Texas Woman Dies of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

s5 said:
mad cow is already in the US, but i seriously doubt anyone will change their eating habits.

On December 23, 2003, the first case of BSE in the United States was found in a single Holstein cow in Washington State. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman called the discovery "a clear indication that our surveillance and detection program is working." However, the United States tested only 20,526 cows in 2003 out of the roughly 35 million slaughtered. Current tests reveal the presence of misshaped prions when they are abundant, but it is not known how far the disease must progress in an individual to transmit it to others. Therefore, it is possible that even among those cattle that are tested and classified as negative, a proportion nevertheless may be contagious. As a result, U.S. authorities have very little idea of how many American beef cattle might have the disease.

The government plans to double the number of cattle tested in 2004, and has banned the use of "downer cows" for human consumption. While the Washington cow that tested positive for BSE was reportedly unable to stand, veterinarians say the condition was unrelated to BSE. Furthermore, there is some dispute as to whether the cow was a downer or not.[1] (http://slate.msn.com/id/2097229/) Therefore it is not clear by how much the ban is liable to reduce the number of infected cattle consumed. Only 200,000 cows slaughtered in 2003 were downers.

The meat of the BSE-positive cow went to market, but some of it was successfully recalled before it was sold to consumers. U.S. authorities called for a switch to the testing procedure that is used in the United Kingdom, which yields its results in one day. Until the switch, U.S. surveillance relied on a test that gave results only after two weeks, after which time the meat from an animal usually has all been sold.

s5 said:

i doubt you will be.

s5 said:
pissed. i thought the disease made people lose their minds.

s5 said:

you might find this interesting, then:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1118-08.htm

SonOfMorrissey said:
Are the blood tests for CJD cost prohibitive or just not effective

s5 said:
mad cow is already in the US, but i seriously doubt anyone will change their eating habits.

thunderboltz said:
I wonder if there is a possibility of contamination through fertilizer used to grow vegetables.

Keith said:

Well first you start to walk funny.

Albion said:
I remember a glorious weekend in England when, due to a sudden BSE scare , MacDonalds didtched all their meat and only sold vegetarian & fish burgers.

demetrius_z said:

I don't think - and I could be wrong - that there is a blood test. I think they take a slice of brain. Don't quote me on that, I'd have to look it up first.

Most of the tests performed on vCJD victims while they were alive occurred when the patient was in the care of a neurologist. Generally, the tests only proved useful in excluding other possible conditions, and even now a conclusive diagnosis of vCJD is not usually possible until post-mortem neuropathological examination of the brain has been performed.