMED-mail

****** [6] Date: Fri 4 Feb 2005 From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

Source: Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC), Position Paper, January 2005 [edited]



Position Statement: Maternal Transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

-----------------------------------------------

Issue:

1. The Chief Medical Officer for England asked SEAC to consider current evidence and comment on the potential transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) from mother to child via human breast milk. In utero transmission was also considered. The committee also commented on the scientific basis of a risk reduction measure for possible transmission of vCJD via banked breast milk.

Background:

2. No diagnostic test is currently available for the detection of abnormal PrP in milk. Research is under way to develop tests to screen for the possible presence of abnormal prion protein (PrP) in milk samples from cattle experimentally infected with BSE [A joint FSA/SEAC milk working group is monitoring and providing advice on this research carried out at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency.] These modified tests may also be applicable to human milk. However, it is not yet clear when/if a reliable test will be available.

3. A small number of breast milk banks in the UK supply highly vulnerable premature babies for whom no milk may be available from the mother. A model developed by the Department of Health to assess the effect of pooling breast milk from multiple donors on the possible risks of transmission of vCJD via breast milk banks was considered.

4. There is some, albeit limited, published epidemiological and experimental research on maternal transmission of prion diseases. There are also unpublished surveillance data of children born to vCJD cases from the National CJD Surveillance Unit and UK surveillance of neurological illness in children which might inform on potential risks of maternal transmission.

Breast milk banks:

5. There is no evidence that vCJD infectivity has ever been transmitted through breast milk. However, a theoretical risk exists. Modelling studies clearly show that the practice of pooling breast milk increases the number of donors to which a recipient is exposed and thereby increases the potential risk of an infant receiving milk contaminated with vCJD infectivity. The theoretical risk of infection can be minimised by not pooling the milk, by the use of individual hand operated breast milk pumps for single donors, and by the use of single-use sterilised bottles for collection. In addition, available evidence suggests that infection/inflammation of the breast results in increased lymphocytes in milk and therefore increased risk of infectivity. This risk would be minimised if milk from donors showing signs of infection were not used.

6. The committee suggested that, if practicable, milk could be stored for an appropriate period of time to allow the health status of donors to be monitored, before it is released. However, information was not available to the committee on whether long-term storage of human milk is detrimental to its nutritional quality. Maternal transmission

7. There is evidence from animal studies for low-level maternal transmission of prions in cattle and sheep. This transmission may occur in utero, via milk and/or perinatally. However, the possibility that this putative maternal transmission might have been due to another mode of transmission, for example through a contaminated environment or feed, cannot be ruled out.

8. In contrast, in humans there is no evidence for maternal transmission in cases of familial prion disease, other than the transfer of a mutant form of the PrP gene, and there is no evidence of maternal transmission of Kuru [a chronic, progressive, uniformly fatal nervous system disorder caused by prions, associated with cannibalism among the Fore tribe and neighboring peoples in New Guinea. - CopyEd.PG]. However, compared with other human prion diseases vCJD may pose a greater risk because of the greater involvement of the lymphoreticular system in vCJD pathogenesis. Although, breast tissue (and placenta) from a single vCJD case tested negative for PrPvCJD, transfer of infectivity to breast milk may depend on the physiological status of the mammary gland. Similar tests or infectivity bioassays have not been conducted on breast tissue from lactating patients with vCJD.

9. A published study suggesting transmission of sCJD in colostrum (ref. 1) was considered unreliable because tissues not normally associated with high levels of infectivity (blood and placenta) showed equivalent infectivity to that of the brain in this study.

10. Analysis of prospective surveillance data of UK children born to mothers with, or that had subsequently developed clinical vCJD, provide no evidence for maternal transmission of vCJD. However, the number of cases is very small and the incubation period of vCJD, if transmitted from mother to child, is unknown and so the children may yet be too young to have developed symptoms.

11. The phenotype of BSE infection in humans expressing PrP genotypes other than M/M at codon 129 is not known. Given recently published studies in mice expressing the human PrP gene (ref. 2), which suggest that the human PrP genotype may affect disease phenotype, the committee considered it very important that undiagnosed neurological diseases be carefully monitored. In this respect, amongst others, it is recommended that the careful monitoring of neurological illnesses through the PIND surveillance of children (ref. 3) continue.

Conclusions

12. In summary, there is currently no epidemiological evidence for maternal transmission of vCJD, including transmission via breast milk. However, there is a hypothetical risk. Although available evidence is limited and mostly indirect rather than direct, this risk, if any, appears to be low. As a risk cannot be excluded, a watching brief should be maintained.

References:

(1) Tamai Y et al. Demonstration of the transmissible agent in tissue from a pregnant woman with CJD. New Eng J Med 1992 327, 649.

(2) Wadsworth et al. Human prion protein with valine 129 prevents expression of variant CJD phenotype. Science. 2004 306, 1793-1796.

(3) Devereux G et al. Variations in neurodegenerative disease across the UK: findings from the national study of Progressive Intellectual and Neurological Deterioration (PIND). Arch DisChild. 2004 89, 8-12.

-- Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

******

snip...

ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org


http://www.promedmail.org/pls/apex/f?p=2400:1202:10581428266066::NO::F2400_P1202_CHECK_DISPLAY,F2400_P1202_PUB_MAIL_ID:X,28068



Thursday, November 18, 2010

Increased susceptibility of human-PrP transgenic mice to bovine spongiform encephalopathy following passage in sheep

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/11/increased-susceptibility-of-human-prp.html



TSS

Labels: , , , , , ,

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Scrapie and Nor-98 Scrapie November 2009 Monthly Report Fiscal Year 2010 and FISCAL YEAR 2008

Thursday, January 07, 2010 Scrapie and Nor-98 Scrapie November 2009 Monthly Report Fiscal Year 2010 and FISCAL YEAR 2008

November 2009 Monthly Report Fiscal Year 2010

Positive Scrapie Cases

As of November 30, 2009, 16 positive cases in sheep or goats were reported by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL); 13 were field cases and 3 were Regulatory Scrapie Slaughter Surveillance (RSSS) cases collected between October 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009 and confirmed by December 18, 2009 (Figure 7). Field cases are positive animals tested as part of a disease investigation including potentially exposed, exposed, and suspect animals. TWENTY ONE cases of scrapie in goats have been confirmed by NVSL since implementation of the regulatory changes in FY 2002 (Figure 8). The most recent positive goat case was confirmed rectal biopsy positive in November 2009 and originated in the same herd in Michigan as the positive goat cases that were found in FY 2008. The positive goat has been held in quarantine for research by USDA's Agricultural Research Service since 2008.

snip...

Does not include Nor98-like Scrapie cases found through RSSS (2 in FY 2007 and 1 in FY 2008)

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_diseases/scrapie/downloads/monthly_scrapie_rpt.pps


SCRAPIE USA REPORT FISCAL YEAR 2008

Positive Scrapie Cases

As of September 30, 2008, 176 new scrapie cases were confirmed and reported by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in FY 2008 (Figure 5). Of these, 134 were field cases and 42* were Regulatory Scrapie Slaughter Surveillance (RSSS) cases (collected between October 1, 2007 and September 30, 2008) (Slide 15). The field case total includes multiple cases from the same flocks. One of the positive field cases was genotyped as AAQR. THIS IS THE FIRST CONFIRMED CASE OF CLASSICAL SCRAPIE IN THE UNITED STATES IN A SHEEP OF THIS GENOTYPE. THE ONLY WHITE-FACED RSSS POSITIVE WAS COMPATIBLE WITH NOR98-LIKE SCRAPIE. Nineteen cases of scrapie in goats have been confirmed by NVSL since implementation of the regulatory changes in FY 2002 (Figure 6) including five goat cases in FY 2008 that originated from the same herd in Michigan.

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_diseases/scrapie/downloads/yearly_report.pps



Greetings,

(Figure 6) including five goat cases in FY 2008 that originated from the same herd in Michigan.

This is highly unusual for goats, and I strenuously urge that there should be an independent investigation into finding the common denominator for these 5 goats in the same herd in Michigan with Scrapie. ...

Kind Regards, Terry

Monday, December 14, 2009

Similarities between Forms of Sheep Scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Are Encoded by Distinct Prion Types

Sporadic CJD type 1 and atypical/ Nor98 scrapie are characterized by fine

(reticular) deposits,

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2009/12/similarities-between-forms-of-sheep.html


see also ;

All of the Heidenhain variants were of the methionine/ methionine type 1

molecular subtype.

http://cjdusa.blogspot.com/2009/09/co-existence-of-scrapie-prion-protein.html


Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Nor98 scrapie identified in the United States J Vet Diagn Invest 21:454-463 (2009)

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2009/07/nor98-scrapie-identified-in-united.html


Tuesday, June 3, 2008

SCRAPIE USA UPDATE JUNE 2008 NOR-98 REPORTED PA

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2008/06/scrapie-usa-update-june-2008-nor-98.html


Monday, November 30, 2009

USDA AND OIE COLLABORATE TO EXCLUDE ATYPICAL SCRAPIE NOR-98 ANIMAL HEALTH CODE

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2009/11/usda-and-oie-collaborate-to-exclude.html


Monday, December 1, 2008

When Atypical Scrapie cross species barriers

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2008/12/when-atypical-scrapie-cross-species.html


EVIDENCE OF SCRAPIE IN SHEEP AS A RESULT OF FOOD BORNE EXPOSURE

This is provided by the statistically significant increase in the incidence of sheep scrape from 1985, as determined from analyses of the submissions made to VI Centres, and from individual case and flock incident studies. ........

http://web.archive.org/web/20010305222246/www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1994/02/07002001.pdf



1: J Infect Dis 1980 Aug;142(2):205-8

Oral transmission of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie to nonhuman primates.

Gibbs CJ Jr, Amyx HL, Bacote A, Masters CL, Gajdusek DC.

Kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease of humans and scrapie disease of sheep and goats were transmitted to squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) that were exposed to the infectious agents only by their nonforced consumption of known infectious tissues. The asymptomatic incubation period in the one monkey exposed to the virus of kuru was 36 months; that in the two monkeys exposed to the virus of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was 23 and 27 months, respectively; and that in the two monkeys exposed to the virus of scrapie was 25 and 32 months, respectively. Careful physical examination of the buccal cavities of all of the monkeys failed to reveal signs or oral lesions. One additional monkey similarly exposed to kuru has remained asymptomatic during the 39 months that it has been under observation.

snip...

The successful transmission of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie by natural feeding to squirrel monkeys that we have reported provides further grounds for concern that scrapie-infected meat may occasionally give rise in humans to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

PMID: 6997404

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=6997404&dopt=Abstract



12/10/76

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COUNCIL REPORT OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTE ON SCRAPIE Office Note CHAIRMAN: PROFESSOR PETER WILDY

snip...

A The Present Position with respect to Scrapie A] The Problem

Scrapie is a natural disease of sheep and goats. It is a slow and inexorably progressive degenerative disorder of the nervous system and it ia fatal. It is enzootic in the United Kingdom but not in all countries.

The field problem has been reviewed by a MAFF working group (ARC 35/77). It is difficult to assess the incidence in Britain for a variety of reasons but the disease causes serious financial loss; it is estimated that it cost Swaledale breeders alone $l.7 M during the five years 1971-1975. A further inestimable loss arises from the closure of certain export markets, in particular those of the United States, to British sheep.

It is clear that scrapie in sheep is important commercially and for that reason alone effective measures to control it should be devised as quickly as possible.

Recently the question has again been brought up as to whether scrapie is transmissible to man. This has followed reports that the disease has been transmitted to primates. One particularly lurid speculation (Gajdusek 1977) conjectures that the agents of scrapie, kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and transmissible encephalopathy of mink are varieties of a single "virus". The U.S. Department of Agriculture concluded that it could "no longer justify or permit scrapie-blood line and scrapie-exposed sheep and goats to be processed for human or animal food at slaughter or rendering plants" (ARC 84/77)" The problem is emphasised by the finding that some strains of scrapie produce lesions identical to the once which characterise the human dementias"

Whether true or not. the hypothesis that these agents might be transmissible to man raises two considerations. First, the safety of laboratory personnel requires prompt attention. Second, action such as the "scorched meat" policy of USDA makes the solution of the acrapie problem urgent if the sheep industry is not to suffer grievously.

snip...

76/10.12/4.6

http://web.archive.org/web/20010305223125/www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1976/10/12004001.pdf



Nature. 1972 Mar 10;236(5341):73-4.

Transmission of scrapie to the cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis).

Gibbs CJ Jr, Gajdusek DC.

Nature 236, 73 - 74 (10 March 1972); doi:10.1038/236073a0

Transmission of Scrapie to the Cynomolgus Monkey (Macaca fascicularis)

C. J. GIBBS jun. & D. C. GAJDUSEK

National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

SCRAPIE has been transmitted to the cynomolgus, or crab-eating, monkey (Macaca fascicularis) with an incubation period of more than 5 yr from the time of intracerebral inoculation of scrapie-infected mouse brain. The animal developed a chronic central nervous system degeneration, with ataxia, tremor and myoclonus with associated severe scrapie-like pathology of intensive astroglial hypertrophy and proliferation, neuronal vacuolation and status spongiosus of grey matter. The strain of scrapie virus used was the eighth passage in Swiss mice (NIH) of a Compton strain of scrapie obtained as ninth intracerebral passage of the agent in goat brain, from Dr R. L. Chandler (ARC, Compton, Berkshire).

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v236/n5341/abs/236073a0.html


Epidemiology of Scrapie in the United States 1977


http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m08b/tab64.pdf


http://web.archive.org/web/20030513212324/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m08b/tab64.pdf


Monday, September 1, 2008

RE-FOIA OF DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E. (PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [No. 00-072-1] September 1, 2008


http://foiamadsheepmadrivervalley.blogspot.com/2008/09/re-foia-of-declaration-of-extraordinary.html


Thursday, October 15, 2009

SCRAPIE UPDATE CANADA 2009 (typical and atypical cases)

http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2009/10/scrapie-update-canada-2009-typical-and.html


Friday, May 29, 2009

Characterization of a U.S. Sheep Scrapie Isolate with Short Incubation Time

http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2009/05/characterization-of-us-sheep-scrapie.html


Monday, August 03, 2009

Prions Are Secreted in Milk from Clinically Normal Scrapie-Exposed Sheep

http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2009/08/prions-are-secreted-in-milk-from.html


November 2009 Monthly Report Fiscal Year 2010

Positive Scrapie Cases

As of November 30, 2009, 16 positive cases in sheep or goats were reported by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL); 13 were field cases and 3 were Regulatory Scrapie Slaughter Surveillance (RSSS) cases collected between October 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009 and confirmed by December 18, 2009 (Figure 7). Field cases are positive animals tested as part of a disease investigation including potentially exposed, exposed, and suspect animals. TWENTY ONE cases of scrapie in goats have been confirmed by NVSL since implementation of the regulatory changes in FY 2002 (Figure 8). The most recent positive goat case was confirmed rectal biopsy positive in November 2009 and originated in the same herd in Michigan as the positive goat cases that were found in FY 2008. The positive goat has been held in quarantine for research by USDA's Agricultural Research Service since 2008.

snip...

Does not include Nor98-like Scrapie cases found through RSSS (2 in FY 2007 and 1 in FY 2008)

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_diseases/scrapie/downloads/monthly_scrapie_rpt.pps



SCRAPIE USA REPORT FISCAL YEAR 2008

Positive Scrapie Cases

As of September 30, 2008, 176 new scrapie cases were confirmed and reported by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in FY 2008 (Figure 5). Of these, 134 were field cases and 42* were Regulatory Scrapie Slaughter Surveillance (RSSS) cases (collected between October 1, 2007 and September 30, 2008) (Slide 15). The field case total includes multiple cases from the same flocks. One of the positive field cases was genotyped as AAQR. THIS IS THE FIRST CONFIRMED CASE OF CLASSICAL SCRAPIE IN THE UNITED STATES IN A SHEEP OF THIS GENOTYPE. THE ONLY WHITE-FACED RSSS POSITIVE WAS COMPATIBLE WITH NOR98-LIKE SCRAPIE. Nineteen cases of scrapie in goats have been confirmed by NVSL since implementation of the regulatory changes in FY 2002 (Figure 6) including five goat cases in FY 2008 that originated from the same herd in Michigan.

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_diseases/scrapie/downloads/yearly_report.pps


Greetings,

(Figure 6) including five goat cases in FY 2008 that originated from the same herd in Michigan.

This is highly unusual for goats, and I strenuously urge that there should be an independent investigation into finding the common denominator for these 5 goats in the same herd in Michigan with Scrapie. ...

Kind Regards, Terry


http://nor-98.blogspot.com/


http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/


Thursday, January 07, 2010

Scientific Opinion on Risk of transmission of TSEs via semen and embryo transfer in small ruminants (sheep and goats)

News Story 6 January 2010

http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2010/01/scientific-opinion-on-risk-of.html

Labels: , , , , , , ,

Scientific Opinion on Risk of transmission of TSEs via semen and embryo transfer in small ruminants (sheep and goats)

News Story
6 January 2010

EFSA considers the risk of TSE transmission via embryo transfer and artificial insemination in small ruminants In an opinion published today, EFSA’s Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) said that the risk of transmission of Classical scrapie through artificial insemination and embryo transfer in sheep and goats ranges from negligible to low. Experts stressed however, that data are not sufficient to conclude that the risk is negligible.

Because of similarities in the disease development process for Classical scrapie and BSE in small ruminants, experts considered the conclusions for Classical scrapie to be also valid for BSE. They could not assess the risk posed by Atypical scrapie – another Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) – due to lack of knowledge about the developmental process for this particular disease and about the distribution of the infective agent in affected animals.

After reviewing all available scientific information in the field, experts stressed that there is a iatrogenic risk of TSE transmission, that is risk inherent to the artificial insemination and embryo transfer activities themselves; for instance, through the use of animal-derived hormones associated with such procedures. Moreover, in its opinion the BIOHAZ Panel pointed out that the absence of reliable figures on the annual number of artificial inseminations and embryo transfers in small ruminants in the EU hampers the quantitative assessment of the risk of TSE transmission linked to these practices. Experts made some recommendations which could reduce the risk of TSE transmission associated with these reproductive technologies and facilitate future risk assessments in this area.

Scientific Opinion on Risk of transmission of TSEs via semen and embryo transfer in small ruminants (sheep and goats) For media enquiries, please contact: Andrew Cutting, Press Officer or Steve Pagani, Head of Press Office Tel: +39 0521 036149 Email: Press@efsa.europa.eu


http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/biohaz100106.htm




Scientific Opinion on Risk of transmission of TSEs via semen and embryo transfer in small ruminants (sheep and goats) Question number: EFSA-Q-2009-00620

Adopted: 10 October 2009 Summary (31 KB)


http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/scdocs/doc/s1429.pdf




Opinion (440 KB)



http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/scdocs/doc/1429.pdf




Summary

Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the Risk of transmission of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) via semen and embryo transfer in small ruminants (sheep and goats).

Regulation (EC) No 999/2001[1] of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain TSEs sets the specific restrictions on the placing on the market, export and import of the semen and embryos of the ovine and caprine animals.

Three articles were recently published [2,3,4] as regard to the TSE transmission risk through artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET) techniques in small ruminants. These articles suggest that this risk would be very low or negligible.

In the light of these new data the European Commission (EC) requested EFSA to provide a scientific opinion concerning the risk of transmission of TSEs via semen and embryo transfer of small ruminants (sheep and goats).

The TSE agents considered in the assessment were: Classical scrapie, Atypical scrapie and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). The risk assessment was mainly performed using data obtained in sheep. Because of the lack of specific data in goats, and because the high similarities of TSE pathogenesis between sheep and goats, this assessment was considered to be also valid in goats.

The BIOHAZ Panel considered all available scientific information related to TSE transmission via semen and embryos in small ruminants.

The Panel concluded that the risk of TSE transmission associated with semen and embryos collected from Classical Scrapie incubating sheep and goats ranges from negligible to low. However, data are insufficient to conclude that such a risk is negligible. Because of the similarities between Classical scrapie and BSE pathogenesis in small ruminants, these conclusions are also to be considered valid for BSE.

The BIOHAZ Panel considered that at this stage, the assessment of the risk of transmission by semen or embryos collected from sheep or goats affected by Atypical scrapie is not possible because of a lack of knowledge on the pathogenesis and anatomical distribution of the Atypical scrapie agent within affected animals.

Furthermore, it was highlighted that there is an inherent but unquantifiable risk of iatrogenic TSE transmission that is associated with artificial insemination and embryo transfer procedures (use of animal-derived hormones and surgical devices).

The Panel noted that absence of reliable figures on the annual number of artificial inseminations and embryo transfers performed in small ruminants in the European Union (EU) Members States hampers the quantitative assessment of the potential impact of an artificial insemination and embryo transfer transmission risk on TSE prevalence in the EU small ruminant population.

The BIOHAZ Panel recommended further assessing the Classical scrapie and BSE transmission risk associated with small ruminants semen and embryos for infectivity, using highly sensitive animal models, in semen and embryos collected from a statistically significant number of TSE infected animals bearing susceptible PrP genotypes at different stages of the disease and with different TSE agents. Moreover, specific data about pathogenesis and anatomical distribution of the Atypical scrapie agent should be generated. Investigations should include small ruminant males and females at different stages of the reproductive cycle.

The Panel further recommended the promotion of procedures to limit the risk of iatrogenic transmission of TSEs associated with ET and AI. In particular, the replacement of ruminant-derived hormones by recombinant proteins should be considered.

The BIOHAZ Panel advised that a database recording the AIs and ETs performed every year in the EU should be established.

Finally the Panel emphasised that homozygous and heterozygous ARR rams and ewes as donors and recipients would minimise the risk of Classical scrapie and BSE transmission that could be associated with reproductive technologies. Similarly, once clarified and if validated, resistant-genotype he-goats and she-goats as donors and recipients would minimise the risk of Classical scrapie and BSE transmission that could be associated with reproductive technologies.


Published: 6 January 2010 -------------------------------------------------------------


[1] Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. European Community, OJ L 147, 31.5.2001, p. 1-40. [2] Sarradin P, Melo S, Barc C, Lecomte C, Andreoletti O, Lantier F, Dacheux JL and Gatti JL, 2008. Semen from scrapie-infected rams does not transmit prion infection to transgenic mice. Reproduction, 135, 415-8. [3] Wrathall AE, Holyoak GR, Parsonson IM and Simmons HA, 2008. Risks of transmitting ruminant spongiform encephalopathies (prion diseases) by semen and embryo transfer techniques. Theriogenology, 70, 725-45. [4] Low JC, Chambers J, McKelvey WA, McKendrick IJ and Jeffrey M, 2009. Failure to transmit scrapie infection by transferring preimplantation embryos from naturally infected donor sheep. Theriogenology,72, 809-16.



http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/scdocs/scdoc/1429.htm




Monday, December 14, 2009

Similarities between Forms of Sheep Scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Are Encoded by Distinct Prion Types




> Sporadic CJD type 1 and atypical/ Nor98 scrapie are characterized by fine

> (reticular) deposits,



http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2009/12/similarities-between-forms-of-sheep.html




see also ;


> All of the Heidenhain variants were of the methionine/ methionine type 1

> molecular subtype.



http://cjdusa.blogspot.com/2009/09/co-existence-of-scrapie-prion-protein.html





Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Nor98 scrapie identified in the United States J Vet Diagn Invest 21:454-463 (2009)


http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2009/07/nor98-scrapie-identified-in-united.html



Tuesday, June 3, 2008


SCRAPIE USA UPDATE JUNE 2008 NOR-98 REPORTED PA


http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2008/06/scrapie-usa-update-june-2008-nor-98.html




Monday, November 30, 2009

USDA AND OIE COLLABORATE TO EXCLUDE ATYPICAL SCRAPIE NOR-98 ANIMAL HEALTH CODE


http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2009/11/usda-and-oie-collaborate-to-exclude.html



Monday, December 1, 2008

When Atypical Scrapie cross species barriers


http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2008/12/when-atypical-scrapie-cross-species.html



EVIDENCE OF SCRAPIE IN SHEEP AS A RESULT OF FOOD BORNE EXPOSURE

This is provided by the statistically significant increase in the incidence
of sheep scrape from 1985, as determined from analyses of the submissions
made to VI Centres, and from individual case and flock incident studies.
........

http://web.archive.org/web/20010305222246/www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1994/02/07002001.pdf


1: J Infect Dis 1980 Aug;142(2):205-8

Oral transmission of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie to
nonhuman primates.

Gibbs CJ Jr, Amyx HL, Bacote A, Masters CL, Gajdusek DC.

Kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease of humans and scrapie disease of sheep
and goats were transmitted to squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) that were
exposed to the infectious agents only by their nonforced consumption of
known infectious tissues. The asymptomatic incubation period in the one
monkey exposed to the virus of kuru was 36 months; that in the two monkeys
exposed to the virus of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was 23 and 27 months,
respectively; and that in the two monkeys exposed to the virus of scrapie
was 25 and 32 months, respectively. Careful physical examination of the
buccal cavities of all of the monkeys failed to reveal signs or oral
lesions. One additional monkey similarly exposed to kuru has remained
asymptomatic during the 39 months that it has been under observation.

snip...

The successful transmission of kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and scrapie
by natural feeding to squirrel monkeys that we have reported provides
further grounds for concern that scrapie-infected meat may occasionally give
rise in humans to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

PMID: 6997404

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=6997404&dopt=Abstract


12/10/76

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COUNCIL REPORT OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTE ON
SCRAPIE Office Note CHAIRMAN: PROFESSOR PETER WILDY


snip...


A The Present Position with respect to Scrapie A] The Problem

Scrapie is a natural disease of sheep and goats. It is a slow and inexorably
progressive degenerative disorder of the nervous system and it ia fatal. It
is enzootic in the United Kingdom but not in all countries.

The field problem has been reviewed by a MAFF working group (ARC 35/77). It
is difficult to assess the incidence in Britain for a variety of reasons but
the disease causes serious financial loss; it is estimated that it cost
Swaledale breeders alone $l.7 M during the five years 1971-1975. A further
inestimable loss arises from the closure of certain export markets, in
particular those of the United States, to British sheep.

It is clear that scrapie in sheep is important commercially and for that
reason alone effective measures to control it should be devised as quickly
as possible.

Recently the question has again been brought up as to whether scrapie is
transmissible to man. This has followed reports that the disease has been
transmitted to primates. One particularly lurid speculation (Gajdusek 1977)
conjectures that the agents of scrapie, kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and
transmissible encephalopathy of mink are varieties of a single "virus". The
U.S. Department of Agriculture concluded that it could "no longer justify or
permit scrapie-blood line and scrapie-exposed sheep and goats to be
processed for human or animal food at slaughter or rendering plants" (ARC
84/77)" The problem is emphasised by the finding that some strains of
scrapie produce lesions identical to the once which characterise the human
dementias"

Whether true or not. the hypothesis that these agents might be transmissible
to man raises two considerations. First, the safety of laboratory personnel
requires prompt attention. Second, action such as the "scorched meat" policy
of USDA makes the solution of the acrapie problem urgent if the sheep
industry is not to suffer grievously.

snip...

76/10.12/4.6


http://web.archive.org/web/20010305223125/www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1976/10/12004001.pdf



Nature. 1972 Mar 10;236(5341):73-4.

Transmission of scrapie to the cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis).
Gibbs CJ Jr, Gajdusek DC.

Nature 236, 73 - 74 (10 March 1972); doi:10.1038/236073a0

Transmission of Scrapie to the Cynomolgus Monkey (Macaca fascicularis)

C. J. GIBBS jun. & D. C. GAJDUSEK

National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes
of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

SCRAPIE has been transmitted to the cynomolgus, or crab-eating, monkey
(Macaca fascicularis) with an incubation period of more than 5 yr from the
time of intracerebral inoculation of scrapie-infected mouse brain. The
animal developed a chronic central nervous system degeneration, with ataxia,
tremor and myoclonus with associated severe scrapie-like pathology of
intensive astroglial hypertrophy and proliferation, neuronal vacuolation and
status spongiosus of grey matter. The strain of scrapie virus used was the
eighth passage in Swiss mice (NIH) of a Compton strain of scrapie obtained
as ninth intracerebral passage of the agent in goat brain, from Dr R. L.
Chandler (ARC, Compton, Berkshire).


http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v236/n5341/abs/236073a0.html



Epidemiology of Scrapie in the United States 1977


http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m08b/tab64.pdf


http://web.archive.org/web/20030513212324/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m08b/tab64.pdf





Monday, September 1, 2008

RE-FOIA OF DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E. (PRION DISEASE) OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [No. 00-072-1] September 1, 2008


http://foiamadsheepmadrivervalley.blogspot.com/2008/09/re-foia-of-declaration-of-extraordinary.html



Thursday, October 15, 2009

SCRAPIE UPDATE CANADA 2009 (typical and atypical cases)


http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2009/10/scrapie-update-canada-2009-typical-and.html




Friday, May 29, 2009

Characterization of a U.S. Sheep Scrapie Isolate with Short Incubation Time


http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2009/05/characterization-of-us-sheep-scrapie.html




Monday, August 03, 2009

Prions Are Secreted in Milk from Clinically Normal Scrapie-Exposed Sheep


http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2009/08/prions-are-secreted-in-milk-from.html




November 2009 Monthly Report Fiscal Year 2010


Positive Scrapie Cases

As of November 30, 2009, 16 positive cases in sheep or goats were reported by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL); 13 were field cases and 3 were Regulatory Scrapie Slaughter Surveillance (RSSS) cases collected between October 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009 and confirmed by December 18, 2009 (Figure 7). Field cases are positive animals tested as part of a disease investigation including potentially exposed, exposed, and suspect animals. TWENTY ONE cases of scrapie in goats have been confirmed by NVSL since implementation of the regulatory changes in FY 2002 (Figure 8). The most recent positive goat case was confirmed rectal biopsy positive in November 2009 and originated in the same herd in Michigan as the positive goat cases that were found in FY 2008. The positive goat has been held in quarantine for research by USDA's Agricultural Research Service since 2008.

snip...

Does not include Nor98-like Scrapie cases found through RSSS (2 in FY 2007 and 1 in FY 2008)


http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_diseases/scrapie/downloads/monthly_scrapie_rpt.pps



SCRAPIE USA REPORT FISCAL YEAR 2008

Positive Scrapie Cases

As of September 30, 2008, 176 new scrapie cases were confirmed and reported by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in FY 2008 (Figure 5). Of these, 134 were field cases and 42* were Regulatory Scrapie Slaughter Surveillance (RSSS) cases (collected between October 1, 2007 and September 30, 2008) (Slide 15). The field case total includes multiple cases from the same flocks. One of the positive field cases was genotyped as AAQR. THIS IS THE FIRST CONFIRMED CASE OF CLASSICAL SCRAPIE IN THE UNITED STATES IN A SHEEP OF THIS GENOTYPE. THE ONLY WHITE-FACED RSSS POSITIVE WAS COMPATIBLE WITH NOR98-LIKE SCRAPIE. Nineteen cases of scrapie in goats have been confirmed by NVSL since implementation of the regulatory changes in FY 2002 (Figure 6) including five goat cases in FY 2008 that originated from the same herd in Michigan.



http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_diseases/scrapie/downloads/yearly_report.pps




Greetings,


> (Figure 6) including five goat cases in FY 2008 that originated from the same herd in Michigan.


This is highly unusual for goats, and I strenuously urge that there should be an independent investigation into finding the common denominator for these 5 goats in the same herd in Michigan with Scrapie. ...


Kind Regards,
Terry



http://nor-98.blogspot.com/



http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/

Labels: , , , , , , ,