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NY Times Editorial Pt.2

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New York Times BSE Fallacies

Sobering List of Errors Shows BSE Education Battle Far From Over

Colorado Springs, CO Aug. 30, 2005

If you've been paying attention and saw the New York Times BSE editorial, you probably spotted some factual errors in their activist diatribe. The editorial serves as a stark reminder of how much difficulty the industry will face on certain issues. If a large-market, supposed mainstream media beacon can get something so wrong, with nearly 20 years of research to draw on and many reliable sources to consult, it should serve as a warning to the beef industry. Future issues that are more complex, more controversial, involve difficult politics and call for debunking long-believed myths will be far more difficult.

We'll go through just a few of the most egregious errors from the Times editorial, in case you run into such allegations elsewhere.

Meat and bone meal is not a "staple" of cattle rations. It is illegal to feed to ruminants, for one thing. And the Times scenario that it could be easily available and fed by mistake or fed illegally reveals the Times poor understanding of today's agriculture. Today's feedyards virtually never have hogs or poultry on the property. In even the small percentage of cattle fed where this could happen, say in the Corn Belt where the same operator might feed hogs and cattle, different specie feeding pens are unlikely to sit next to each other. As for using the egg mash or the broiler ration to feed cattle – that's too ludicrous to discuss.

In addition, MBM was used in different quantities and for different reasons in Europe than in America. Lacking a supply of soybean meal or linseed oil meal as a source of protein, Europe used MBM as a protein supplement. MBM was used in the U.S. in the past as a very small portion of the ration as a mineral supplement to boost calcium and phosphorus levels. Most brood cow herds getting any supplemental feeding at all would get cubes or blocks manufactured by feed mills under supervision and regulation and they would not be adding MBM to cattle formulations. Otherwise, cattlemen don't just go scrounging around the place to see what they can mix up to feed the cows. Besides, you can't feed that kind of home-mixed ration off the ground.

Back on their poultry hang-up, chicken litter is just not used to feed cattle. Even years ago, it was a minuscule segment. No one I know has seen it in many years. NCBA has surveyed major feedyards and found none who have used it since the '97 feed ban. They also surveyed nutritionists overseeing 90 percent of the nation's fed cattle and none of them even considers it an option.

Part of the fear mongering surrounding BSE has to do with the lack of understanding of infection and dosage for both diseases. Amplified by R-CALF's inaccurate claims, people seem to believe that a tiny speck of BSE infective material is all it takes to infect another bovine. But that has not been borne out by 20 years of observation and tracking. Out of dozens to hundreds of cattle fed together, almost never does more than one animal contract BSE in a herd. It does not spread like wildfire, adding to the evidence that tiny amounts do not cause BSE.

As for humans and vCJD, we do have the French study published in the prestigious British medical journal the Lancet that estimates several pounds of infectious nervous system material would be necessary to cause infection.

Beyond that, we again have the simple empirical evidence. If a cell or two were all it took to cause vCJD in humans, we would have many more cases worldwide. In fact, Bryan Oedzes of the American Veal Association noted that we now have data from the first 20 years of the estimated 5 to 25 years of incubation period from Britain's first infections. If vCJD was easily contracted, Britain would be experiencing huge vCJD infection rates from the estimated 700,000 infected animals that went into their food supply. Instead, not only has the number of vCJD cases not been of epidemic proportions – the annual number of cases peaked at 28 worldwide in 2000 – but the trend line has been decreasing since then. That does not indicate an easily engendered infection.

Next Time: More Errors Foster Unfounded Fears

The Agribusiness Freedom Foundation promotes free market principles throughout the agricultural food chain. The AFF believes it is possible to value the traditions and heritage of the past while embracing the future and the changes it brings. The AFF is a communications and educational initiative striving to preserve the freedom of the agricultural food chain to operate and innovate in order to continue the success of American agriculture.
 
New York Times BSE Fallacies-Part II
Philosophy, Lack of Economic Understanding Same for LAG and Times
Colorado Springs, CO Sept. 2, 2005 Last time we examined some of the factual errors in the New York Times BSE editorial, including MBM, Chicken Little, er, chick litter, as well as infection and dosage for both cattle and humans. This issue concludes our look at the major errors.

The Liberal Activist Groups and R-CALF (LAG*) have pounced on a couple isolated studies that found BSE (bovine) cells in unusual places in hamsters and mice in which BSE infectious material was artificially introduced. There are several obvious problems here. For one, in cattle, no one has ever found BSE cells in saliva or blood. That is part of our knowledge store of where BSE infectious material has been found – or not. For another, cells from one species introduced into another species do not always behave in that foreign host like they would in the normal species or environment. For another, findings from sensitive, hypochondriac hamsters and lab mice often do not transfer to humans.

As often happens, the Times assumed that the Europeans are smarter than us and that's the reason they test more cattle for BSE than we do. Never mind that animal health monitoring is a totally separate issue having nothing to do with human food safety. The Times hasn't figured that one out at all – or chooses to encourage that misunderstanding as a part of their fear mongering campaign. One would have thought the urbane Times editors would have dined in Paris or Geneva or somewhere and discovered what they use for beef over there -- unless they only order the snails or seafood. Culled dairy cows and draft animals and older Continental beef breeds are the bulk of their beef supply. They do not have a fed cattle industry. So most of their slaughter cattle supply is over 30 months old and needs to be tested.

Politically, the British were deceived for many months by their government regarding the existence of BSE. Britain had a much higher infection rate, and the EU a lesser but still higher rate. The greens and those who consider genetic modification witchcraft and 50 cattle a huge, unconscionable operation have a lot more political power and get more media attention in the EU. They have also had FMD to contend with.

All of which makes it a bit more understandable why the EU's testing rates are higher than ours. That's not to say that the science indicates they should be testing at the high rates they do. But they do it for other reasons.

It is logical to test only the higher risk animals because we have a very low prevalence of BSE in North America, it is a disease that manifests itself in obvious outward behavior in its infectious stage and it is infectious only in older animals. Since only a small percentage of animals could fit the possibly infected profile, of course only a small percentage of cattle slaughter would be tested. Our profile is different than Europe's.

Perhaps most disturbing of all is that the New York Times has not even a rudimentary understanding of how the free market works. They declare the USDA "hamstrung" by its mission to simultaneously promote the beef industry and protect the consumer. Both the Times and the consumer activist groups that supplied the information, along with R-CALF and its legal exaggerations, are too short sighted to see there is no conflict of interest. Any business in a free market system must serve and protect their customer. Otherwise, they put themselves out of business. Safe guarding the beef industry's customers is our first order of business, even before improving the eating quality and convenience of the product. But the LAG – and obviously the New York Times – don't even understand those basic economic principles.

*Fringe activist groups like Public Citizen (Ralph Nader), Consumer's Union, Consumer Federation of America (Carol Tucker Foreman), Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM), Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), Greenpeace, Global Resource Council for the Environment (GRACE) and others opposing mainstream, free market capitalist agriculture.

The Agribusiness Freedom Foundation promotes free market principles throughout the agricultural food chain. The AFF believes it is possible to value the traditions and heritage of the past while embracing the future and the changes it brings. The AFF is a communications and educational initiative striving to preserve the freedom of the agricultural food chain to operate and innovate in order to continue the success of American agriculture.

The AFF - freedom watchdog for American agriculture.
 
>>>>>*Fringe activist groups like Public Citizen (Ralph Nader), Consumer's Union, Consumer Federation of America (Carol Tucker Foreman), Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM), Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), Greenpeace, Global Resource Council for the Environment (GRACE) and others opposing mainstream, free market capitalist agriculture.

The Agribusiness Freedom Foundation promotes free market principles throughout the agricultural food chain. The AFF believes it is possible to value the traditions and heritage of the past while embracing the future and the changes it brings. The AFF is a communications and educational initiative striving to preserve the freedom of the agricultural food chain to operate and innovate in order to continue the success of American agriculture.

The AFF - freedom watchdog for American agriculture.



_________________
Canadian Beef....A cut above the rest! <<<<<<<<



The AFF - freedom watchdog for American agriculture.

Agribusiness Freedom Foundation

AFF: Promoting free market principles throughout the agricultural food chain.

Website: http://www.agribusinessfreedom.org

Readers are encouraged to use this information with credit to AFF. See links below to Forward to a friend or e-mail the author.




http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=8343


Hello there Steve et al at Ag Freedom,

A kind greetings from TEXAS,


HOME OF THE FIRST DOCUMENTED MAD COW CASE, thanks to the Honorable and Couragous Phyllis Fong of the OIG.

HOME OF THE OTHER TEXAS MAD COW THAT WAS STUMBLING AND STAGGERING AND THEY DID NOT TEST AT ALL,
just decided to render all, to conceal all evidence.

HOME OF A DOCUMENTED CLUSTER OF CJD IN NE TEXAS IN 1997 (please note that the TEXAS MAD COW that WAS tested
and documented finally, was 12 years old AS I CONFIRMED IN NOV. 2004 (all documented on the www ''bse inconclusive texas tss'',
so, there WAS mad cow disease in TEXAS in 1997, disputing the claim in the report of the TEXAS CJD CLUSTER of NE TEXAS by
the TDH, that there is not mad cow disease in TEXAS or the USA. There was, and there is, and there will be until the industry and the
federal government get it right. they have lied for years about what they said they had already done, come to find out, this is and was not
the case. it has all been documented, no spin here. THIS IS THE TSS MAD COW NO SPIN ZONE, please see references;



>>>fear of the unknown, loathing for meatpackers, government mismanagement and threats to our children's safety in just those few words<<<


ALL TRUE AND FACTUAL !


>>>The Times has published none of the letters we're sure they received from outraged cattlemen and beef organizations – of which the AFF was one – and not agreed to any organization's requests for meetings, as far as we know. <<<



THEY DID NOT publish either, the letters from the families of the dead that are mounting from cjd aka mad cow disease i.e.
ALL STRAINS AND PHENOTYPES, because i sent them one. why don't you publish the rest of the story, like there is more than one strain of TSE in cattle, that scrapie transmits to primates and no transmission studies have never been done on man, that CWD, scrapie and BSE transmit to primates, that the USDA/APHIS et al have been covering up mad cow disease in TEXAS, that scrapie is out of control in the USA, as with other TSEs like CWD and undocumented TSE in cattle, that BASE the new phenotype TSE in cattle does not look like nvCJD in humans, but looks like sporadic CJD in humans, that BSE propagates as either nvCJD or sCJD in the lab, and that they now have documented that PrPSc was also detected in the peripheral nerves (sciatic nerve, tibial nerve, vagus nerve) of the number 11 atypical BSE/TSE cow in Japan, that the TSE agent has also been detected in other muscle tissue of other species, that these atypical TSEs are showing up in other countries, that sporadic CJD is rising in the USA and other countries where BSE/TSE have occurred, that sporadic CJD is not a strain, but potentially multiple strains, that studies of Mission, Texas where it showed that transmission studies of USA scrapie suffolk sheep were transmitted to USA cattle, but it did NOT look like UK BSE, but a TSE agent was detected, so why then would all CJD in humans from meat consumption or secondary passage via the medical/surgical arena, would look like UKBSENVCJD??? why don't you print that??? it's all true, and i can confirm all of it with references below, but you probably will not take the time to read it, understand it and or print it. but i say that the NEW YORK TIMES article was a long time coming. I just could have added more of the truth that the cattle industry and the federal government will not tell you. maybe the fact that scrapie infected sheep, cwd infected deer and elk, bse/TSE in cattle, maybe even a few TME mink, all of which have been rendered and fed back to animals for human and animal consumption for decades here in the USA. you don't hear much of that either, but it's all true. these are the facts and you cannot dispute them. one final fact, the UK, BSE, nvCJD, ONLY theory, is total crap, what i like to call, BSe, or Bull Sh!t encephalopathy. 85%+ of all cjd did not fall from the sky, or happen spontaneoulsy, as some would like us to believe. this is the corporate theory, which is backed and funded by the Govs. responsible. it is a corporate disease. you knew, but you kept on keeping on. as with your editorial today. your cure and or erradication is all about denial. this will only allow the agent to amplify and spread.


I am no doctor, I have no PhDs, I am president and CEO of nothing. I am not a peta bogeyman, I am not of a consumer group other than consumers of families of loved ones that are dying a most hideous death, 100% fatal disease of greed and stupidity, a corporate disease, one that goes far far beyond the damn mad cow hamburger.
WE ARE PISSED and tired of constant ''Misinformation'' of the FACTS. The problem with the true facts that the media cannot give out is the threat of the industry to sue for telling the truth. WE saw this with the Oprah Winfrey MAD COW TRIAL. hell, she and Howard were in FACT, correct. what i called getting 'Dixie Chicked' or in the world of TSEs, i now call the 'Johanns Effect' from the 'Fong Syndrome'. NOW 'the industry' tries to Dixie Chick the NYT for finally printing the truth. some of it.


YOU want some more facts? YOU will not like them, YOU will not take the time to understand them, YOU will NOT even print them, but they are the FACTs, and i hope they haunt you forever. they will haunt me and many more forever...TSS





----- Original Message -----
From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
To: [email protected]. ; [email protected].
Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 9:16 AM
Subject: Importation of Whole Cuts of Boneless Beef from Japan [Docket No. 05-004-1] RIN 0579-AB93 TSS SUBMISSION


Greetings Dr. Colgrove and Miss Johnson,

Thank you for taking this submission via email. i have had trouble submitting via the comment page due to the length of my submission. I was not sure that my file attachment that i submitted via the ;

EDOCKET: Go to http://www.epa.gov/feddocket



I submitted yesterday, just did not know if the file reached anyone. so to make sure, I am sending to you to submit for me.

many thanks,

Terry



From: TSS ()
Subject: Importation of Whole Cuts of Boneless Beef from Japan [Docket No. 05-004-1] RIN 0579-AB93 TSS SUBMISSION
Date: August 24, 2005 at 2:47 pm PST

August 24, 2005

Importation of Whole Cuts of Boneless Beef from Japan [Docket No. 05-004-1] RIN 0579-AB93 TSS SUBMISSION


Greetings APHIS ET AL,

My name is Terry S. Singeltary Sr.


I would kindly like to comment on [Docket No. 05-004-1] RIN 0579-AB93 ;


PROPOSED RULES
Exportation and importation of animals and animal products:
Whole cuts of boneless beef from-
Japan,
48494-48500 [05-16422]




[Federal Register: August 18, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 159)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 48494-48500]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18au05-7]

========================================================================
Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

========================================================================


[[Page 48494]]


DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

9 CFR Part 94

[Docket No. 05-004-1]
RIN 0579-AB93


Importation of Whole Cuts of Boneless Beef from Japan

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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

SUMMARY: We are proposing to amend the regulations governing the
importation of meat and other edible animal products by allowing, under
certain conditions, the importation of whole cuts of boneless beef from
Japan. We are proposing this action in response to a request from the
Government of Japan and after conducting an analysis of the risk that
indicates that such beef can be safely imported from Japan under the
conditions described in this proposal.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before
September 19, 2005.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
EDOCKET: Go to http://www.epa.gov/feddocket to submit or


snip...


BSE infectivity has never been demonstrated in the muscle tissue of
cattle experimentally or naturally infected with BSE at any stage of
the disease. Studies performed using TSEs other than BSE in non-bovine
animals have detected prions in muscle tissue. However, the
international scientific community largely considers that these studies
cannot be directly extrapolated to BSE in cattle because of the
significant interactions between the host species and the prion strain
involved.
Pathogenesis studies of naturally and experimentally infected
cattle have not detected BSE infectivity in blood. However,
transmission of BSE was demonstrated in sheep that received a
transfusion of a large volume of blood drawn from other sheep that were
experimentally infected with the BSE agent. The United Kingdom's
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Spongiform
Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) and the European Commission's
Scientific Steering Committee (SSC), which are scientific advisory
committees, evaluated the implication of this finding in relation to
food safety.\5\ The SEAC concluded that the finding did not represent
grounds for recommending any changes to the current control measures
for BSE. The SSC determined that the research results do not support
the hypothesis that bovine blood or muscle meat constitute a risk to
human health.\6\


snip...


BSE Risk Factors for Whole Cuts of Boneless Beef


The most significant risk management strategy for ensuring the
safety of whole cuts of boneless beef is the prevention of cross-
contamination of the beef with SRMs during stunning and slaughter of
the animal. Control measures that prevent contamination of such beef
involve the establishment of procedures for the removal of SRMs,
prohibitions on air-injection stunning and pithing, and splitting of
carcasses. These potential pathways for contamination and the control
measures that prevent contamination are described in detail in the risk
analysis for this rulemaking.
SRM Removal. Research has demonstrated that SRMs from infected
cattle may contain BSE infectivity. Because infectivity has not been
demonstrated in muscle tissue, the most important mitigation measure
for whole cuts of boneless beef is the careful removal and segregation
of SRMs. Removal of SRMs in a manner that avoids contamination of the
beef with SRMs minimizes the risk of exposure to materials that have
been demonstrated to contain the BSE agent in cattle.

snip...


Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a chronic and fatal
neurodegenerative disease of humans, has been linked since 1996 through
epidemiological, neuropathological, and experimental data to exposure
to the BSE agent, most likely through consumption of cattle products
contaminated with the agent before BSE control measures were in place.
To date, approximately 170 probable and confirmed cases of vCJD have
been identified worldwide. The majority of these cases have either been
identified in the United Kingdom or were linked to exposure that
occurred in the United Kingdom, and all cases have been linked to
exposure in countries with native cases of BSE. Some studies estimate
that more than 1 million cattle may have been infected with BSE
throughout the epidemic in the United Kingdom. This number of infected
cattle could have introduced a significant amount of infectivity into
the human food supply. Yet, the low number of cases of vCJD identified
to date indicates that there is a substantial species barrier that
protects humans from widespread illness due to exposure to the BSE
agent.


snip...


International Guidelines on BSE

International guidelines for trade in animal and animal products
are developed by the World Organization for Animal Health (formerly
known as the Office International des Epizooties (OIE)), which is
recognized by the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the international
organization responsible for the development of standards, guidelines,
and recommendations with respect to animal health and zoonoses
(diseases that are transmissible from animals to humans). The OIE
guidelines for trade in terrestrial animals (mammals, birds, and bees)
are detailed in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code (available on the
internet at http://www.oie.int). The guidelines on BSE are contained in

Chapter 2.3.13 of the Code and supplemented by Appendix 3.8.4 of the
Code.


snip...end
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/05-16422.htm http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-16422.pdf

Greetings again APHIS ET AL,


THIS is not correct. IN fact, there are several factors i would like to kindly address.

Muscle tissue has recently been detected with PrPSc
in the peripheral nerves (sciatic nerve, tibial nerve, vagus nerve) of the 11th BSE
cow in Japan (Yoshifumi Iwamaru et al). also recently, Aguzzi et al Letter to the Editor
Vet Pathol 42:107-108 (2005), Prusiner et al CDI test is another example of detection
of the TSE agent in muscle in sCJD, Herbert Budka et al CJD and inclusion body myositis:
Abundant Disease-Associated Prion Protein in Muscle, and older studies from Watson
Meldrum et al Scrapie agent in muscle - Pattison I A (1990), references as follow ;


PrPSc distribution of a natural case of bovine
spongiform encephalopathy

Yoshifumi Iwamaru, Yuka Okubo, Tamako Ikeda, Hiroko Hayashi, Mori-
kazu Imamura, Takashi Yokoyama and Morikazu Shinagawa

Priori Disease Research Center, National Institute of Animal Health, 3-1-5
Kannondai, Tsukuba 305-0856 Japan [email protected]

Abstract

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a disease of cattle that causes
progressive neurodegeneration of the central nervous system. Infectivity
of BSE agent is accompanied with an abnormal isoform of prion protein
(PrPSc).

The specified risk materials (SRM) are tissues potentially carrying BSE
infectivity. The following tissues are designated as SRM in Japan: the
skull including the brain and eyes but excluding the glossa and the masse-
ter muscle, the vertebral column excluding the vertebrae of the tail, spinal
cord, distal illeum. For a risk management step, the use of SRM in both
animal feed or human food has been prohibited. However, detailed
PrPSc distribution remains obscure in BSE cattle and it has caused con-
troversies about definitions of SRM. Therefore we have examined PrPSc
distribution in a BSE cattle by Western blotting to reassess definitions of
SRM.

The 11th BSE case in Japan was detected in fallen stock surveillance.
The carcass was stocked in the refrigerator. For the detection of PrPSc,
200 mg of tissue samples were homogenized. Following collagenase
treatment, samples were digested with proteinase K. After digestion,
PrPSc was precipitated by sodium phosphotungstate (PTA). The pellets
were subjected to Western blotting using the standard procedure.
Anti-prion protein monoclonal antibody (mAb) T2 conjugated horseradish
peroxidase was used for the detection of PrPSc.

PrPSc was detected in brain, spinal cord, dorsal root ganglia, trigeminal
ganglia, sublingual ganglion, retina. In addition, PrPSc was also detected
in the peripheral nerves (sciatic nerve, tibial nerve, vagus nerve).

Our results suggest that the currently accepted definitions of SRM in
BSE cattle may need to be reexamined. ...

179

T. Kitamoto (Ed.)
PRIONS
Food and Drug Safety
================


ALSO from the International Symposium of Prion Diseases held in Sendai, October 31, to
November 2, 2004;


Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Japan


snip...


"Furthermore, current studies into transmission of cases of BSE that are
atypical or that develop in young cattle are expected to amplify the BSE
prion"


NO. Date conf. Farm Birth place and Date Age at diagnosis


8. 2003.10.6. Fukushima Tochigi 2001.10.13. 23


9. 2003.11.4. Hiroshima Hyogo 2002.1.13. 21


Test results


# 8b, 9c cows Elisa Positive, WB Positive, IHC negative, histopathology
negative


b = atypical BSE case


c = case of BSE in a young animal


b,c, No PrPSc on IHC, and no spongiform change on histology



International Symposium of Prion Diseases held in Sendai, October 31, to
November 2, 2004.

The hardback book title is 'PRIONS' Food and Drug Safety
T. Kitamoto (Ed.)


Tetsuyuki Kitamoto
Professor and Chairman
Department of Prion Research
Tohoku University School of Medicine
2-1 SeiryoAoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, JAPAN
TEL +81-22-717-8147 FAX +81-22-717-8148
e-mail; [email protected]
Symposium Secretariat
Kyomi Sasaki
TEL +81-22-717-8233 FAX +81-22-717-7656
e-mail: [email protected]


================================

107

Vet Pathol 42:107–108 (2005)

Letters to the Editor

Editor:

Absence of evidence is not always evidence of absence.

In the article ''Failure to detect prion protein (PrPres) by

immunohistochemistry in striated muscle tissues of animals

experimentally inoculated with agents of transmissible spongiform

encephalopathy,'' recently published in Veterinary

Pathology (41:78–81, 2004), PrPres was not detected in striated

muscle of experimentally infected elk, cattle, sheep, and

raccoons by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Negative IHC,

however, does not exclude the presence of PrPSc. For example,

PrPres was detected in skeletal muscle in 8 of 32

humans with the prion disease, sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob

disease (CJD), using sodium phosphotungstic acid (NaPTA)

precipitation and western blot.1 The NaPTA precipitation,

described by Wadsworth et al.,3 concentrates the abnormal

isoform of the prion, PrPres, from a large tissue homogenate

volume before western blotting. This technique has increased

the sensitivity of the western blot up to three orders

of magnitude and could be included in assays to detect

PrPres. Extremely conspicuous deposits of PrPres in muscle

were detected by IHC in a recent case report of an individual

with inclusion body myositis and CJD.2 Here, PrPres was

detected in the muscle by immunoblotting, IHC, and paraf-

fin-embedded tissue blot. We would therefore caution that,

in addition to IHC, highly sensitive biochemical assays and

bioassays of muscle are needed to assess the presence or

absence of prions from muscle in experimental and natural

TSE cases.

Christina Sigurdson, Markus Glatzel, and Adriano Aguzzi

Institute of Neuropathology

University Hospital of Zurich

Zurich, Switzerland

References

1 Glatzel M, Abela E, et al: Extraneural pathologic prion

protein in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. N Engl J

Med 349(19):1812–1820, 2003

2 Kovacs GG, Lindeck-Pozza E, et al: Creutzfeldt-Jakob

disease and inclusion body myositis: abundant diseaseassociated

prion protein in muscle. Ann Neurol 55(1):

121–125, 2004

3 Wadsworth JDF, Joiner S, et al: Tissue distribution of protease

resistant prion protein in variant CJD using a highly

sensitive immuno-blotting assay. Lancet 358:171–180,

2001


===================================


Corinna Kaarlela, News Director
Source: Jennifer O'Brien
[email protected]
415-476-2557
14 February 2005

Diagnosis of prions in patients should utilize novel strategy, team says

A technique for detecting prions in tissue, developed in recent years by
UCSF scientists, is significantly more sensitive than the diagnostic
procedures currently used to detect the lethal particles in samples of
brain tissue from patients, according to a study performed by a UCSF team.

The finding indicates that the diagnostic technique, known as the
conformation-dependent immunoassay (CDI), should be established as the
standard approach for brain biopsies of patients suspected of having the
disease, they say. The team is exploring whether the CDI might be
adapted to detect prions in blood and muscle.

The finding suggests that reliance on the current methods for detecting
prions in human brain tissue -- microscopic examination of tissue for
the telltale vacuoles that form in brain cells and immunohistochemistry
(IHC), which involves detecting prions in brain sections using prion
protein-specific antibodies -- may have led to an under diagnosis of the
disease in patients in recent years, they say. (A definitive diagnosis
of the disease in humans is made only on autopsy, when a
neuropathologist can analyze multiple brain regions for vacuoles and
evidence of prions by IHC, and it is estimated that only 50 percent of
human cases are autopsied, in part because many pathologists do not want
to risk infection during the autopsy.)

In the study, the team compared the ability of the CDI and the two
traditional diagnostic techniques to detect prions in various brain
samples from 28 patients diagnosed on autopsy as having one of several
human forms of the disease -- sporadic, familial or iatrogenic
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). While the CDI detected the biochemical
signal for prions in 100 percent of the samples studied, the traditional
tests failed to detect the prion in a high proportion of cases. For
example, in an experiment that focused on 18 brain regions from eight
patients with sporadic CJD, the CDI detected prions in 100 percent of
the samples, while IHC detected them in 22 percent and routine tissue
examination in 17 percent.

"In about 80 percent of the different brain regions examined, prions
were not consistently detected by either IHC or routine histology that
measure vacuolation. In contrast, the CDI was always positive in all
regions of the brain," says the lead author of the study, Jiri Safar,
MD, associate adjunct professor of neurology and a member of the UCSF
Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, which is directed by senior
author Stanley B. Prusiner, MD, UCSF professor of neurology and
biochemistry.

"These findings indicate that histology and immunohistochemistry should
no longer be used to rule out prion disease in single-site biopsy
samples," says Safar. "The superior performance of the CDI in diagnosing
prion disease suggests that the CDI be used in future diagnostic
evaluations of prion disease, particularly for single-site brain
biopsies during life"

"If the traditional techniques are used at autopsy, they must be applied
to many cortical and subcortical samples," says co-author Stephen J.
DeArmond, MD, PhD, UCSF professor of neuropathology.

Moreover, while the study examined the efficacy of the CDI in comparison
to the two techniques routinely used by neuropathologists to detect
prions in human brain tissue, previous studies at UCSF indicate that the
CDI is also significantly more sensitive than Western blot analysis, the
technology used with IHC to detect prions in brain tissue from cattle
suspected of having bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). That IHC and
Western blot analysis are relatively insensitive methods, the
researchers say, supports their ongoing assertion that the CDI should
also be used to evaluate the brain tissue of cattle.

"The studies reported here are likely to change profoundly the approach
to the diagnosis of prion disease in both humans and livestock," says Safar.

More broadly, the scientists say, the high sensitivity of the CDI
suggests that CDI-like tests could also prove useful for diagnosing
other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease,
Parkinsons's disease and fronto-temporal dementias, all of which, like
prion diseases, involve various forms of protein misprocessing. These
diseases currently are diagnosed by neuropathological analysis and
immunohistochemistry.

"Whether immunohistochemistry underestimates the incidence of one or
more of these common neurodegenerative diseases is unknown, but the CDI
could shed light on these diseases," says co-author Bruce Miller, MD,
UCSF A.W. and Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Professor of Neurology
and director of the UCSF Memory and Aging Center.

The finding will be printed on-line and in print on March 1, 2005 in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study brings into high relief the different detection strategies of
immunohistochemistry and the CDI, both of which involve revealing the
presence of prions, known as PrPsc, by applying antibodies to brain tissue.

Standard immunohistochemistry, developed in the DeArmond lab 20 years
ago, involves using an enzyme known as a protease, or a combination of
harsh acid and high temperature treatment, to destroy normal prion
protein (PrPC), which is ubiquitous in brain tissue. Once this occurs,
scientists apply fluorescently lit antibodies that react with residues
of the relatively resistant abnormal prion protein (PrPSc), thereby
highlighting it.

The limitation of this technique is that scientists have since learned
that there is a large part of the abnormal prion protein that is
protease sensitive, and that portion escapes detection by the standard
technique. Thus, this traditional method underestimates the level of
PrPSc in tissue.

The CDI addresses this limitation by revealing the region of PrPSc that
is exposed in the normal PrPC but is buried in infectious PrPSc, using
high affinity, newly generated antibodies that identify PrPSc through
the distinct shape of the molecule, independent of proteolytic
treatments. This makes it possible to detect potentially large
concentrations of protease sensitive PrPSc molecules.

Detractors would say that it is not necessary to detect the minute level
of infectious agent that the CDI is capable of revealing, as it would be
unlikely to be lethal, says Safar. But Prusiner and his colleagues
maintain that any risk is too great when it comes to having prions in
the food supply. In addition, because even low levels of prions are
extremely resistant to inactivation, they may contaminate the
environment for many years.

Prusiner won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for
discovering that a class of neurodegenerative diseases known as
spongiform encephalopathies was caused by prions. Prion diseases develop
in humans, cattle, sheep, deer, elk and mink.

The CDI was developed by members of the Prusiner lab. The CDI
methodology has been licensed to InPro Biotechnology, Inc.

Prusiner, Safar, DeArmond and other members of the Institute for
Neurodegenerative Diseases are scientific advisors to, or own stock in,
InPro.

Other co-authors of the study were Michael D. Geschwind, Camille
Deering, Svetlana Didorenko, Mamta Sattavat, Henry Sanchesz, Ana Serban,
Kurt Giles, of UCSF, and Martin Vey, of Behring, Marburg, Germany, and
Henry Baron, of Behring, Paris.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the John
Douglas French Foundation for Alzheimer's research, the McBean
Foundation, the State of California, Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
of California and the RR00079 General Clinical Research Center.

The UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases:
http://ind.medschool.ucsf.edu/.

FURTHER COMPARISON OF THE CDI TO THE STANDARD DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES,
PROVIDED BY STEPHEN J. DEARMOND, MD, PHD, UCSF PROFESSORS OF NEUROPATHOLOGY:

Explanation as to why the CDI is more sensitive than Western blot
analysis: Studies at UCSF during development of the CDI showed that CDI
could detect prions in brain homogenates at levels that fail to produce
disease in animals (bioassay for prions). Therefore, the CDI is more
sensitive than the bioassay method, which was considered to be the most
sensitive technique for detecting prions. In contrast, Western blot
analysis for prions is significantly less sensitive than the bioassay
and is, therefore, significantly less sensitive than the CDI. Currently,
the USDA uses a combination of Western blot analysis of brainstem
homogenates and immunohistochemistry of the medulla to test cattle
suspected of having bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow
disease"). The relative insensitivity of IHC and Western blot analysis,
says DeArmond, supports the UCSF scientists' ongoing assertion that the
CDI should also be used to evaluate the brain tissue of cattle.

DeArmond cites additional evidence about Western blot analysis from a
World Health Organization (WHO) study group, which compared the CDI
method with Western blots for detection of prions in sporadic and
variant CJD brains. Based on the smallest amount of prions that could
detected by the two techniques, they found that the CDI was from 1000-
to 100,000-fold more sensitive than Western blot analysis performed in
six different research laboratories (Minor et al. Standards for the
assay of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease specimens. J. Gen. Virol. 85:
1777-1784, 2004).

Explanation as to why IHC for prions is less sensitive than the CDI: IHC
is routinely performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples of
brain. Formalin fixation markedly decreases the ability of antibodies to
bind to proteins in general, which greatly weakens the IHC signal for
prions (PrPSc). In contrast, homogenates for the CDI are not treated
with reagents that decrease prion antigenicity. Moreover, to concentrate
the PrPSc for measurement by the CDI, the homogenates are exposed to
phosphotungstic acid, which selectively precipitates both
protease-sensitive and protease-resistant PrPSc that comprise prions,
but not the normal prion protein conformer found in uninfected animals,
PrPC. This step results in a higher concentration of PrPSc for detection
by the CDI. Because the PrPSc was not exposed to proteases, the CDI
measures all forms of abnormally folded PrPSc molecules.
Protease-sensitive PrPSc can account for 50 percent of the total PrPSc.
For Western analysis, homogenates of brain are treated with protease to
eliminate PrPC; however, this step also eliminates protease-sensitive
PrPSc leaving only protease-resistant PrPSc for Western blot detection
and decreasing the PrPSc signal at least in half.

###

http://pub.ucsf.edu/newsservices/releases/200502147/


PNAS | March 1, 2005 | vol. 102 | no. 9 | 3501-3506

NEUROSCIENCE

Diagnosis of human prion disease

Jiri G. Safar *, , Michael D. Geschwind , , Camille Deering
*, Svetlana Didorenko *, Mamta Sattavat ¶, Henry Sanchez ¶,
Ana Serban * , Martin Vey ||, Henry Baron **, Kurt Giles *,
, Bruce L. Miller , , Stephen J. DeArmond * , ¶ and Stanley
B. Prusiner *, , ,

*Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Memory and Aging
Center, and Departments of Neurology, ¶Pathology, and
Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San
Francisco, CA 94143; ||ZLB Behring, 35041 Marburg, Germany;
and **ZLB Behring, 75601 Paris, France

Contributed by Stanley B. Prusiner, December 22, 2004

Abstract

With the discovery of the prion protein (PrP),
immunodiagnostic procedures were applied to diagnose
Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD). Before development of the
conformation-dependent immunoassay (CDI), all immunoassays
for the disease-causing PrP isoform (PrPSc) used limited
proteolysis to digest the precursor cellular PrP (PrPC).
Because the CDI is the only immunoassay that measures both
the protease-resistant and protease-sensitive forms of
PrPSc, we used the CDI to diagnose human prion disease. The
CDI gave a positive signal for PrPSc in all 10–24 brain
regions (100%) examined from 28 CJD patients. A subset of 18
brain regions from 8 patients with sporadic CJD (sCJD) was
examined by histology, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and the
CDI. Three of the 18 regions (17%) were consistently
positive by histology and 4 of 18 (22%) by IHC for the 8
sCJD patients. In contrast, the CDI was positive in all 18
regions (100%) for all 8 sCJD patients. In both gray and
white matter, 90% of the total PrPSc was protease-sensitive
and, thus, would have been degraded by procedures using
proteases to eliminate PrPC. Our findings argue that the CDI
should be used to establish or rule out the diagnosis of
prion disease when a small number of samples is available as
is the case with brain biopsy. Moreover, IHC should not be
used as the standard against which all other
immunodiagnostic techniques are compared because an
immunoassay, such as the CDI, is substantially more
sensitive.


snip...


Discussion

The clinical diagnosis of human prion disease is often
difficult until the patient shows profound signs of
neurologic dysfunction. It is widely accepted that the
clinical diagnosis must be provisional until a tissue
diagnosis either confirms or rules out the clinical
assessment. Before the availability of Abs to PrP, a tissue
diagnosis was generally made by histologic evaluation of
neuropil vacuolation. IHC with
anti-glial-fibrillary-acidic-protein Abs in combination with
H&E staining preceded the use of anti-PrP Ab staining.

Recently, the role of IHC in the diagnosis of scrapie in the
brains of eight clinically affected goats inoculated with
the SSBP1 prion isolate has been challenged (14). Thalamic
samples taken from seven of eight goats with scrapie were
positive for PrPSc by Western blotting but negative by IHC.
The eighth goat was negative by Western blotting and IHC.
Consistent with these findings in goats are the data
reported here, in which IHC of formalin-fixed,
paraffin-embedded human brain samples was substantially less
sensitive than the CDI.

The CDI was developed to quantify PrPSc in tissue samples
from mammals producing prions. Concerned that limited PK
digestion was hydrolyzing some or even most of the PrPSc, we
developed a CDI that does not require PK digestion. The CDI
revealed that as much as 90% of PrPSc is sPrPSc; thus, it
was being destroyed during limited proteolytic digestion
used to hydrolyze PrPC. sPrPSc comprises 80% of PrPSc in the
frontal lobe and in the white matter (Fig. 4).

The CDI detected HuPrPSc with a sensitivity comparable to
the bioassay for prion infectivity in Tg(MHu2M) mice (Fig.
1). The high sensitivity achieved by the CDI is due to
several factors (8, 10, 11, 15). First, both sPrPSc and
rPrPSc conformers are specifically precipitated by PTA
(Table 5) (8, 9). PTA has also been used to increase the
sensitivity of Western blots enabling the detection of
rPrPSc in human muscle and other peripheral tissues (16,
17). Second, a sandwich protocol was used with the
high-affinity MAR1 mAb (11) to capture HuPrPSc and
Eu-labeled 3F4 mAb to detect HuPrPSc (12). Third, the CDI
detects PrPSc by Ab-binding to native and denatured forms of
the protein and, therefore, does not depend on proteolytic
degradation of PrPC. We chose not to perform Western blots
on most of the samples used in this study because such
immunoblots require denaturation of the sample, which
eliminates measurement of the native signal corresponding to
PrPC (Table 5). Moreover, a comparison between the CDI and
Western blotting on brain samples from sCJD and variant CJD
patients showed that the CDI was 50- to 100-fold more
sensitive (15). Additionally, Western blots combined with
densitometry are linear over a 10- to 100-fold range of
concentrations, whereas the CDI is linear over a >104-fold
range. The CDI has been automated, which not only improves
accuracy and reproducibility (10) but also allows numerous
samples to be analyzed, as reported here. Western blots are
difficult to automate and are labor intensive.

Our studies show that only the CDI detected PrPSc in all
regions examined in 24 sCJD and 3 fCJD(E200K) brains (Figs.
2 and 6). Comparative analyses demonstrated that the CDI was
vastly superior to histology and IHC. When 18 regions of 8
sCJD and 2 fCJD(E200K) brains were compared, we discovered
that histology and IHC were unreliable diagnostic tools
except for samples from a few brain regions. In contrast,
the CDI was a superb diagnostic procedure because it
detected PrPSc in all 18 regions in 8 of 8 sCJD and 2 of 2
fCJD(E200K) cases (Tables 1 and 2).

Histologic changes in prion disease have been shown to
follow the accumulation of prions as measured by bioassay of
infectivity and by PrPSc accumulation (18–22). Because low
levels of PrPSc are not associated with neuropathologic
changes, some discrepancy between vacuolation and PrPSc was
expected. In contrast to histology, IHC measures PrP
immunostaining after autoclaving tissue sections exposed to
formic acid. Because IHC measures PrP, we expected the
sensitivity of this procedure might be similar to the CDI,
but that proved not to be the case. Whether exposure of
formic acid-treated tissue sections to elevated temperature
destroys not only PrPC but also sPrPSc and only denatures
rPrPSc remains to be determined. Such a scenario could
account for the lower sensitivity of IHC compared with CDI
or bioassay (Tables 1 and 2).

Studies of the white matter in CJD brains were particularly
informative with respect to the sensitivity of the CDI,
where PrPSc levels were low but readily detectable, 10- to
100-fold above the threshold value (Fig. 4). Because animal
studies have shown that PrPSc and infectivity are
transported anterogradely from one brain region to another
along neuroanatomical pathways (23–25), we expected to find
PrPSc in white matter as demonstrated by the CDI but not
IHC. Axonal transport of PrPSc is also suggested by
diffusion-weighted MRI scans of CJD cases, which show
high-intensity signals in analogous neocortical regions of
the right and left cerebral hemispheres (26). This symmetry
of neuroradiological abnormalities is consistent with spread
of PrPSc to the contralateral cortex by means of callosal
commissural pathways.

Most immunoassays that detect HuPrPSc do so only after
subjecting the sample to limited proteolysis to form PrP
27–30, followed by denaturation. Because the CDI measures
the immunoreactivity before and after denaturation to an
epitope that is exposed in native PrPC but buried in PrPSc,
limited proteolysis to eliminate PrPC is unnecessary. Assays
based on limited proteolysis underestimate the level of
PrPSc because they digest sPrPSc, which represents 80–90% of
PrPSc in CJD and scrapie brains (Fig. 4 and Table 5).

Gerstmann–Sträussler–Scheinker, an inherited human prion
disease, is caused by the P102L mutation in the PRNP gene.
In mice expressing the Gerstmann–Sträussler–Scheinker mutant
PrP transgene, the CDI detected high levels of sPrPSc(P101L)
as well as low levels of rPrPSc(P101L) long before
neurodegeneration and clinical symptoms occurred (9).
sPrPSc(P101L) as well as low concentrations of rPrPSc(P101L)
previously escaped detection (27). Whether a similar
situation applies in other genetic forms of prion disease,
sCJD, or variant CJD remains to be determined. Because most
of the PrPSc in the brains of sCJD patients is
protease-sensitive (Fig. 4), it is likely that the lower
sensitivity of IHC is due to its inability to detect sPrPSc.
Presently, we have no information about the kinetics of
either sPrPSc or rPrPSc accumulation in human brain. Limited
information on the kinetics of PrPSc accumulation in
livestock comes from studies of cattle, sheep, and goats
inoculated orally, but most of the bioassays were performed
in non-Tg mice (28–30) in which prion titers were
underestimated by as much as a factor of 104 (10).

The studies reported here are likely to change profoundly
the approach to the diagnosis of prion disease in both
humans and livestock (31–33). The superior performance of
the CDI in diagnosing prion disease compared to routine
neuropathologic examination and IHC demands that the CDI be
used in future diagnostic evaluations of prion disease.
Prion disease can no longer be ruled out by routine
histology or IHC. Moreover, the use of IHC to confirm cases
of bovine spongiform encephalopathy after detection of
bovine PrPSc by the CDI (10) seems an untenable approach in
the future. Clearly, the CDI for HuPrPSc is as sensitive or
more sensitive than bioassays in Tg(MHu2M) mice (Fig. 1).

Our results suggest that using the CDI to test large numbers
of samples for human prions might alter the epidemiology of
prion diseases. At present, there is limited data on the
frequency of subclinical variant CJD infections in the U.K.
population (34). Because appendixes and tonsils were
evaluated only by IHC, many cases might have escaped
detection (Tables 1 and 2). Equally important may be the use
of CDI-like tests to diagnose other neurodegenerative
disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease,
and the frontotemporal dementias. Whether IHC underestimates
the incidence of one or more of these common degenerative
diseases is unknown. Moreover, CDI-like tests may help
determine the frequency with which these disorders and the
prion diseases occurs concomitantly in a single patient (35,
36).

Acknowledgements


snip...END


http://www.pnas.org/


Volume 349:1812-1820 November 6, 2003 Number 19


Extraneural Pathologic Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease


Background In patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, pathologic disease-associated prion protein (PrPSc) has been identified only in the central nervous system and olfactory-nerve tissue. Understanding the distribution of PrPSc in Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is important for classification and diagnosis and perhaps even for prevention.

Methods We used a highly sensitive method of detection — involving the concentration of PrPSc by differential precipitation with sodium phosphotungstic acid, which increased the sensitivity of Western blot analysis by up to three orders of magnitude — to search for PrPSc in extraneural organs of 36 patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease who died between 1996 and 2002.

Results PrPSc was present in the brain tissue of all patients. In addition, we found PrPSc in 10 of 28 spleen specimens and in 8 of 32 skeletal-muscle samples. Three patients had PrPSc in both spleen and muscle specimens. Patients with extraneural PrPSc had a significantly longer duration of disease and were more likely to have uncommon molecular variants of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease than were patients without extraneural PrPSc.

Conclusions Using sensitive techniques, we identified extraneural deposition of PrPSc in spleen and muscle samples from approximately one third of patients who died with sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Extraneural PrPSc appears to correlate with a long duration of disease.


Source Information

From the Institute of Neuropathology and National Reference Center for Prion Diseases, University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Dr. Glatzel and Mr. Abela contributed equally to the article.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Aguzzi at the Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital of Zurich, Schmelzbergstr. 12, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland, or at [email protected] .


http://content.nejm.org/cgi/


Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and inclusion body myositis: Abundant disease-associated prion protein in muscle

Gabor G. Kovacs, MD PhD 1 2, Elisabeth Lindeck-Pozza, MD 1, Leila Chimelli, MD, PhD 3, Abelardo Q. C. Araújo, MD, PhD 4, Alberto A. Gabbai, MD, PhD 5, Thomas Ströbel, PhD 1, Markus Glatzel, MD 6, Adriano Aguzzi, MD, PhD 6, Herbert Budka, MD 1 *
1Institute of Neurology, University of Vienna, and Austrian Reference Centre for Human Prion Diseases, Vienna, Austria
2National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Budapest, Hungary
3Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
4Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
5Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
6Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
email: Herbert Budka ([email protected]. )

*Correspondence to Herbert Budka, Institute of Neurology, AKH 4J, Wühringer Gürtel 18-20, POB 48, A-1097 Vienna, Austria

Funded by:
European Union (EU) Project; Grant Number: TSELAB QLK2-CT-2002-81523
EU Concerted Action PRIONET; Grant Number: QLK2-2000-CT-00837

Abstract

Pathologicalprion protein (PrPSc) is the hallmark of prion diseases affecting primarily the central nervous system. Using immunohistochemistry, paraffin-embedded tissue blot, and Western blot, we demonstrated abundant PrPSc in the muscle of a patient with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and inclusion body myositis. Extraneural PrPC-PrPSc conversion in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease appears to become prominent when PrPC is abundantly available as substrate, as in inclusion body myositis muscle.

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

Received: 16 June 2003; Revised: 11 September 2003; Accepted: 11 September 2003
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)


10.1002/ana.10813 About DOI

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/

AS Professor Aguzzi kindly put it most recently ;

107
Vet Pathol 42:107 108 (2005)
Letters to the Editor
Editor:
Absence of evidence is not always evidence of absence. In the article Failure to detect prion protein (PrPres) by immunohistochemistry in striated muscle tissues of animals experimentally inoculated with agents of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, recently published in Veterinary Pathology (41:78 81, 2004), PrPres was not detected in striated muscle of experimentally infected elk, cattle, sheep, and raccoons by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Negative IHC, however, does not exclude the presence of PrPSc. For example, PrPres was detected in skeletal muscle in 8 of 32 humans with the prion disease, sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), using sodium phosphotungstic acid (NaPTA) precipitation and western blot.1 The NaPTA precipitation, described by Wadsworth et al.,3 concentrates the abnormal isoform of the prion, PrPres, from a large tissue homogenate volume before western blotting. This technique has increased the sensitivity of the western blot up to three orders of magnitude and could be included in assays to detect PrPres. Extremely conspicuous deposits of PrPres in muscle were detected by IHC in a recent case report of an individual with inclusion body myositis and CJD.2 Here, PrPres was detected in the muscle by immunoblotting, IHC, and paraf- fin-embedded tissue blot. We would therefore caution that, in addition to IHC, highly sensitive biochemical assays and bioassays of muscle are needed to assess the presence or absence of prions from muscle in experimental and natural TSE cases.

Christina Sigurdson, Markus Glatzel, and Adriano Aguzzi
Institute of Neuropathology
University Hospital of Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland
References
1 Glatzel M, Abela E, et al: Extraneural pathologic prion
protein in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. N Engl J
Med 349(19):1812 1820, 2003
2 Kovacs GG, Lindeck-Pozza E, et al: Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease and inclusion body myositis: abundant diseaseassociated
prion protein in muscle. Ann Neurol 55(1):
121 125, 2004
3 Wadsworth JDF, Joiner S, et al: Tissue distribution of protease
resistant prion protein in variant CJD using a highly
sensitive immuno-blotting assay. Lancet 358:171 180,
2001...///


EMBO reports AOP Published online: 11 April 2003


Widespread PrPSc accumulation in muscles of hamsters orally infected with scrapie

http://www.emboreports.org/




Watson Meldrum et al Scrapie agent in muscle - Pattison I A (1990)
Veterinary record, 20 January 1990. p.68

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1990/01/19009001.pdf


===============================


GREETINGS AGAIN APHIS ET AL,


FURTHERMORE, WE HAVE FAILED TO EVEN STOP THE SRMs FROM WHOLE
CUTS OF BONELESS BEEF IMPORTED FROM CANADA IN THE VERY ONSET OF
THE NEW BSE MRR (MINIMAL RISK REGION). THIS IS THE VERY REASON I HAVE
SAID TIME AND TIME AGAIN THAT BY THIS ADMINISTRATION ABANDONING THE
BSE GBR RISK ASSESSMENTS BECAUSE THEY DID NOT LIKE THE ASSESSMENT
OF BSE GBR III, AND ADHERING TO A NEW BSE MRR POLICY THAT WAS DESIGNED
NOT FOR HUMAN HEALTH, BUT ONLY FOR COMMODITIES AND FUTURES, WILL FURTHER
EXPOSE NEEDLESSLY MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF HUMANS AND ANIMALS VIA THE FREE
TRADING OF ALL STRAINS OF TSE GLOBALLY. references as follow ;


Wisconsin Firm Recalls Beef Products



Recall Release CLASS II RECALL
FSIS-RC-032-2005 HEALTH RISK: LOW

Congressional and Public Affairs
(202) 720-9113
Steven Cohen

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2005 - Green Bay Dressed Beef, a Green Bay, Wis., establishment, is voluntarily recalling approximately 1,856 pounds of beef products that may contain portions of the backbone from a cow just over 30 months old, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today. The product was from a cow imported directly for slaughter from Canada.

Based on information provided by Canada, the products subject to this Class II recall are from a cow that is approximately one month older than the 30-month age limit. Both ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection were done on the cow in question. FSIS inspection program personnel determined the cow to be healthy and fit for human food. FSIS' designation of this recall as Class II is because it is a situation where there is a remote probability of adverse health consequences from the use of the product.

FSIS learned about this as a result of a Canadian audit of their health certificate that accompanied the imported cow. Prior to slaughter, the health certificate accompanying the cow was presented to the establishment, and it appeared complete and accurate. However, a subsequent audit of information related to the health certificate by Canadian officials found that it was not accurate. Action has been taken by Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials in response to findings from the audit.

The products subject to recall are:
Five boxes of 243 lb. vacuum pouched packages of "American Foods Group, NECKBONE UNTRIM'D, USDA CHOICE OR HIGHER" with the case code of 77333;
One box of 50 lb. vacuum pouched package of "American Foods Group, SHORTLOIN 2X2, USDA SELECT OR HIGHER" with the case code of 75231;
One box of 60 lb. vacuum pouched package of "American Foods Group, SHORTLOIN 2X2, USDA CHOICE OR HIGHER" with the case code of 75060;
Five boxes of 258 lb. vacuum pouched packages of "Dakota Supreme Beef, SHORTLOIN 0X11/4, USDA SELECT OR HIGHER" with the case code of 75442;
Sixteen boxes of 811 lb. vacuum pouched packages of "American Foods Group, BLADE BI N/O CHUCK, USDA CHOICE OR HIGHER" with the case code of 75955;
Nine boxes of 435 lb. vacuum pouched packages of "American Foods Group, BLADE BI N/O CHUCK, USDA SELECT OR HIGHER" with the case code of 75952.

Each box bears the establishment number "410" inside the USDA seal of inspection. The products were produced on August 4, and were distributed to wholesale distributors in Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Under the interim final rules FSIS implemented on January 12, 2004, certain specified risk materials must be removed from all cattle depending on the age of the animal. On this animal all specified risk materials for cattle 30 months and over were removed, with the exception of the vertebral column. At the time of slaughter, the animal was certified to be under 30 months of age and removal of the vertebral column was not required. A subsequent audit determined the animal was just over 30 months of age; therefore, the vertebral column is required to be removed. This is the reason for the recall of the selected products.

Consumers with questions about the recall may contact Sally VandeHei, Executive Assistant at 1-877-894-3927. National media with questions may contact Jim Mulhern at (202) 496-2468. Local media with questions may contact Susan Finco at (920) 965-7750 ext.158.

Consumers with other food safety questions can phone the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854). The hotline is available in English and Spanish and can be reached from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Eastern Time), Monday through Friday. Recorded food safety messages are available 24 hours a day.
Sample Product Labels: These are similar to, but not identical to, labels on the recalled product.


USDA Recall Classifications
Class I This is a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.
Class II This is a health hazard situation where there is a remote probability of adverse health consequences from the use of the product.
Class III This is a situation where the use of the product will not cause adverse health consequences.


http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_032_2005_Release/index.asp


Docket No. 03-080-1 -- USDA ISSUES PROPOSED RULE TO ALLOW LIVE ANIMAL IMPORTS FROM CANADA
[TSS SUBMISSION 11/03/2003 01:19 PM To: [email protected] ]


https://web01.aphis.usda.gov/BSEcom.nsf/0/b78ba677e2b0c12185256dd300649f9d?OpenDocument&AutoFramed


THE BSE MRR POLICY SHOULD BE ABOLISHED/REPEALED IMMEDIATELY AND THE BSE GBR RISK ASSESSMENTS AND POLICY SHOULD BE STRICTLY ENFORCED AND FURTHER ENHANCED TO INCLUDE CWD AND ALL TSEs...TSS



EFSA Scientific Report on the Assessment of the Geographical BSE-Risk (GBR) of the United States of America (USA)
Publication date: 20 August 2004
Adopted July 2004 (Question N° EFSA-Q-2003-083)

Report

Summary
Summary of the Scientific Report

The European Food Safety Authority and its Scientific Expert Working Group on the Assessment of the Geographical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Risk (GBR) were asked by the European Commission (EC) to provide an up-to-date scientific report on the GBR in the United States of America, i.e. the likelihood of the presence of one or more cattle being infected with BSE, pre-clinically as well as clinically, in USA. This scientific report addresses the GBR of USA as assessed in 2004 based on data covering the period 1980-2003.

The BSE agent was probably imported into USA and could have reached domestic cattle in the middle of the eighties. These cattle imported in the mid eighties could have been rendered in the late eighties and therefore led to an internal challenge in the early nineties. It is possible that imported meat and bone meal (MBM) into the USA reached domestic cattle and leads to an internal challenge in the early nineties.

A processing risk developed in the late 80s/early 90s when cattle imports from BSE risk countries were slaughtered or died and were processed (partly) into feed, together with some imports of MBM. This risk continued to exist, and grew significantly in the mid 90's when domestic cattle, infected by imported MBM, reached processing. Given the low stability of the system, the risk increased over the years with continued imports of cattle and MBM from BSE risk countries.

EFSA concludes that the current GBR level of USA is III, i.e. it is likely but not confirmed that domestic cattle are (clinically or pre-clinically) infected with the BSE-agent. As long as there are no significant changes in rendering or feeding, the stability remains extremely/very unstable. Thus, the probability of cattle to be (pre-clinically or clinically) infected with the BSE-agent persistently increases.




http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/efsa_scientific_reports/gbr_assessments/573_en.html



From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. [[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 1:03 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected].; BSE-L
Subject: Docket No. 2003N-0312 Animal Feed Safety System [TSS SUBMISSION
TO DOCKET 2003N-0312]

Greetings FDA,

snip...

PLUS, if the USA continues to flagrantly ignore the _documented_ science to date about the known TSEs in the USA (let alone the undocumented TSEs in cattle), it is my opinion, every other Country that is dealing with BSE/TSE should boycott the USA and demand that the SSC reclassify the USA BSE GBR II risk assessment to BSE/TSE GBR III 'IMMEDIATELY'. for the SSC to _flounder_ any longer on this issue, should also be regarded with great suspicion as well. NOT to leave out the OIE and it's terribly flawed system of disease surveillance. the OIE should make a move on CWD in the USA, and make a risk assessment on this as a threat to human health. the OIE should also change the mathematical formula for testing of disease. this (in my opinion and others) is terribly flawed as well. to think that a sample survey of 400 or so cattle in a population of 100 million, to think this will find anything, especially after seeing how many TSE tests it took Italy and other Countries to find 1 case of BSE (1 million rapid TSE test in less than 2 years, to find 102 BSE cases), should be proof enough to make drastic changes of this system. the OIE criteria for BSE Country classification and it's interpretation is very problematic. a text that is suppose to give guidelines, but is not understandable, cannot be considered satisfactory. the OIE told me 2 years ago that they were concerned with CWD, but said any changes might take years. well, two years have come and gone, and no change in relations with CWD as a human health risk. if we wait for politics and science to finally make this connection, we very well may die before any decisions
or changes are made. this is not acceptable. we must take the politics and the industry out of any final decisions of the Scientific community. this has been the problem from day one with this environmental man made death sentence. some of you may think i am exaggerating, but you only have to see it once, you only have to watch a loved one die from this one time, and you will never forget, OR forgive...yes, i am still very angry... but the transmission studies DO NOT lie, only the politicians and the industry do... and they are still lying to this day...TSS


http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/03n0312/03N-0312_emc-000001.txt


GREETINGS AGAIN APHIS ET AL,


Moving on to the theory that BSE agent is not in blood. THIS is what they use to think with nvCJD. However
the nvCJD agent has now been detected and transmitted the TSE agent by blood. nvCJD is the BSE agent
that has transmitted to humans. nvCJD is human BSE. so if nvCJD transmits by blood, why not BSE? with
the limited testing to date, the limited sensitivity of the detection of the BSE/TSE agent blood to date, i would
not be so sure that the BSE/TSE agent does not transmit by blood. just recent Ag. Comm. Johanns stated
that they would not address the blood issue being fed to cattle. a foolish and careless mistake. but typical.
we now have detected new atypical strains of the BSE/TSE agent in cattle in many countries i.e. Japan, France,
Belgium, Germany, and Italy. In the Italian study of BASE, a new? TSE in cattle they have discovered that is
not like the nvCJD, but very similar to sporadic CJD. They have detected 2 such cattle at printing of this study
March 2, 2004. Identification of a second bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy: Molecular similarities
with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease PNAS. MY point is that with these new atypical TSEs showing up in
cattle, sheep and goats, we don't know if blood and other tissues transmits the disease. THE SRM list may
and should be reevaluated. WE know BSE is in the USA, but we also know that in the studies of Mission Texas,
where USA suffolk scrapie sheep were inoculated into USA cattle, the PRION agent that was produced did not
look like the UK BSE strain. so why would all CJD cases in the USA look like the UK human BSE i.e. nv/v CJD?
WHY wait and expose millions and millions needlessly as in the past with previous TSE blunders, why wait to
act. why not act first with what we know, which is very concerning, then as science evolves, go from there.
references as follow ;


UK Strategy for Research and

Development on Human and Animal

Health Aspects of Transmissible

Spongiform Encephalopathies

2005-2008


snip...


3.2 Tackling the spread of infection

3.2.1 The species barrier and the carrier state

3.2.1.1 The possibility of 'carrier' states in animals and humans, and our present inability

to identify them, pose a potential threat to public and animal health. The susceptibility of

humans to BSE infection, and the ability of the disease to remain clinically silent for

many years, is of major concern to DH. Although the death of a UK blood donor from

vCJD in 1999 three years after making the donation and the subsequent death from vCJD

of the recipient in 2003 have not been causally linked, transmission of infection through

blood transfusion is the most likely explanation327. The case heightens concerns that

'carriers' could be transmitting the disease through blood, tissue and organ donation or

by contaminating surgical instruments when undergoing surgery. DH will continue to

support research to detect infectious prions in human tissue, to investigate the

decontamination of surgical instruments and to develop measures to protect blood

supplies.

3.2.1.2 Animal models of some TSEs have detected infectivity in blood. Experiments,

which have involved transfusing large volumes of blood from infected sheep to healthy

recipient sheep, have demonstrated that infectivity can be transmitted by blood

transfusion. A central part of DH policy in this area has been the leucodepletion of blood

donations and the efficacy of this technology can now be tested in sheep.


snip...


4.5.4 In 1987, epidemiological studies of BSE cases identified meat and bone meal as the

probable means by which the disease was being spread. In an attempt to prevent

further infections a ban on incorporating ruminant protein in ruminant feed was

introduced in July 1988. Due to the long incubation period associated with this disease

the efficacy of this control measure was not immediately apparent. As time passed it

became clear from the number of cases born after the ban that it was not wholly

effective.

4.5.5 Epidemiological analysis of these cases showed that a high proportion of them

occurred in areas where the pig population was high. This observation, coupled with

research data that showed that only a very small dose of the infective material was

needed to cause disease in cattle, led to the conclusion that cross-contamination of feed

was occurring.

4.5.6 Since 1988, increasingly stringent feed controls have been put in place. Key
 
4.5.6 Since 1988, increasingly stringent feed controls have been put in place. Key

amongst these have been:

• the ban on the use of specified bovine offal in all animal feed (September 1990);

• the ban on feeding any farmed animal, including horses and fish, with mammalian

meat and bone meal. (This began in March 1996 but following this ban there was

a recall scheme and the date from which the ban was considered to be fully

effective is regarded as being 1 August 1996);

62

v6.1

• EU-wide controls on feed which extended the ban to include all processed animal

protein, including that derived from birds and fish (implemented in the UK from 1

August 2001).

4.5.7 As illustrated in fig. [ ] these later measures have reduced the spread of BSE.

However, they have not been one hundred per cent effective. As at 31st December 2003

there had been 81 cases of BSE in animals born since 1 August 1996 in the UK.


full text 91 pages;


http://www.mrc.ac.uk/pdf-about-tse_uk_strategy_june2005.pdf


GREETINGS AGAIN APHIS ET AL,


JUST what about those old studies at Mission Texas and the atypical TSE in cattle?
would it not be prudent for human health purpose, the question that, with all the atypical
TSEs showing up in animal and man in different countries, the fact that most all of these
TSEs transmit as freely or not as freely as BSE (depending whom you have witnessed die from
this agent either directly or indirectly via a multitude of potential routes and sources) to primates.
would it not be prudent to ask yourself if some if not all of these sporadic CJDs might be a
by-product of these TSEs either directly or indirectly via a multitude of proven routes and sources
in animal studies? it is unethical for human transmission studies considering the fact that the agent
is 100% fatal, slow, but fatal. there has been no sound science in any of the recent decisions in the
USA in regards to BSE/TSE human or animal, all one has to do is look at TEXAS, the mad cow that
got away, the stumbling and staggering one that NO TSE TEST AT ALL was done, ordered rendered,
and then the infamous positive, positve, secret positive, inconclusive (NO WB), negative, 8 month delay,
then the 'Fong Effect' took place, THEN FINALLY CONFIRMED SOME 8 MONTHS LATER IN WEYBRIDGE.
Finally recently, another inconclusive that took place that sat untested on some shelf for about 4 months while
the Texas mad cow blunder was going on. the tissues of this cow this time were preserved in preservative as
to render any WB for further confirmation, what i called the 'FONG SYNDROME' or the 'end around' the WB
ordered previously by the Honorable Phyllis Fong of the OIG. Politics at its finest, to hell with human health.
WE find now that 9,200 USA POTENTIAL MAD COWS IN JUNE 2004 ENHANCED COVER-UP
SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM WENT UNTESTED WITH NO RAPID TEST OR WB, ONLY IHC, the test
that fails the most, that is very unreliable as noted above in my submission by Prusiner et al and other scientist.


NOW, back to Mission, Texas ;


>> Differences in tissue distribution could require new regulations
>> regarding specific risk material (SRM) removal.


snip...end

full text 33 PAGES ;


http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m11b/tab01.pdf

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1988/10/00001001.pdf


It was, however, performed in the USA in 1979, when it was shown that cattle
inoculated with the scrapie agent endemic in the flock of Suffolk sheep at
the United States Department of Agriculture in Mission, Texas, developed a
TSE quite unlike BSE. 32 The findings of the initial transmission, though
not of the clinical or neurohistological examination, were communicated in
October 1988 to Dr Watson, Director of the CVL, following a visit by Dr
Wrathall, one of the project leaders in the Pathology Department of the CVL,
to the United States Department of Agriculture. 33 The results were not
published at this point, since the attempted transmission to mice from the
experimental cow brain had been inconclusive. The results of the clinical
and histological differences between scrapie-affected sheep and cattle were
published in 1995. Similar studies in which cattle were inoculated
intracerebrally with scrapie inocula derived from a number of
scrapie-affected sheep of different breeds and from different States, were
carried out at the US National Animal Disease Centre. 34 The results,
published in 1994, showed that this source of scrapie agent, though
pathogenic for cattle, did not produce the same clinical signs of brain
lesions characteristic of BSE.

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/


1: J Infect Dis. 1994 Apr;169(4):814-20.


Intracerebral transmission of scrapie to cattle.

Cutlip RC, Miller JM, Race RE, Jenny AL, Katz JB, Lehmkuhl HD, DeBey BM,
Robinson MM.

USDA, Agriculture Research Service, National Animal Disease Center, Ames, IA
50010.

To determine if sheep scrapie agent(s) in the United States would induce a
disease in cattle resembling bovine spongiform encephalopathy, 18 newborn
calves were inoculated intracerebrally with a pooled suspension of brain
from 9 sheep with scrapie. Half of the calves were euthanatized 1 year after
inoculation. All calves kept longer than 1 year became severely lethargic
and demonstrated clinical signs of motor neuron dysfunction that were
manifest as progressive stiffness, posterior paresis, general weakness, and
permanent recumbency. The incubation period was 14-18 months, and the
clinical course was 1-5 months. The brain from each calf was examined for
lesions and for protease-resistant prion protein. Lesions were subtle, but a
disease-specific isoform of the prion protein was present in the brain of
all calves. Neither signs nor lesions were characteristic of those for
bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

MeSH Terms:
Animals
Brain/microbiology*
Brain/pathology
Cattle
Cattle Diseases/etiology*
Cattle Diseases/pathology
Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform/etiology*
Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform/pathology
Immunoblotting/veterinary
Immunohistochemistry
Male
Motor Neurons/physiology
Prions/analysis
Scrapie/pathology
Scrapie/transmission*
Sheep
Sleep Stages
Time Factors

Substances:
Prions

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8133096&dopt=Citation


Intracerebral transmission of scrapie to cattle FULL TEXT PDF;


SNIP...


Discussion


WE conclude that American sources of sheep scrapie are transmissible to
cattle by direct intracerebral inoculation but the disease induced is NOT
identical to BSE as seen in the United Kingdom. While there were
similarities in clinical signs between this experimental disease and BSE,
there was no evidence of aggressiveness, hyperexcitability, hyperesthesia
(tactile or auditory), or hyperemetria of limbs as has been reported for BSE
(9). Neither were there extensive neurologic lesions, which are primary for
BSE, such as severe vacuolation of neurons and neuropil or neuronal necrosis
and gliosis. Although some vacuolation of neuropil, chromotolysis in
neurons, and gliosis were seen in the brains of some affected calves, these
were industinguishable from those of controls. Vacuolated neurons in the red
nucleus of both challenged and normal calves were considered normal for the
bovines as previously described (50).


PrP-res was found in ALL CHALLENGED CALVES REGARDLESS OF CLINCIAL SIGNS, and
the amount of PrP-res positively related to the length of the incubation.
...


snip...


WE also conclude from these studies that scrapie in cattle MIGHT NOT BE
RECOGNIZED BY ROUTINE HISTOPATHOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE BRAIN AND SUGGEST
THAT DETECTION OF PrP-res by immunohistochemistry or immunoblotting is
necessary to make a definitive diagnosis. THUS, undiagnosed scrapie
infection could contribute to the ''DOWNER-COW'' syndrome and could be
responsible for some outbreaks of transmissible mink encephalopathy proposed
by Burger and Hartsough (8) and Marsh and harsough (52). ...


snip...


Multiple sources of sheep affected with scrapie and two breeds of cattle
from several sources were used inthe current study in an effort to avoid a
single strain of either agent or host. Preliminary results from mouse
inoculations indicate multiple strains of the agent were present in the
pooled inoculum (unpublished data). ...


Transmission of the sheep scrapie to cattle was attempted in 1979 by using
intracerebral, intramuscular, subcutaneous, and oral routes of inoculation
of 5, 8- to 11-month old cattlw with a homologous mixture of brain from 1
affected sheep (61, 62). ONE of the 5 cattle develped neurologic signs 48
months after inoculation. Signs were disorientation, incoordination, a
stiff-legged stilted gait, progressive difficulty in rising, and finally in
terminal recumbency. The clinical course was 2.5 months. TWO of the 5 cattle
similarly inoculated with brain tissue from a goat with scrapie exhibited
similar signs 27 and 36 months after incoluation. Clinical courses were 43
an 44 days. Brain lesions of mild gliosis and vacuolation and mouse
inoculation data were insufficient to confirm a diagnosis of scrapie. This
work remained controversial until recent examination of the brains detected
PrP-res in all 3 cattle with neurologic disease but in none of the
unaffected cattle (62). Results of these studies are similar to ours and
underscore the necessity of methods other than histopathology to diagnose
scrapie infection in cattle. We believe that immunologic techniques for
detecting PrP-res currently provide the most sensitive and reliable way to
make a definitive diagnosis...


http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/sc/seac17/tab03.pdf


Visit to USA ... info on BSE and Scrapie

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1988/10/00001001.pdf


GREETINGS AGAIN APHIS ET AL,

COMMENTING ON THE SRMs AND THE REMOVAL OF SRMs. I FIND IT DISTURBING THAT RECENTLY,
AFTER A LONG BATTLE FOR DOCUMENTS VIA THE FOIA THAT THE MEDIA AND CONSUMERS UNION REQUESTED,
THAT DURING THE JUNE 2004 ENHANCED BSE SURVIELLANCE PROGRAM, THAT OVER 1,000 CITATIONS WERE
ISSUED FOR VARIOUS SRM VIOLATIONS, BUT YET IT TOOK THE FOIA TO GET THIS TO THE PUBLIC.

WOULD it not be likely that from some of these noncompliance reports that
indeed some breaches led to some potential tainted materials to enter the
animal/human feed chain?

ALL we have heard about in the last 7 years or better, well, since the
12/14/97 partial and voluntary ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban is that the
feed ban is working, tripple fire walls, no ruminant protein entering the
animal feed chain. along with this was a constant barage of 'no mad cow
disease in the USA'. then we find this 12 year old TEXAS cow that was
infected from tainted feed some time in that 12 year period. so, the NE
TEXAS CJD cluster, where it was stated that NO mad cow was in the USA or
TEXAS at that time frame, was in fact not true.

SINCE some 460 of these occurred because slaughter plants did not have an
adequate plan for dealing with BSE in their plant's food safety plan, as
required by the USDA, the analysis showed, and of those 460 violations, 60
percent described plans that contained no mention of BSE at all. then again,
would it not be very possible that indeed some potentially tainted material
of a BSE or atypical TSE DID enter the animal feed chain, thus later some of
those animals entering the human food chain.

WHAT about the SRM violations? Violations of rules about the removal and
handling of specified risk material (SRMs) occurred at 131 plants in at
least 35 states. SRMs are the high-risk materials, such as brains and spinal
cords, most likely to be infectious. More than 30 percent of the NRs
analyzed were due to either improperly handling or removing SRMs. Could this
not have also led to potentially BSE/TSE tainted materials entering the
animal/human food chain?

In 10 percent of the NRs analyzed, plants incorrectly identified the age of
cattle. THIS also could have led to tainted BSE/TSE SRM materials entering
the animal/human food chain.

IN my opinion, this could have led to many feed discrepancies and should
HAVE been reported to the public, without the media having to request this
data via FOIA. I think in the future it would be best if the NRs
(non-compliance reports) were made easily available to the public in there
feed enforement reports. ...


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 18, 2005
5:25 PM CONTACT: Public Citizen
(202) 588-1000


Evidence of Weak Meat Inspection Program Found in Nearly a Thousand
Violations of Mad Cow Rules at Slaughter Plants
Noncompliance Records Show Plants Failed to Follow Regulations

WASHINGTON - August 18 - In stark contrast to the public relations message
touted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the beef industry
that the U.S. regulatory system is adequate to prevent the spread of mad cow
disease, an analysis released today by the consumer group Public Citizen
found significant lapses in the industry's compliance with federal rules.
The analysis stems from a December 2004 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
request from Public Citizen to the USDA for all "noncompliance records"
(NRs) related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Public Citizen
received copies of 829 records on Aug. 15.

More than half the violations (460) occurred because slaughter plants did
not have an adequate plan for dealing with BSE in their plant's food safety
plan, as required by the USDA, the analysis shows. Of those 460 violations,
60 percent described plans that contained no mention of BSE at all.

"The fact that 60 percent of the violations were due to a failure to even
mention BSE or risk materials such as brains and spinal cords is
significant," said Patty Lovera, deputy director of Public Citizen's food
program. "If officials running a meat plant cannot be bothered to recognize
the risk of BSE when writing their safety plan, how much of a priority is it
in daily operations and training of staff?"

The analysis also found that:


Violations of rules about the removal and handling of specified risk
material (SRMs) occurred at 131 plants in at least 35 states. SRMs are the
high-risk materials, such as brains and spinal cords, most likely to be
infectious. More than 30 percent of the NRs analyzed were due to either
improperly handling or removing SRMs. The SRM ban is considered a critical
firewall in protecting the food supply from BSE.

The violations described in the NRs occurred from January 2004 through March
2005. This shows that the problems in the plants persisted long after plants
should have adapted to new rules issued in January 2004 after the discovery
of the first case of BSE in the United States.

In 10 percent of the NRs analyzed, plants incorrectly identified the age of
cattle. Properly determining the age of cattle is a crucial step in proper
SRM removal because the definition of SRMs is dependent on age; in cattle
older than 30 months, there is a greater likelihood that SRM will carry BSE
and therefore must be removed. Accurately identifying the head, spine and
carcass of cattle by age is necessary to ensure that all SRMs are removed as
the carcass moves down the slaughter line.
"These enforcement records only increase our concerns about how easily
potentially infected cattle are bypassing inspection points at
slaughterhouses, creating one more opportunity for infected meat to slip
through the system," said Tony Corbo, legislative representative of Public
Citizen's food program. "We're approaching the two-year mark of our first
case of mad cow in the United States, yet the government is still lagging
behind on protecting consumers."

Public Citizen sent the FOIA request to the USDA in December 2004 after the
chairman of the USDA meat inspectors union, Stan Painter, raised concerns
about the agency's policy for ensuring that cattle age is properly
determined. Instead of investigating whether the policy was adequate, the
agency opened a misconduct investigation on Painter. The investigation was
closed this week, shortly after Public Citizen received the documentation,
which contained more than 80 records of plants improperly identifying cattle
age.

###


http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0819-02.htm


Daily Update

On August 19, 2005, no inconclusive test results were reported.

National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) Immunohistochemistry (IHC) Testing Summary

The BSE enhanced surveillance program involves the use of a rapid screening test, followed by confirmatory testing for any samples that come back "inconclusive." The weekly summary below captures all rapid tests conducted as part of the enhanced surveillance effort. It should be noted that since the enhanced surveillance program began, USDA has also conducted approximately 9,200 routine IHC tests on samples that did not first undergo rapid testing. This was done to ensure that samples inappropriate for the rapid screen test were still tested, and also to monitor and improve upon IHC testing protocols. Of those 9,200 routine tests, one test returned a non-definitive result on July 27, 2005. That sample underwent additional testing at NVSL, as well as at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, England, and results were negative.
To view the IHC testing numbers from 1990 through 2004, click on the following link: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/surveillance/figure2f.html


GREETINGS AGAIN,


THE APHIS/USDA/FSIS et al has failed the public terribly with there industry friendly approach to erradicate BSE/TSE aka mad cow disease in the USA. the 8/4/97 partial and voluntary ruminant to rumiant feed ban program and there cealed borders were, have been and still are a joke. by sleeping with the industry, this administration has needlessly exposed millions and millions to the TSE agent at home, and abroad. THE fact that the first documented home grown mad cow came from TEXAS, the TAHC/USDA et al had already covered up one suspect mad cow and rendered with no test at all, but for the Honorable Phyllis Fong of the OIG to have the courage to go around the Agriculture Secretary Johann to have it confirmed in Weybridge, England (it would have never been confirmed any other way), but to have her do this, was truely a coup of sorts, one of the most couragous I have seen in a while by any person of our Government. BUT to finally have this mad cow confirmed, and then have the Secretary of Agriculture Johann not give praise to her for finally confirming this deadly disease in a home grown case, but to have him want her head for it raises serious serious doubts of the over June 2004 Enhanced BSE program where they claim some 500,000 cows have now been tested. NOW, we find indeed this was the case. WE find now that of those 500,000+ cows, 9,200 of them did not have rapid testing at all, no WB, only IHC. The least likely to find a case of BSE/TSE, the one that fails the most. a proven hit and miss test. Dr. Detwiler tried to tell them this in 2003 ;


USDA 2003

We have to be careful that we don't get so set in the way we do things that
we forget to look for different emerging variations of disease. We've gotten
away from collecting the whole brain in our systems. We're using the brain
stem and we're looking in only one area. In Norway, they were doing a
project and looking at cases of Scrapie, and they found this where they did
not find lesions or PRP in the area of the obex. They found it in the
cerebellum and the cerebrum. It's a good lesson for us. Ames had to go
back and change the procedure for looking at Scrapie samples. In the USDA,
we had routinely looked at all the sections of the brain, and then we got
away from it. They've recently gone back.
Dr. Keller: Tissues are routinely tested, based on which tissue provides an
'official' test result as recognized by APHIS
.

Dr. Detwiler: That's on the slaughter. But on the clinical cases, aren't
they still asking for the brain? But even on the slaughter, they're looking
only at the brainstem. We may be missing certain things if we confine
ourselves to one area.


snip.............


Dr. Detwiler: It seems a good idea, but I'm not aware of it.
Another important thing to get across to the public is that the negatives
do not guarantee absence of infectivity. The animal could be early in the
disease and the incubation period. Even sample collection is so important.
If you're not collecting the right area of the brain in sheep, or if
collecting lymphoreticular tissue, and you don't get a good biopsy, you
could miss the area with the PRP in it and come up with a negative test.
There's a new, unusual form of Scrapie that's been detected in Norway. We
have to be careful that we don't get so set in the way we do things that we
forget to look for different emerging variations of disease. We've gotten
away from collecting the whole brain in our systems. We're using the brain
stem and we're looking in only one area. In Norway, they were doing a
project and looking at cases of Scrapie, and they found this where they did
not find lesions or PRP in the area of the obex. They found it in the
cerebellum and the cerebrum. It's a good lesson for us. Ames had to go
back and change the procedure for looking at Scrapie samples. In the USDA,
we had routinely looked at all the sections of the brain, and then we got
away from it. They've recently gone back.

Dr. Keller: Tissues are routinely tested, based on which tissue provides an
'official' test result as recognized by APHIS
.

Dr. Detwiler: That's on the slaughter. But on the clinical cases, aren't
they still asking for the brain? But even on the slaughter, they're looking
only at the brainstem. We may be missing certain things if we confine
ourselves to one area.


snip...


FULL TEXT;


Completely Edited Version
PRION ROUNDTABLE


Accomplished this day, Wednesday, December 11, 2003, Denver, Colorado


Greetings again APHIS et al,


THE June 2004 Enhanced BSE/TSE surveillance program was a terrible failure, other than to prove just how bad the situation is in the USA, and how out of control the Federal Government is in trying to cover it up. THE OIG should hold an inquiry into this program. THE BSE MRR policy should be dismantled, and the USA BSE GBR risk assessment should be immediately raised to BSE GBR IV.

THE International guidelines for trade in animal and animal products which are developed by the World Organization for Animal Health (formerly known as the Office International des Epizooties (OIE)), is and has been terrible flawed. ALL one has to do is to look at the countries that have gone by there very minimal guidelines, most all went on to develop BSE. IT would be nice if the OIE et al would define "controlled BSE-risk country" or "effectively enforced ban". The USA and North America have neither. THIS has been proven time and time again via the GAO, OIG and the European EFSA BSE-risk assessments of North American countries. Many Countries have not even reported there first case of BSE yet, and many countries have not even produced a risk analysis for BSE. A fine example is Mexico and Canada. I pointed out about Canada above, but now lets look at Mexico, which is also a BSE GBR III country. IN Mexico, they are NOT even required to remove SRM;


Working Group Report on

the Assessment of the Geographical BSE-Risk (GBR) of

MEXICO

2004


Specified Risk Material (SRM) and fallen stock

There is no SRM-ban. SRM is normally destined for human consumption. According

to the CD, fallen stock from pasture and diseased animals are incinerated and not

rendered.

Conclusion on the ability to avoid recycling

In light of the above information, it has to be assumed that the BSE agent, should it

have entered Mexico, could have been recycled and potentially amplified.


snip...


In view of the above - described consideration the combination of the very / extremely

high external challenges with a very unstable system makes the occurrence of an

internal challenge likely in Mexico from approximately 1993 onwards.

4.2 Risk that BSE infectivity entered processing

It is likely that BSE infectivity entered processing at the time of imported 'at - risk'

MBM (1993) and at the time of slaughter of imported live 'at - risk' cattle (mid to late

1990's). The high level of external challenge is maintained throughout the reference

period, and the system has not been made stable, leading to increased internal

4.3 Risk that BSE infectivity was recycled and propagated

It is likely that BSE infectivity was recycled and propagated from approximately

1993. The risk has since grown consistently due to a maintained internal and external

challenge and lack of a stable system.

5. CONCLUSION ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL BSE - RISK

5.1 The current GBR as function of the past stability and challenge

The current geographical BSE risk (GBR) level is III, i.e. it is likely but not confirmed

that domestic cattle are (clinically or pre-clinically) infected with the BSE-agent.

snip...end


http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/efsa_scientific_reports/gbr_assessments/scr_annexes/566/sr04_biohaz02_mexico_report_annex_en1.pdf


MORE ON THOSE USA BSE/TSE SEALED BORDERS


Aug. 22, 2005, 12:35AM


Mexican cattle business linked to drug cartels
Animals sold to Texas ranchers by 2 companies can be seized
By MICHAEL HEDGES
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau


WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department, trying to block an elaborate money-laundering scheme, has announced that two Mexican cattle companies are fronts for drug-trafficking cartels.

The action means that cattle sold by the companies to Texas ranchers after Friday's announcement are subject to seizure by the federal government, said a high-ranking Treasury official who asked not to be named.

"Cattle already purchased and owned before the companies were identified as tied to the drug cartels are not going to suddenly be blocked," the official said.

The Treasury Department plans to inform cattle associations and other groups later this week of the action taken against the Mexican companies, officials said. The Treasury also will provide other information, such as the brands used by the cattle companies linked to the drug cartels.

For now, buyers are expected to practice due diligence when purchasing cattle.

Two Mexican drug cartels were named in the Treasury Department's statement, the Arriola Marquez organization and the Arellano Felix cartel based in Tijuana. The Arriola Marquez group, based in Mexico's Chihuahua state, is linked to Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the department said. Guzman leads one of the factions fighting for control of Nuevo Laredo and its smuggling routes into Texas, officials have said.

snip...

It is not clear how many Mexican cattle owned by companies linked to drug cartels had been sold in Texas, said government officials and Texas cattle raisers.

snip...end

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/3319609


I do not think that USDA et al used rapid test, WB or IHC on any of these cattle for BSE/TSE.

TRIPLE firewalls and SEALED borders, I dont think so.


FINALLY COMMENTING ON THE UK BSE/nv/vCJD ONLY THEORY. there are different strains of TSE showing up in cattle, sheep, and goats. nvCJD has been documented in a 74 year old and the young are dying of sporadic CJD. one of the new atypical strains of TSE in cattle 'BASE' does not look like nvCJD in humans, but it looks very similar to sporadic CJD. also, Asante/Collinge et al have shown that BSE can propagate as nvCJD AND sporadic CJD. to continue to flounder and ignore all of this as in the past, to continue to cater to big beef, big feed will only allow this agent to further amplify and spread. there is more to this agent than the mad cow hamburger. AS long as the BSE MRR policy is in effect, the agent will continue to spread globally. references as follow ;


Characterization of two distinct prion strains derived from bovine spongiform encephalopathy transmissions to inbred mice
Sarah E. Lloyd, Jacqueline M. Linehan, Melanie Desbruslais, Susan Joiner, Jennifer Buckell, Sebastian Brandner, Jonathan D. F. Wadsworth and John Collinge

MRC Prion Unit and Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College, London WC1N 3BG, UK


Correspondence
John Collinge
[email protected].

Distinct prion strains can be distinguished by differences in incubation period, neuropathology and biochemical properties of disease-associated prion protein (PrPSc) in inoculated mice. Reliable comparisons of mouse prion strain properties can only be achieved after passage in genetically identical mice, as host prion protein sequence and genetic background are known to modulate prion disease phenotypes. While multiple prion strains have been identified in sheep scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is thought to be caused by a single prion strain. Primary passage of BSE prions to different lines of inbred mice resulted in the propagation of two distinct PrPSc types, suggesting that two prion strains may have been isolated. To investigate this further, these isolates were subpassaged in a single line of inbred mice (SJL) and it was confirmed that two distinct prion strains had been identified. MRC1 was characterized by a short incubation time (110±3 days), a mono-glycosylated-dominant PrPSc type and a generalized diffuse pattern of PrP-immunoreactive deposits, while MRC2 displayed a much longer incubation time (155±1 days), a di-glycosylated-dominant PrPSc type and a distinct pattern of PrP-immunoreactive deposits and neuronal loss. These data indicate a crucial involvement of the host genome in modulating prion strain selection and propagation in mice. It is possible that multiple disease phenotypes may also be possible in BSE prion infection in humans and other animals.

=======================


Identification of a second bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy: Molecular similarities with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Cristina Casalone *, Gianluigi Zanusso , Pierluigi Acutis *, Sergio Ferrari , Lorenzo Capucci , Fabrizio Tagliavini ¶, Salvatore Monaco ||, and Maria Caramelli *

*Centro di Referenza Nazionale per le Encefalopatie Animali, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d'Aosta, Via Bologna, 148, 10195 Turin, Italy; Department of Neurological and Visual Science, Section of Clinical Neurology, Policlinico G.B. Rossi, Piazzale L.A. Scuro, 10, 37134 Verona, Italy; Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia ed Emilia Romagna, Via Bianchi, 9, 25124 Brescia, Italy; and ¶Istituto Nazionale Neurologico "Carlo Besta," Via Celoria 11, 20133 Milan, Italy


Edited by Stanley B. Prusiner, University of California, San Francisco, CA, and approved December 23, 2003 (received for review September 9, 2003)

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), or prion diseases, are mammalian neurodegenerative disorders characterized by a posttranslational conversion and brain accumulation of an insoluble, protease-resistant isoform (PrPSc) of the host-encoded cellular prion protein (PrPC). Human and animal TSE agents exist as different phenotypes that can be biochemically differentiated on the basis of the molecular mass of the protease-resistant PrPSc fragments and the degree of glycosylation. Epidemiological, molecular, and transmission studies strongly suggest that the single strain of agent responsible for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has infected humans, causing variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The unprecedented biological properties of the BSE agent, which circumvents the so-called "species barrier" between cattle and humans and adapts to different mammalian species, has raised considerable concern for human health. To date, it is unknown whether more than one strain might be responsible for cattle TSE or whether the BSE agent undergoes phenotypic variation after natural transmission. Here we provide evidence of a second cattle TSE. The disorder was pathologically characterized by the presence of PrP-immunopositive amyloid plaques, as opposed to the lack of amyloid deposition in typical BSE cases, and by a different pattern of regional distribution and topology of brain PrPSc accumulation. In addition, Western blot analysis showed a PrPSc type with predominance of the low molecular mass glycoform and a protease-resistant fragment of lower molecular mass than BSE-PrPSc. Strikingly, the molecular signature of this previously undescribed bovine PrPSc was similar to that encountered in a distinct subtype of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.



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

C.C. and G.Z. contributed equally to this work.

||To whom correspondence should be addressed.

E-mail: [email protected]..

www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0305777101


=====================================


eurobiology
Adaptation of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy agent to primates and comparison with Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease: Implications for human health
Corinne Ida Lasmézas*,, Jean-Guy Fournier*, Virginie Nouvel*, Hermann Boe*, Domíníque Marcé*, François Lamoury*, Nicolas Kopp, Jean-Jacques Hauw§, James Ironside¶, Moira Bruce, Dominique Dormont*, and Jean-Philippe Deslys*

* Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Service de Neurovirologie, Direction des Sciences du Vivant/Département de Recherche Medicale, Centre de Recherches du Service de Santé des Armées 60-68, Avenue du Général Leclerc, BP 6, 92 265 Fontenay-aux-Roses Cedex, France; Hôpital Neurologique Pierre Wertheimer, 59, Boulevard Pinel, 69003 Lyon, France; § Laboratoire de Neuropathologie, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, 83, Boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France; ¶ Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom; and Institute for Animal Health, Neuropathogenesis Unit, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JF, United Kingdom

Edited by D. Carleton Gajdusek, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, and approved December 7, 2000 (received for review October 16, 2000)


Abstract
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusions
References

There is substantial scientific evidence to support the notion that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has contaminated human beings, causing variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). This disease has raised concerns about the possibility of an iatrogenic secondary transmission to humans, because the biological properties of the primate-adapted BSE agent are unknown. We show that (i) BSE can be transmitted from primate to primate by intravenous route in 25 months, and (ii) an iatrogenic transmission of vCJD to humans could be readily recognized pathologically, whether it occurs by the central or peripheral route. Strain typing in mice demonstrates that the BSE agent adapts to macaques in the same way as it does to humans and confirms that the BSE agent is responsible for vCJD not only in the United Kingdom but also in France. The agent responsible for French iatrogenic growth hormone-linked CJD taken as a control is very different from vCJD but is similar to that found in one case of sporadic CJD and one sheep scrapie isolate. These data will be key in identifying the origin of human cases of prion disease, including accidental vCJD transmission, and could provide bases for vCJD risk assessment.



Introduction


============================

IN light of Asante/Collinge et al findings that BSE transmission to the
129-methionine genotype can lead to an alternate phenotype that is
indistinguishable from type 2 PrPSc, the commonest _sporadic_ CJD;

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: re-BSE prions propagate as

either variant CJD-like or sporadic CJD Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 10:23:43

-0000 From: "Asante, Emmanuel A" To:
"'[email protected]'"

Dear Terry,

I have been asked by Professor Collinge to respond to your request. I am

a Senior Scientist in the MRC Prion Unit and the lead author on the

paper. I have attached a pdf copy of the paper for your attention. Thank

you for your interest in the paper.

In respect of your first question, the simple answer is, yes. As you

will find in the paper, we have managed to associate the alternate

phenotype to type 2 PrPSc, the commonest sporadic CJD.

It is too early to be able to claim any further sub-classification in

respect of Heidenhain variant CJD or Vicky Rimmer's version. It will

take further studies, which are on-going, to establish if there are

sub-types to our initial finding which we are now reporting. The main

point of the paper is that, as well as leading to the expected new

variant CJD phenotype, BSE transmission to the 129-methionine genotype

can lead to an alternate phenotype which is indistinguishable from type

2 PrPSc.


I hope reading the paper will enlighten you more on the subject. If I

can be of any further assistance please to not hesitate to ask. Best wishes.


Emmanuel Asante

<> ____________________________________

Dr. Emmanuel A Asante MRC Prion Unit & Neurogenetics Dept. Imperial

College School of Medicine (St. Mary's) Norfolk Place, LONDON W2 1PG

Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 3794 Fax: +44 (0)20 7706 3272 email:

[email protected]. (until 9/12/02)

New e-mail: [email protected]. (active from now)

____________________________________

snip...

full text ;

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/03/slides/3923s1_OPH.htm



SCRAPIE USA MONTHLY REPORT 2005

AS of March 31, 2005, there were 70 scrapie infected source flocks (Figure 3). There were 11 new infected and source flocks reported in March (Figure 4) with a total of 51 flocks reported for FY 2005 (Figure 5). The total infected and source flocks that have been released in FY 2005 are 39 (Figure 6), with 1 flock released in March. The ratio of infected and source flocks released to newly infected and source flocks for FY 2005 = 0.76 : 1. IN addition, as of March 31, 2005, 225 scrapie cases have been confirmed and reported by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL), of which 53 were RSSS cases (Figure 7). This includes 57 newly confirmed cases in March 2005 (Figure 8). Fourteen cases of scrapie in goats have been reported since 1990 (Figure 9). The last goat cases was reported in January 2005. New infected flocks, source flocks, and flocks released or put on clean-up plans for FY 2005 are depicted in Figure 10. ...

FULL TEXT ;

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/scrapie/monthly_report/monthly-report.html


SCRAPIE USA JUNE 2005 UPDATE


AS of June 30, 2005, there were 114 scrapie infected and source flocks (Figure 3). There were 14 new infected and source flocks reported in June (Figure 4) with a total of 123 flocks reported for FY 2005 (Figure 5).


snip...


In addition, as of June 30, 2005, 448 scrapie cases have been confirmed and reported by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL), of which 106 were RSSS cases (Figure 7). This includes 81 newly confirmed cases in June 2005 (Figure 8). Fifteen cases of scrapie in goats have been reported since 1990 (Figure 9). The last goat case was reported in May 2005.


snip...end


http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/scrapie/monthly_report/monthly-report.html


USA CWD MAP

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/cwd/labmap.html


Perspective

Chronic Wasting Disease and Potential Transmission to Humans
Ermias D. Belay,* Ryan A. Maddox,* Elizabeth S. Williams,† Michael W. Miller,‡ Pierluigi Gambetti,§ and Lawrence B. Schonberger*
*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; †University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA; ‡Colorado Division of Wildlife, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA; and §Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Suggested citation for this article: Belay ED, Maddox RA, Williams ES, Miller MW, Gambetti P, Schonberger LB. Chronic wasting disease and potential transmission to humans. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2004 Jun [date cited]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no6/03-1082.htm


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

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) of deer and elk is endemic in a tri-corner area of Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska, and new foci of CWD have been detected in other parts of the United States. Although detection in some areas may be related to increased surveillance, introduction of CWD due to translocation or natural migration of animals may account for some new foci of infection. Increasing spread of CWD has raised concerns about the potential for increasing human exposure to the CWD agent. The foodborne transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to humans indicates that the species barrier may not completely protect humans from animal prion diseases. Conversion of human prion protein by CWD-associated prions has been demonstrated in an in vitro cell-free experiment, but limited investigations have not identified strong evidence for CWD transmission to humans. More epidemiologic and laboratory studies are needed to monitor the possibility of such transmissions.


SNIP...

Conclusions
The lack of evidence of a link between CWD transmission and unusual cases of CJD, despite several epidemiologic investigations, and the absence of an increase in CJD incidence in Colorado and Wyoming suggest that the risk, if any, of transmission of CWD to humans is low. Although the in vitro studies indicating inefficient conversion of human prion protein by CWD-associated prions raise the possibility of low-level transmission of CWD to humans, no human cases of prion disease with strong evidence of a link with CWD have been identified. However, the transmission of BSE to humans and the resulting vCJD indicate that, provided sufficient exposure, the species barrier may not completely protect humans from animal prion diseases. Because CWD has occurred in a limited geographic area for decades, an adequate number of people may not have been exposed to the CWD agent to result in a clinically recognizable human disease. The level and frequency of human exposure to the CWD agent may increase with the spread of CWD in the United States. Because the number of studies seeking evidence for CWD transmission to humans is limited, more epidemiologic and laboratory studies should be conducted to monitor the possibility of such transmissions. Studies involving transgenic mice expressing human and cervid prion protein are in progress to further assess the potential for the CWD agent to cause human disease. Epidemiologic studies have also been initiated to identify human cases of prion disease among persons with an increased risk for exposure to potentially CWD-infected deer or elk meat (47). If such cases are identified, laboratory data showing similarities of the etiologic agent to that of the CWD agent would strengthen the conclusion for a causal link. Surveillance for human prion diseases, particularly in areas where CWD has been detected, remains important to effectively monitor the possible transmission of CWD to humans. Because of the long incubation period associated with prion diseases, convincing negative results from epidemiologic and experimental laboratory studies would likely require years of follow-up. In the meantime, to minimize the risk for exposure to the CWD agent, hunters should consult with their state wildlife agencies to identify areas where CWD occurs and continue to follow advice provided by public health and wildlife agencies. Hunters should avoid eating meat from deer and elk that look sick or test positive for CWD. They should wear gloves when field-dressing carcasses, bone-out the meat from the animal, and minimize handling of brain and spinal cord tissues. As a precaution, hunters should avoid eating deer and elk tissues known to harbor the CWD agent (e.g., brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, lymph nodes) from areas where CWD has been identified.


http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no6/03-1082.htm


Research

Environmental Sources of Prion Transmission in Mule Deer
Michael W. Miller,* Elizabeth S. Williams,† N. Thompson Hobbs,‡ and Lisa L. Wolfe*
*Colorado Division of Wildlife, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA; †University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA; and ‡Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

Suggested citation for this article: Miller MW, Williams ES, Hobbs NT, Wolfe LL. Environmental sources of prion transmission in mule deer. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2004 Jun [date cited]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no6/04-0010.htm


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

Whether transmission of the chronic wasting disease (CWD) prion among cervids requires direct interaction with infected animals has been unclear. We report that CWD can be transmitted to susceptible animals indirectly, from environments contaminated by excreta or decomposed carcasses. Under experimental conditions, mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) became infected in two of three paddocks containing naturally infected deer, in two of three paddocks where infected deer carcasses had decomposed in situ ≈1.8 years earlier, and in one of three paddocks where infected deer had last resided 2.2 years earlier. Indirect transmission and environmental persistence of infectious prions will complicate efforts to control CWD and perhaps other animal prion diseases.


snip...


Discussion





Prions cannot be directly demonstrated in excreta or soil. However, CWD infection–specific protease-resistant prion protein (PrPCWD) accumulates in gut-associated lymphoid tissues (e.g., tonsils, Peyer patches, and mesenteric lymph nodes) of infected mule deer (11,17,22), which implicates alimentary shedding of the CWD agent in both feces and saliva (10,11,17). Because PrPCWD becomes progressively abundant in nervous system and lymphoid tissues through the disease course (11), carcasses of deer succumbing to CWD also likely harbor considerable infectivity and thus serve as foci of infection. We could not determine the precise mechanism for CWD transmission in excreta-contaminated paddocks, but foraging and soil consumption seemed most plausible. Deer did not actively consume decomposed carcass remains, but they did forage in the immediate vicinity of carcass sites where a likely nutrient flush (23) produced lush vegetation (Figure).

Our findings show that environmental sources of infectivity may contribute to CWD epidemics and illustrate the potential complexity of such epidemics in natural populations. The relative importance of different routes of infection from the environment cannot be discerned from our experiment, but each could play a role in sustaining natural epidemics. Although confinement likely exaggerated transmission probabilities, conditions simulated by this experiment do arise in the wild. Mule deer live in established home ranges and show strong fidelity to historic home ranges (24-26). As a result of such behavior, encounters with contaminated environments will occur more frequently than if deer movements were random. Feces and carcass remains are routinely encountered on native ranges, thus representing natural opportunities for exposure. Social behavior of deer, particularly their tendency to concentrate and become sedentary on their winter range, also may increase the probability of coming into contact with sources of infection in their environment.

The ability of the CWD agent to persist in contaminated environments for >2 years may further increase the probability of transmission and protract epidemic dynamics (8). Because infectivity in contaminated paddocks could not be measured, neither the initial levels nor degradation rate of the CWD agent in the environment was estimable. However, the observed persistence of the CWD agent was comparable to that of the scrapie agent, which persisted in paddocks for ≈1 to 3 years after removal of naturally infected sheep (7). Similarities between the CWD and scrapie agents suggest that environmental persistence may be a common trait of prions. Whether persistence of the BSE prion in contaminated feed production facilities or in environments where cattle reside contributed to BSE cases in the United Kingdom after feed bans were enacted (27) remains uncertain but merits further consideration.

Indirect transmission and environmental persistence of prions will complicate efforts to control CWD and perhaps other animal prion diseases. Historically, control strategies for animal prion diseases have focused on infected live animals as the primary source of infection. Although live deer and elk represent the most plausible mechanism for geographic spread of CWD, our data show that environmental sources could contribute to maintaining and prolonging local epidemics, even when all infected animals are eliminated. Moreover, the efficacy of various culling strategies as control measures depends in part on the rates at which the CWD agent is added to and lost from the environment. Consequently, these dynamics and their implications for disease management need to be more completely understood.


snip...


http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no6/04-0010.htm


For Release: Wednesday, May 4, 2005
Contact: Michael Fraser (518) 402-8000
DEC Announces Sampling Results for Chronic Wasting Disease
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation today announced that it has received the remainder of test results for chronic wasting disease (CWD) that were part of intensive sampling efforts in central New York. DEC has received two positive results for the disease out of 292 wild deer sampled.

The first positive result in a wild deer was announced on April 27, 2005 and came from a yearling white-tailed deer sampled from the Town of Verona, Oneida County. The second positive result is from a 3-year-old doe, located within a mile of the location where the initial positive result was detected. The sample tissues were tested at the State's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell University. These are the first known occurrences of CWD in wild deer in New York State.

DEC implemented intensive monitoring efforts after CWD was found in two captive white-tailed deer herds in Oneida County – the first incidents of CWD in New York State. On April 8, 2005, the State Department of Agriculture and Markets (DAM) completed testing of the captive deer and found a total of five positive results for CWD in the two captive herds.

DEC, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services program, completed intensive monitoring on April 30, 2005. The effort resulted in 290 samples of wild deer from Oneida County, two from neighboring Madison County, and 25 wild deer from the Town of Arietta, Hamilton County. Since 2002, DEC has conducted statewide sampling of wild deer for CWD. When combined with sampling efforts in Oneida and Hamilton Counties, DEC has collected more than 3,700 samples from wild white-tailed deer.

DEC and DAM will continue public outreach to interested parties in central New York to help educate citizens on CWD and to discuss next steps to be taken. The agencies will hold a public meeting on Thursday, May 12, 2005, at 7 p.m. in the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School Auditorium, located on State Highway 31 in the Town of Verona. In addition, DEC and DAM will conduct additional outreach and continue to aggressively pursue inspection and enforcement across the State.

DAM continues to investigate, sample and test white-tailed deer from two captive herds directly associated with the two herds that were confirmed positive for CWD in Oneida County. Results for these sampling efforts will be announced when available.

Statewide sampling for CWD - which has resulted in more than 1,000 tests each year - will be increased to closely monitor the distribution and prevalence of CWD in wild deer. In addition, DEC has implemented emergency regulations regarding the handling, transport and management of deer in the State. The emergency regulations are currently in effect and represent an aggressive response to the recent discovery of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Oneida County.

DEC's emergency regulations are designed to ensure the proper handling of deer and prevent further spread of CWD in the wild herd. The emergency regulations are effective for 90 days. In addition, DEC will begin the process of developing permanent regulations, which will appear in the State Register and include a 45-day public comment period.

CWD is a transmissible disease that affects the brain and central nervous system of certain deer and elk. There is no evidence that CWD is linked to disease in humans or domestic livestock other than deer and elk. More information on CWD can be found at DEC's website at http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/deer/currentcwd.html

05-48


http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/press/pressrel/2005/200548.html


WE MUST ADHERE TO THE BSE GBR RISK ASSESSMENTS, WE MUST WORK TO ENHANCE THOSE BSE GBR RISK ASSESSMENTS TO INCLUDE ALL ANIMAL TSEs, USDA/APHIS/GW ET ALs BSE MRR (Minimal Risk Region) should be REPEALED/DISBANDED/TRASHED/NADA and done away with for good. The BSE MRR policy is nothing more than a legal tool to trade all strains of TSEs globally...


Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

P.O. Box 42

Bacliff, Texas USA 77518


Your Comment with Title "[Docket No. 05-004-1] RIN 0579-AB93 BSE TSS " was Received.
The Identifier Assigned is "APHIS-2005-0073-0009".
An Electronic File was Attached to this Submission.

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=====================================================================

##################### Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy #####################

From: TSS ()
Subject: Atypical Proteinase K-Resistant Prion Protein (PrPres) observed in an Apparently Healthy 23-Month-Old Holstein Steer
Date: August 26, 2005 at 10:24 am PST

Atypical Proteinase K-Resistant Prion Protein (PrPres) observed in an Apparently Healthy 23-Month-Old Holstein Steer

Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 56, 221-222, 2003


Laboratory and Epidemiology Communications

Atypical Proteinase K-Resistant Prion Protein (PrPres) Observed in an Apparently Healthy 23-Month-Old Holstein Steer

Yoshio Yamakawa*, KenÕichi Hagiwara, Kyoko Nohtomi, Yuko Nakamura, Masahiro Nishizima ,Yoshimi Higuchi1, Yuko Sato1, Tetsutaro Sata1 and the Expert Committee for BSE Diagnosis, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan2

Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology and 1Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640 and 2Miistry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Tokyo 100-8916

Communicated by Tetsutaro Sata

(Accepted December 2, 2003)


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


*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Toyama 1-23-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan. Tel: +81-3-5285-1111, Fax: +81-3-5285-1157, E-mail: [email protected]


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


Since October 18, 2001, 'bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) examination for all cattle slaughtered at abattoirs in the country' has been mandated in Japan by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW). 'Plateria' ELISA-kit (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, Calif., USA) is routinely used at abattoirs for detecting proteinase K (PK)-resistant prion protein (PrPSc) in the obex region. Samples positive according to the ELISA screening are further subjected to Western blot (WB) and histologic and immunohistochemical examination (IHC) at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) or Obihiro University. If PrPSc is detected either by WB or by IHC, the cattle are diagnosed as BSE. The diagnosis is approved by the Expert Committee for BSE Diagnosis, MHLW. From October 18, 2001 to September 30, 2003, approximately 2.5 million cattle were screened at abattoirs. A hundred and ten specimens positive according to ELISA were subjected to WB/IHC. Seven showed positive by both WB and IHC, all exhibiting the typical electrophoretic profile of a high content of the di-glycosylated molecular form of PrPSc (1-3) and the distinctive granular deposition of PrPSc in neuronal cells and neuropil of the dorsal nucleus of vagus.

An ELISA-positive specimen from a 23 month-old Holstein steer slaughtered on September 29, 2003, in Ibaraki Prefecture (Ibaraki case) was sent to the NIID for confirmation. The animal was reportedly healthy before slaughter. The OD titer in ELISA was slightly higher than the 'cut-off' level given by the manufacturer. The histology showed no spongiform changes and IHC revealed no signal of PrPSc accumulation typical for BSE. However, WB analysis of the homogenate that was prepared from the obex region and used for ELISA revealed a small amount of PrPSc with an electrophoretic profile different from that of typical BSE-associated PrPSc (1-3). The characteristics were (i) low content of the di-glycosylated molecular form of PrPSc, (ii) a faster migration of the non-glycosylated form of PrPSc on SDS-PAGE, and (iii) less resistance against PK digestion as compared with an authentic PrPSc specimen derived from an 83-month-old Holstein (Wakayama case) (Fig. 1). Table 1 summarizes the relative amounts of three distinctive glycoforms (di-, mono, non-glycosylated) of PrPSc calculated by densitometric analysis of the blot shown in Fig. 1. As 2.5 mg wet weight obex-equivalent homogenate of the Ibaraki case (Fig. 1, lane 4) gave slightly stronger band intensities of PrPSc than an 8 mg wet weight obex-equivqlent homogenate of a typical BSE-affected Wakayama case (Fig. 1, lane 2), the amount of PrPSc accumulated in the Ibaraki case was calculated to be 1/500 - 1/1000 of the Wakayama case. In the Ibaraki case, the PrPSc bands were not detectable in the homogenates of the proximal surrounding region of the obex. These findings were consistent with the low OD value in ELISA, i.e., 0.2 - 0.3 for the Ibaraki case versus over 3.0 for the Wakayama case. The DNA sequence of the PrP coding region of the Ibaraki case was the same as that appearing in the database (GenBank accession number: AJ298878). More recently, we encountered another case that resembled the Ibaraki case. It was a 21-month-old Holstein steer from Hiroshima Prefecture. WB showed typical BSE-specific PrPSc deposition though IHC did not detect positive signals of PrPSc (data not shown).

Though the clinical onset of BSE is usually at around 5 years of age or later, a 20-month-old case showing the clinical signs has been reported (4). Variant forms of BSE similar to our cases, i.e., with atypical histopathological and/or biochemical phenotype, have been recently reported in Italy (5) and in France (6). Such variant BSE was not associated with mutations in the prion protein (PrP) coding region as in our case (5,6).

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) announced a ban of feeding ruminants with meat bone meal (MBM) on September 18, 2001, and a complete ban was made on October 15 of the same year. According to the recent MAFF report, the previous seven cases of BSE in Japan were cattle born in 1995 - 1996 and possibly fed with cross-contaminated feed. However, the two cattle in this report were born after the complete ban. Whether contaminated MBM was implicated in the present cases remains to be investigated.

REFERENCES

Collinge, J., Sidle, K. C. L., Meads, J., Ironside, J. and Hill, A. F. (1996): Molecular analysis of prion strain variation and the aetiology of 'new variant' CJD. Nature, 383, 685-690.
Bruce, M. E., Will, R. G., Ironside, J. W., McConnell, I., Drummond, D., Suttie, A., McCardle, L., Chree, A., Hope, J., Birkett, C., Cousens, S., Fraser, H. and Bostock, C. J. (1997): Transmissions to mice indicate that 'new variant' CJD is caused by the BSE agent. Nature, 389, 498-501.
Hill, A. F., Desbruslais, M., Joiner, S., Sidle, K. C. L., Gowland, I. and Collinge, J. (1997): The same prion strain causes vCJD and BSE. Nature, 389, 448-450.
Matravers, W., Bridgeman, J. and Smith, M.-F. (ed.)(2000): The BSE Inquiry. p. 37. vol. 16. The Stationery Office Ltd., Norwich, UK.
Casalone, C., Zanusso, G., Acutis, P. L., Crescio, M. I., Corona, C., Ferrari, S., Capobianco, R., Tagliavini, F., Monaco, S. and Caramelli, M. (2003): Identification of a novel molecular and neuropathological BSE phenotype in Italy. International Conference on Prion Disease: from basic research to intervention concepts. Gasreig, Munhen, October 8-10.
Bicaba, A. G., Laplanche, J. L., Ryder, S. and Baron, T. (2003): A molecular variant of bovine spongiform encephalopatie. International Conference on Prion Disease: from basic research to intervention concepts. Gasreig, Munhen, October 8-10.
Asante, E. A., Linehan, J. M., Desbruslais, M., Joiner, S., Gowland, I., Wood, A. L., Welch, J., Hill, A. F., Lloyd, S. E., Wadsworth, J. D. F. and Collinge, J. (2002). BSE prions propagate as either variant CJD-like or sporadic CJD-like prion strains in transgenic mice expressing human prion protein. EMBO J., 21, 6358-6366.

SEE SLIDES IN PDF FILE;

http://www.nih.go.jp/JJID/56/221.pdf


TSS



#################### https://lists.aegee.org/bse-l.html ####################


>DATA Charmaine's HD:BSE - AUGUST 95-fill in bse position paper spec<


FROM THE DIRECTOR GENERAL

24 August, 1995

STRICTLY PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL


Dear •salutation

UKASTA POLICY ON BSE

At the President's suggestion in the light of recent events, I have
reviewed the history of our policy on BSE so as to ensure that it fully
reflects the needs of our supporters In the feed Industry.

The paper enclosed with this letter is the result. For obvious reasons,
this is being circulated only to an extremely small circle within
UKASTA - basically, the National Executive Council.

If you have any comments on the policy, or the paper, I should be glad
to receive them under Private & Confidential cover.

Yours sincerely,

J.W. REED

JWR/cg

copied to SMT members - IJD; JN; JAS; REW


95/8.24/2.1


STRICTLY PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

UKASTA INTERNAL POSITION STATEMENT
BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY

POLICY AIMS

1. These have been consistent, although unstated except In FEC discussions, since at least 1989:-

• To minimise the risk of farmers' claims for compensation from feed
compounders.

• To minimise the potential damage to compound feed markets
through adverse publicity.

• To maximise freedom of action for feed compounders. notably by
maintaining the availability of meat and bone meal as a raw
material in animal feeds, and ensuring time is available to make
any changes which may be required.


STRATEGY ADOPTED/SUCCESS ACHIEVED

2. Strategy has depended upon the situation at a particular time.
UKASTA has sought to anticipate criticism from other industry sectors
and action by Government/Brussels as the epidemic has developed
and knowledge of the disease increased. Through dose liaison with
MAFF. we have to date avoided public statements seriously damaging
to the feed Industry and the adoption of policies likely to lead to such
damage.

3. Successful examples of this strategy include:

• "Voluntary Ban" on SBO's In all MBM purchase contracts from
November 1989. matching the Government ban on SBO'S in
human food but anticipating the statutory ban on SBO's in feed
which came in only from September 1990;

• Pressing Government for full compensation to farmers, which was
finally conceded in February 1990;

• evidence (not Just on BSE) to the Lamming Committee in 1991/92
resulted in their recommending tighter controls over home
mixers/integrated operations, and over the pr
 
>DATA Charmaine's HD:BSE - AUGUST 95-fill in bse position paper spec<


FROM THE DIRECTOR GENERAL

24 August, 1995

STRICTLY PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL


Dear •salutation

UKASTA POLICY ON BSE

At the President's suggestion in the light of recent events, I have
reviewed the history of our policy on BSE so as to ensure that it fully
reflects the needs of our supporters In the feed Industry.

The paper enclosed with this letter is the result. For obvious reasons,
this is being circulated only to an extremely small circle within
UKASTA - basically, the National Executive Council.

If you have any comments on the policy, or the paper, I should be glad
to receive them under Private & Confidential cover.

Yours sincerely,

J.W. REED

JWR/cg

copied to SMT members - IJD; JN; JAS; REW


95/8.24/2.1


STRICTLY PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

UKASTA INTERNAL POSITION STATEMENT
BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY

POLICY AIMS

1. These have been consistent, although unstated except In FEC discussions, since at least 1989:-

• To minimise the risk of farmers' claims for compensation from feed
compounders.

• To minimise the potential damage to compound feed markets
through adverse publicity.

• To maximise freedom of action for feed compounders. notably by
maintaining the availability of meat and bone meal as a raw
material in animal feeds, and ensuring time is available to make
any changes which may be required.


STRATEGY ADOPTED/SUCCESS ACHIEVED

2. Strategy has depended upon the situation at a particular time.
UKASTA has sought to anticipate criticism from other industry sectors
and action by Government/Brussels as the epidemic has developed
and knowledge of the disease increased. Through dose liaison with
MAFF. we have to date avoided public statements seriously damaging
to the feed Industry and the adoption of policies likely to lead to such
damage.

3. Successful examples of this strategy include:

• "Voluntary Ban" on SBO's In all MBM purchase contracts from
November 1989. matching the Government ban on SBO'S in
human food but anticipating the statutory ban on SBO's in feed
which came in only from September 1990;

• Pressing Government for full compensation to farmers, which was
finally conceded in February 1990;

• evidence (not Just on BSE) to the Lamming Committee in 1991/92
resulted in their recommending tighter controls over home
mixers/integrated operations, and over the processing of fallen
animals. Government eventually tightened the fallen animals
legislation in December 1992. Other Lamming recommendations
could yet be useful to us.

continued.....

95/8.24/2.2

2

• UKASTA pressure dissuaded MAFF from publicly linking voluntary
ELISA tests of feed on farms with BAB's to (possibly compulsory)
tests at compounders' premises in June/July 1994:

• in August 1995. while tightening the SBO Order and responding
to the EU Decision requiring introduction of a testing programme.
MAFF has accepted UKASTA proposals for the presentation of the
changes to a wider audience, including farmers, and accepted our
help in preparing for an EU Commission visit to inspect
procedures and controls.


THE FUTURE

4. BSE has for more than seven years posed the greatest single potential
threat to feed compounders' profitability. Although the epidemic is in
sharp decline (275 cases per week compared to 1000 at the peak).
MAFF remains under pressure in Brussels and is not skilled at
handling potentially explosive issues.

5. Tests may show that ruminant feeds have been sold which contain
illegal traces of ruminant protein. More likely, a few positive test
results will turn up but proof that a particular feed mill knowingly
supplied it to a particular farm will be difficult if not impossible.

6. The threat remains real and it will be some years before feed
compounders are free of it. The longer we can avoid any direct
linkage between feed milling practices and actual BSE cases, the more
likely it is that serious damage can be avoided. In issue management
terms, the aims and the strategy remain valid, but must be kept
under review in the light of further events.

JWR/cg/23.8.95

95/8.24/2.3 ...BSE-INQUIRY

===============================================


CJD FARMERS WIFE 1989

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1989/10/13007001.pdf

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1989/10/13003001.pdf


20 year old died from sCJD in USA in 1980 and a 16 year
old in 1981. A 19 year old died from sCJD in
France in 1985. There is no evidence of an iatrogenic
cause for those cases....

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1995/10/04004001.pdf

cover-up of 4th farm worker ???

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1995/10/23006001.pdf

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1995/10/20006001.pdf

CONFIRMATION OF CJD IN FOURTH FARMER

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1995/11/03008001.pdf

now story changes from;

SEAC concluded that, if the fourth case were confirmed, it would be
worrying, especially as all four farmers with CJD would have had BSE
cases on their farms.

to;

This is not unexpected...

was another farmer expected?

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1995/11/13010001.pdf

4th farmer, and 1st teenager

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1996/02/27003001.pdf

2. snip...
Over a 5 year period, which is the time period on which the advice
from Professor Smith and Dr. Gore was based, and assuming a
population of 120,000 dairy farm workers, and an annual incidence
of 1 per million cases of CJD in the general population, a
DAIRY FARM WORKER IS 5 TIMES MORE LIKELY THAN
an individual in the general population to develop CJD. Using the
actual current annual incidence of CJD in the UK of 0.7 per
million, this figure becomes 7.5 TIMES.

3. You will recall that the advice provided by Professor Smith in
1993 and by Dr. Gore this month used the sub-population of dairy
farm workers who had had a case of BSE on their farms -
63,000, which is approximately half the number of dairy farm
workers - as a denominator. If the above sums are repeated using
this denominator population, taking an annual incidence in the general
population of 1 per million the observed rate in this sub-population
is 10 TIMES, and taking an annual incidence of 0.7 per million,
IT IS 15 TIMES (THE ''WORST CASE'' SCENARIO) than
that in the general population...

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1995/01/31004001.pdf

##################### Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy #####################



From: TSS ()
Subject: Re: Abnormal PrP in the retina of the most commonly subtype sCJD
Date: August 22, 2005 at 6:59 am PST


1: Rev Neurol (Paris). 2005 May;161(5):578-81.


[Heidenhain's variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease]

[Article in French]

Fauquembergue M, Tilikete C, Perret-Liaudet A, Kopp N, Krolak-Salmon P,
Vighetto A.

Unite de Neuro-ophtalmologie et service de Neurologie D, Hospices Civils de
Lyon, Hopital Neurologique Pierre-Wertheimer, Bron.

INTRODUCTION: Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease has various anatomoclinical
presentations including a rare form with preponderant visual signs described
by Heidenhain. In this form, the visual symptoms may be isolated for a few
weeks, leading to multiple ophthalmological examinations. OBSERVATION: We
report the case of a 75-year-old woman who developed isolated visual
disorders which rapidly increased over a period of two months. Addition of
neurological symptoms, abnormalities of EEG and positivity of 14-3-3 protein
led to the diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease. The patient died 14
months after the first neuroophthalmologic signs. The diagnosis was
established by post-mortem examination and immuno-electrophoretic
demonstration of type 1 prion protein. CONCLUSION: Heidenhain's form of
Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease highlights the importance of general rules for
prevention of iatrogenic hazard during ophthalmological examinations.

PMID: 16106810 [PubMed - in process]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Ab
stract&list_uids=16106810&query_hl=10


TSS


----- Original Message -----
From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr." <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2005 10:00 PM
Subject: Abnormal prion protein in the retina of the most commonly occurring
subtype of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease


##################### Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
#####################

CJD WATCH MESSAGE BOARD
TSS
Abnormal PrP in the retina of the most commonly subtype sCJD
Fri Aug 19, 2005 22:00
68.238.104.92


SCIENTIFIC REPORT

Abnormal prion protein in the retina of the most commonly occurring subtype
of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
M W Head1, A H Peden1, H M Yull1, D L Ritchie1, R E Bonshek2, A B Tullo2 and
J W Ironside1
1 National CJD Surveillance Unit, University of Edinburgh, Western General
Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK
2 Academic Department of Ophthalmology, Manchester Royal Eye Hospital,
Manchester M13 9WH, UK


Correspondence to:
Dr M W Head
National CJD Surveillance Unit, Bryan Matthews Building, Western General
Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK; [email protected].



ABSTRACT
Background: Involvement of the eye has been reported in patients with
variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), but there is disagreement on
whether retinal involvement occurs in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
(sCJD).

Methods: Western blotting, paraffin embedded tissue blotting, and
immunohistochemistry were used to test whether the abnormal form of the
prion protein (PrPSc) accumulates to detectable levels in the eye in a case
of the most common subtype of sCJD (MM1).

Results: Low levels of PrPSc were detectable in the retina, localised to the
plexiform layers of the central retina. PrPSc was not detectable in other
ocular tissues.

Conclusions: The abnormal form of the prion protein is present in the retina
in the most common sCJD subtype (MM1), albeit at levels lower than those
found previously in vCJD and in sCJD of the VV2 subtype.



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

Abbreviations: sCJD, sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; vCJD, variant
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease


Keywords: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; prion protein; PRNP codon 129 genotype;
retina



http://bjo.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/89/9/1131?maxtoshow=&HITS=10
&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=prion&searchid=1124503447145_1536&stored_sea
rch=&FIRSTINDEX=0&volume=89&issue=9&journalcode=bjophthalmol



Eye procedure raises CJD concerns


By Steve Mitchell
Medical Correspondent


Washington, DC, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- A New York man who died from a rare brain
disorder similar to mad cow disease in May underwent an eye procedure prior
to his death that raises concerns about the possibility of transmitting the
fatal disease to others, United Press International has learned.



The development comes on the heels of the announcement Thursday by U.S.
Department of Agriculture officials of a possible second case of mad cow
disease in U.S. herds.

Richard Da Silva, 58, of Orange County, N.Y., died from Creutzfeldt Jakob
disease, an incurable brain-wasting illness that strikes about one person
per million.

Richard's wife Ann Marie Da Silva told UPI he underwent a check for the eye
disease glaucoma in 2003, approximately a year before his death. The
procedure involves the use of a tonometer, which contacts the cornea -- an
eye tissue that can contain prions, the infectious agent thought to cause
CJD.

Ann Marie's concern is that others who had the tonometer used on them could
have gotten infected.

A 2003 study by British researchers suggests her concerns may be justified.
A team led by J.W. Ironside from the National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Surveillance Unit at the University of Edinburgh examined tonometer heads
and found they can retain cornea tissue that could infect other people --
even after cleaning and decontaminating the instrument.

"Retained corneal epithelial cells, following the standard decontamination
routine of tonometer prisms, may represent potential prion infectivity," the
researchers wrote in the British Journal of Ophthalmology last year. "Once
the infectious agent is on the cornea, it could theoretically infect the
brain."

Prions, misfolded proteins thought to be the cause of mad cow, CJD and
similar diseases, are notoriously difficult to destroy and are capable of
withstanding most sterilization procedures.

Laura Manuelidis, an expert on these diseases and section chief of surgery
in the neuropathology department at Yale University, agreed with the British
researchers that tonometers represent a potential risk of passing CJD to
other people.

Manuelidis told UPI she has been voicing her concern about the risks of
corneas since 1977 when her own study, published in the New England Journal
of Medicine, showed the eye tissue, if infected, could transmit CJD.

At the time the procedure was done on Richard Da Silva, about a year before
he died, she said it was "absolutely" possible he was infectious.

The CJD Incidents Panel, a body of experts set up by the U.K. Department of
Health, noted in a 2001 report that procedures involving the cornea are
considered medium risk for transmitting CJD. The first two patients who have
a contaminated eye instrument used on them have the highest risk of
contracting the disease, the panel said.

In 1999, the U.K. Department of Health banned opticians from reusing
equipment that came in contact with patients' eyes out of concern it could
result in the transmission of variant CJD, the form of the disease humans
can contract from consuming infected beef products.

Richard Da Silva was associated with a cluster of five other cases of CJD in
southern New York that raised concerns about vCJD.

None of the cases have been determined to stem from mad cow disease, but
concerns about the cattle illness in the United States could increase in
light of the USDA announcement Thursday that a cow tested positive on
initial tests for the disease. If confirmed, this would be the second U.S.
case of the illness; the first was detected in a Washington cow last
December. The USDA said the suspect animal disclosed Thursday did not enter
the food chain. The USDA did not release further details about the cow, but
said results from further lab tests to confirm the initial tests were
expected within seven days.

Ann Marie Da Silva said she informed the New York Health Department and
later the eye doctor who performed the procedure about her husband's illness
and her concerns about the risk of transmitting CJD via the tonometer.

The optometrist -- whom she declined to name because she did not want to
jeopardize his career -- "didn't even know what this disease was," she said.

"He said the health department never called him and I called them (the
health department) back and they didn't seem concerned about it," she added.
"I just kept getting angrier and angrier when I felt I was being dismissed."

She said the state health department "seems to have an attitude of don't
ask, don't tell" about CJD.

"There's a stigma attached to it," she said. "Is it because they're so
afraid the public will panic? I don't know, but I don't think that the
answer is to push things under the rug."

New York State Department of Health spokeswoman Claire Pospisil told UPI she
would look into whether the agency was concerned about the possibility of
transmitting CJD via tonometers, but she had not called back prior to story
publication.

Disposable tonometers are readily available and could avoid the risk of
transmitting the disease, Ironside and colleagues noted in their study. Ann
Marie Da Silva said she asked the optometrist whether he used disposable
tonometers and "he said 'No, it's a reusable one.'"

Ironside's team also noted other ophthalmic instruments come into contact
with the cornea and could represent a source of infection as they are either
difficult to decontaminate or cannot withstand the harsh procedures
necessary to inactivate prions. These include corneal burrs, diagnostic and
therapeutic contact lenses and other coated lenses.

Terry Singletary, whose mother died from a type of CJD called Heidenhain
Variant, told UPI health officials were not doing enough to prevent people
from being infected by contaminated medical equipment.

"They've got to start taking this disease seriously and they simply aren't
doing it," said Singletary, who is a member of CJD Watch and CJD Voice --
advocacy groups for CJD patients and their families.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokeswoman Christine
Pearson did not return a phone call from UPI seeking comment. The agency's
Web site states the eye is one of three tissues, along with the brain and
spinal cord, that are considered to have "high infectivity."

The Web site said more than 250 people worldwide have contracted CJD through
contaminated surgical instruments and tissue transplants. This includes as
many as four who were infected by corneal grafts. The agency noted no such
cases have been reported since 1976, when sterilization procedures were
instituted in healthcare facilities.

Ironside and colleagues noted in their study, however, many disinfection
procedures used on optical instruments, such as tonometers, fail. They wrote
their finding of cornea tissue on tonometers indicates that "no current
cleaning and disinfection strategy is fully effective."

Singletary said CDC's assertion that no CJD cases from infected equipment or
tissues have been detected since 1976 is misleading.

"They have absolutely no idea" whether any cases have occurred in this
manner, he said, because CJD cases often aren't investigated and the agency
has not required physicians nationwide report all cases of CJD.

"There's no national surveillance unit for CJD in the United States; people
are dying who aren't autopsied, the CDC has no way of knowing" whether
people have been infected via infected equipment or tissues, he said.

Ann Marie Da Silva said she has contacted several members of her state's
congressional delegation about her concerns, including Rep. Sue Kelly,
R-N.Y., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

"Basically, what I want is to be a positive force in this, but I also want
more of a dialogue going on with the public and the health department," she
said.



http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041118-030642-2974r.htm




Cadaver corneal transplants -- without family permission

Houston, Texas channel 11 news 28 Nov 99
Reported by Terry S. Singeltary Sr.son of CJD victim

http://www.mad-cow.org/~tom/dec99_news.html#bbb




-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Ophthalmic surgery and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 09:39:43 -0600
From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."
Reply-To: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
To: [email protected]


######## Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy #########

April 2004; Vol. 88, No. 4

URL: http://www.bjophthalmol.com/content/vol88/issue4/index.shtml?etoc


Series editor: David Taylor
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ophthalmic surgery and Creutzfeldt-
Jakob disease
P S-Juan, H J T Ward, R De Silva, R S G Knight, R G Will
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .
Although the evidence does not suggest that contaminated
ophthalmic instruments represent a risk of onward transmission of
sporadic CJD, this conclusion should be treated with caution
The occurrence of variant
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)
and the probable causal link with
bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE) in cattle have increased interest
in the search for possible environmental
sources of sporadic CJD (sCJD).
Presumed iatrogenic CJD is rare. Up to
the year 2000 there had been 267 cases
reported worldwide: three cases secondary
to human corneal grafting (one
confirmed, one probable, and one possible
case), 114 related to human dura
mater grafts, 139 related to human
growth hormone treatment, four related
to human pituitary gonadotrophin therapy,
and seven linked to neurosurgical
procedures or stereotactic EEG electrodes.
1 Because of the marked resistance
of the infectious agent of CJD to
conventional sterilisation techniques,
there is concern about the possibility of
transmission of infection via surgical
instruments in contact with infected
tissue, especially in neurosurgery or
ophthalmic surgery. ...snip...end



Docket No, 04-047-l Regulatory Identification No. (RIN) 091O-AF46 NEW BSE SAFEGUARDS (comment submission)

https://web01.aphis.usda.gov/regpublic.nsf/0/eff9eff1f7c5cf2b87256ecf000df08d?OpenDocument


Docket No. 03-080-1 -- USDA ISSUES PROPOSED RULE TO ALLOW LIVE ANIMAL
IMPORTS FROM CANADA


https://web01.aphis.usda.gov/BSEcom.nsf/0/b78ba677e2b0c12185256dd300649f9d?OpenDocument&AutoFramed


Docket No. 2003N-0312 Animal Feed Safety System [TSS SUBMISSION]

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/03n0312/03N-0312_emc-000001.txt

Docket Management Docket: 02N-0273 - Substances Prohibited From Use in

Animal Food or Feed; Animal Proteins Prohibited in Ruminant Feed

Comment Number: EC -10

Accepted - Volume 2


http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/012403/8004be07.html



PART 2


http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/012403/8004be09.html



PDF]Freas, William TSS SUBMISSION

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat -

Page 1. J Freas, William From: Sent: To: Subject: Terry S. Singeltary

Sr. [[email protected]] Monday, January 08,200l 3:03 PM freas ...



http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/01/slides/3681s2_09.pdf



Asante/Collinge et al, that BSE transmission to the 129-methionine

genotype can lead to an alternate phenotype that is indistinguishable

from type 2 PrPSc, the commonest _sporadic_ CJD;



http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/03/slides/3923s1_OPH.htm



Docket Management Docket: 96N-0417 - Current Good Manufacturing Practice
in Manufacturing, Packing, or Holding Dietary Ingredients a
Comment Number: EC -2
Accepted - Volume 7

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Mar03/031403/96N-0417-EC-2.htm


[PDF] Appendices to PL107-9 Inter-agency Working Group Final Report 1-1
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Agent, Weapons of Mass Destruction Operations Unit Federal Bureau of
those who provided comments in response to Docket No. ...
Meager 8/18/01 Terry S. Singeltary Sr ...


www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/pubs/PL107-9_Appen.pdf

Docket No. 2003N-0312 Animal Feed Safety System [TSS SUBMISSION
TO DOCKET 2003N-0312]

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/03n0312/03N-0312_emc-000001.txt

# Docket No: 02-088-1 RE-Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of
2002; [TSS SUBMISSION ON POTENTIAL FOR BSE/TSE & FMD 'SUITCASE BOMBS'] -
TSS 1/27/03 (0)

Docket Management

Docket: 02N-0276 - Bioterrorism Preparedness; Registration of Food Facilities, Section 305
Comment Number: EC-254 [TSS SUBMISSION]

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/02n0276/02N-0276-EC-254.htm


Dockets Entered On October 2, 2003 Table of Contents, Docket #,
Title, 1978N-0301,

OTC External Analgesic Drug Products, ... EMC 7, Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
Vol #: 1, ...

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/oct03/100203/100203.htm


Daily Dockets Entered on 02/05/03

DOCKETS ENTERED on 2/5/03. ... EMC 4 Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Vol#: 2.
... Vol#: 1.

03N-0009 Federal Preemption of State & Local Medical Device Requireme. ...


http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Feb03/020503/020503.htm


Docket Management

Docket: 02N-0370 - Neurological Devices; Classification of Human Dura Mater

Comment Number: EC -1

Accepted - Volume 1


http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/012403/8004be11.html


http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/012403/8004bdfe.html


http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/012403/8004bdfc.html


Daily Dockets - 04/10/03

... 00D-1662 Use of Xenotransplantation Products in Humans.
EMC 98 Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Vol#: 3. 01F ...
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Apr03/041003/041003.htm - 05-20-2003
- Cached


2003D-0186
Guidance for Industry: Use of Material From Deer and Elk In Animal Feed




EMC 1
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
Vol #:
1

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jun03/060903/060903.htm


2003D-0186
Guidance for Industry: Use of Material From Deer and Elk In Animal Feed


EMC 7
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
Vol #:
1

2003D-0186
Guidance for Industry: Use of Material From Deer and Elk In Animal Feed


EMC 7
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
Vol #:
1


http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/oct03/100203/100203.htm

01N-0423 Substances Prohibited from use in animal food/Feed Ruminant

APE 5 National Renderers Association, Inc. Vol#: 2

APE 6 Animal Protein Producers Industry Vol#: 2

APE 7 Darling International Inc. Vol#: 2

EMC 1 Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Vol#: 3

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/01/Oct01/101501/101501.htm

Send Post-Publication Peer Review to journal:


Re: RE-Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob

disease in the United States


Email Terry S. Singeltary:


[email protected]



I lost my mother to hvCJD (Heidenhain Variant CJD). I would like to

comment on the CDC's attempts to monitor the occurrence of emerging

forms of CJD. Asante, Collinge et al [1] have reported that BSE

transmission to the 129-methionine genotype can lead to an alternate

phenotype that is indistinguishable from type 2 PrPSc, the commonest

sporadic CJD. However, CJD and all human TSEs are not reportable

nationally. CJD and all human TSEs must be made reportable in every

state and internationally. I hope that the CDC does not continue to

expect us to still believe that the 85%+ of all CJD cases which are

sporadic are all spontaneous, without route/source. We have many TSEs in

the USA in both animal and man. CWD in deer/elk is spreading rapidly and

CWD does transmit to mink, ferret, cattle, and squirrel monkey by

intracerebral inoculation. With the known incubation periods in other

TSEs, oral transmission studies of CWD may take much longer. Every

victim/family of CJD/TSEs should be asked about route and source of this

agent. To prolong this will only spread the agent and needlessly expose

others. In light of the findings of Asante and Collinge et al, there

should be drastic measures to safeguard the medical and surgical arena

from sporadic CJDs and all human TSEs. I only ponder how many sporadic

CJDs in the USA are type 2 PrPSc?


http://www.neurology.org/cgi/eletters/60/2/176#535



LANCET INFECTIOUS DISEASE JOURNAL


Volume 3, Number 8 01 August 2003


Newsdesk


Tracking spongiform encephalopathies in North America


Xavier Bosch

My name is Terry S Singeltary Sr, and I live in Bacliff, Texas. I lost

my mom to hvCJD (Heidenhain variant CJD) and have been searching for

answers ever since. What I have found is that we have not been told the

truth. CWD in deer and elk is a small portion of a much bigger problem.


49-year-old Singeltary is one of a number of people who have remained

largely unsatisfied after being told that a close relative died from a

rapidly progressive dementia compatible with spontaneous

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). So he decided to gather hundreds of

documents on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) and

realised that if Britons could get variant CJD from bovine spongiform

encephalopathy (BSE), Americans might get a similar disorder from

chronic wasting disease (CWD)the relative of mad cow disease seen among

deer and elk in the USA. Although his feverish search did not lead him

to the smoking gun linking CWD to a similar disease in North American

people, it did uncover a largely disappointing situation.


Singeltary was greatly demoralised at the few attempts to monitor the

occurrence of CJD and CWD in the USA. Only a few states have made CJD

reportable. Human and animal TSEs should be reportable nationwide and

internationally, he complained in a letter to the Journal of the

American Medical Association (JAMA 2003; 285: 733). I hope that the CDC

does not continue to expect us to still believe that the 85% plus of all

CJD cases which are sporadic are all spontaneous, without route or source.


Until recently, CWD was thought to be confined to the wild in a small

region in Colorado. But since early 2002, it has been reported in other

areas, including Wisconsin, South Dakota, and the Canadian province of

Saskatchewan. Indeed, the occurrence of CWD in states that were not

endemic previously increased concern about a widespread outbreak and

possible transmission to people and cattle.


To date, experimental studies have proven that the CWD agent can be

transmitted to cattle by intracerebral inoculation and that it can cross

the mucous membranes of the digestive tract to initiate infection in

lymphoid tissue before invasion of the central nervous system. Yet the

plausibility of CWD spreading to people has remained elusive.


Part of the problem seems to stem from the US surveillance system. CJD

is only reported in those areas known to be endemic foci of CWD.

Moreover, US authorities have been criticised for not having performed

enough prionic tests in farm deer and elk.


Although in November last year the US Food and Drug Administration

issued a directive to state public-health and agriculture officials

prohibiting material from CWD-positive animals from being used as an

ingredient in feed for any animal species, epidemiological control and

research in the USA has been quite different from the situation in the

UK and Europe regarding BSE.


Getting data on TSEs in the USA from the government is like pulling

teeth, Singeltary argues. You get it when they want you to have it,

and only what they want you to have.


Norman Foster, director of the Cognitive Disorders Clinic at the

University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI, USA), says that current

surveillance of prion disease in people in the USA is inadequate to

detect whether CWD is occurring in human beings; adding that, the

cases that we know about are reassuring, because they do not suggest the

appearance of a new variant of CJD in the USA or atypical features in

patients that might be exposed to CWD. However, until we establish a

system that identifies and analyses a high proportion of suspected prion

disease cases we will not know for sure. The USA should develop a

system modelled on that established in the UK, he points out.



Ali Samii, a neurologist at Seattle VA Medical Center who recently

reported the cases of three hunterstwo of whom were friendswho died

from pathologically confirmed CJD, says that at present there are

insufficient data to claim transmission of CWD into humans; adding that

[only] by asking [the questions of venison consumption and deer/elk

hunting] in every case can we collect suspect cases and look into the

plausibility of transmission further. Samii argues that by making both

doctors and hunters more aware of the possibility of prions spreading

through eating venison, doctors treating hunters with dementia can

consider a possible prion disease, and doctors treating CJD patients

will know to ask whether they ate venison.


CDC spokesman Ermias Belay says that the CDC will not be investigating

the [Samii] cases because there is no evidence that the men ate

CWD-infected meat. He notes that although the likelihood of CWD

jumping the species barrier to infect humans cannot be ruled out 100%

and that [we] cannot be 100% sure that CWD does not exist in humans&

the data seeking evidence of CWD transmission to humans have been very

limited.




http://infection.thelancet.com/journal/journal.isa




he complained in a letter to the Journal of the American Medical



Association (JAMA 2003; 285: 733). I hope that the CDC does not

continue to expect us to still believe that the 85% plus of all CJD

cases which are sporadic are all spontaneous, without route or source.<<<



actually, that quote was from a more recent article in the Journal of

Neurology (see below), not the JAMA article...



Full Text

Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Singeltary, Sr et al. JAMA.2001; 285: 733-734.



http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/285/6/733?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=dignosing+and+reporting+creutzfeldt+jakob+disease&searchid=1048865596978_1528&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&journalcode=jama



BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL



SOMETHING TO CHEW ON



BMJ



http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/319/7220/1312/b#EL2



BMJ



http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/320/7226/8/b#EL1



THE PATHOLOGICAL PROTEIN

BY Philip Yam

Yam Philip Yam News Editor Scientific American www.sciam.com
http://www.thepathologicalprotein.com/

IN light of Asante/Collinge et al findings that BSE transmission to the
129-methionine genotype can lead to an alternate phenotype that is
indistinguishable from type 2 PrPSc, the commonest _sporadic_ CJD;

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: re-BSE prions propagate as

either variant CJD-like or sporadic CJD Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 10:23:43

-0000 From: "Asante, Emmanuel A" To:
"'[email protected]'"

Dear Terry,

I have been asked by Professor Collinge to respond to your request. I am

a Senior Scientist in the MRC Prion Unit and the lead author on the

paper. I have attached a pdf copy of the paper for your attention. Thank

you for your interest in the paper.

In respect of your first question, the simple answer is, yes. As you

will find in the paper, we have managed to associate the alternate

phenotype to type 2 PrPSc, the commonest sporadic CJD.

It is too early to be able to claim any further sub-classification in

respect of Heidenhain variant CJD or Vicky Rimmer's version. It will

take further studies, which are on-going, to establish if there are

sub-types to our initial finding which we are now reporting. The main

point of the paper is that, as well as leading to the expected new

variant CJD phenotype, BSE transmission to the 129-methionine genotype

can lead to an alternate phenotype which is indistinguishable from type

2 PrPSc.



I hope reading the paper will enlighten you more on the subject. If I

can be of any further assistance please to not hesitate to ask. Best wishes.



Emmanuel Asante

<> ____________________________________

Dr. Emmanuel A Asante MRC Prion Unit & Neurogenetics Dept. Imperial

College School of Medicine (St. Mary's) Norfolk Place, LONDON W2 1PG

Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 3794 Fax: +44 (0)20 7706 3272 email:

[email protected]. (until 9/12/02)

New e-mail: [email protected]. (active from now)

____________________________________

snip...

full text ;

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/03/slides/3923s1_OPH.htm


AND the new findings of BASE in cattle in Italy of Identification of a
second bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy: Molecular
similarities with sporadic

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease


http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0305777101v1


Adaptation of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy agent to primates
and comparison with Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease: Implications for
human health

THE findings from Corinne Ida Lasmézas*, [dagger] , Jean-Guy Fournier*,
Virginie Nouvel*,

Hermann Boe*, Domíníque Marcé*, François Lamoury*, Nicolas Kopp [Dagger

] , Jean-Jacques Hauw§, James Ironside¶, Moira Bruce [||] , Dominique

Dormont*, and Jean-Philippe Deslys* et al, that The agent responsible
for French iatrogenic growth hormone-linked CJD taken as a control is
very different from vCJD but is similar to that found in one case of
sporadic CJD and one sheep scrapie isolate;

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/041490898v1

Characterization of two distinct prion strains
derived from bovine spongiform encephalopathy
transmissions to inbred mice

http://vir.sgmjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/85/8/2471


ALL animals for human/animal consumption must be tested for TSE.

ALL human TSEs must be made reportable Nationally and Internationally,
OF ALL AGES...TSS

:mad:
 
USA BSE GBR RAISED TO BSE GBR III

Working Group Report on the Assessment of the Geographical BSE-Risk (GBR
III) of USA 2004 ''extremely/very unstable BSE/cattle system''

USA

http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/efsa_scientific_reports/gbr_assessments/scr_annexes/574/sr03_biohaz02_usa_report_annex_en1.pdf>

CANADA

http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/efsa_scientific_reports/gbr_assessments/scr_annexes/563/sr02_biohaz02_canada_report_annex_en1.pdf

MEXICO

http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/efsa_scientific_reports/gbr_assessments/scr_annexes/566/sr04_biohaz02_mexico_report_annex_en1.pdf


Canada and the United States have been raised to level III (presence of BSE likely but not confirmed, or confirmed at a lower level) following a new assessment taking into account the most recent evidence. EFSAs Scientific Expert Working Group on geographic BSE risk assessment also evaluated the status of Mexico and South Africa which were classified as level III.

http://www.efsa.eu.int/press_room/press_release/575_en.html

European Food Safety Authority
20 August 2004
PRESS RELEASE
EFSA publishes Geographical BSE-Risk (GBR) assessments for
Australia, Canada, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Sweden
and the United States of America
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued today seven up-to-date
scientific reports on the Geographical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
Risk (GBR) assessments for Australia, Canada, Mexico, Norway, South Africa
Sweden and the United States of America. While Australias GBR level I (i.e.
presence of BSE in domestic cattle is highly unlikely) is maintained, that of Norway
has been raised to level II (presence of BSE unlikely but not excluded), Sweden
remains at GBR level II and those of Canada and the United States have been raised
to level III (presence of BSE likely but not confirmed, or confirmed at a lower level)
following a new assessment taking into account the most recent evidence. EFSAs
Scientific Expert Working Group on geographic BSE risk assessment also evaluated
the status of Mexico and South Africa which were classified as level III.
In 2003 EFSA was requested by the European Commission (EC) to re-assess the
Geographical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) risk (GBR) for 13 countries:
Australia, Botswana, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Namibia, Norway,
Mexico, Panama, Swaziland, Sweden and the United States. Although the European
Commission did not specifically seek advice from EFSA relating to the appearance of
BSE in South Africa, the working group decided to carry out a risk assessment for this
country under a self-tasking mandate in order to allow for a meaningful evaluation of the
three other countries in the Southern African Region for which a GBR assessment was
requested (i.e. Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland). EFSAs Scientific Expert Working
Group on the Assessment of the GBR has completed to date those assessments relating to
Australia, Canada, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the United States of
America. The GBR assessments for the remaining countries will be finalized by the end
of 2004.
In conducting the GBR assessments, EFSAs GBR working group followed the
methodology developed by the former Scientific Steering Committee of DG Health and
Consumer Safety (DG SANCO) of the European Commission which is described in its
final opinion on GBR assessment1. The risk assessments published today are based on
up-to-date data provided by the countries concerned as well as other sources of data (i.e.
Eurostat and country export data) covering the period of 1980 to 2003.
A detailed analysis for each country is presented in the Scientific Reports which can be
found at:
http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/efsa_scientific_reports/gbr_assessments/catindex_en.html


EFSA Scientific Report on the Assessment of the Geographical BSE-Risk (GBR) of the United States of America (USA)
Publication date: 20 August 2004

Adopted July 2004 (Question N° EFSA-Q-2003-083)

* 167 kB Report
* 105 kB Summary

Summary of the Scientific Report

The European Food Safety Authority and its Scientific Expert Working Group on the Assessment of the Geographical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Risk (GBR) were asked by the European Commission (EC) to provide an up-to-date scientific report on the GBR in the United States of America, i.e. the likelihood of the presence of one or more cattle being infected with BSE, pre-clinically as well as clinically, in USA. This scientific report addresses the GBR of USA as assessed in 2004 based on data covering the period 1980-2003.

The BSE agent was probably imported into USA and could have reached domestic cattle in the middle of the eighties. These cattle imported in the mid eighties could have been rendered in the late eighties and therefore led to an internal challenge in the early nineties. It is possible that imported meat and bone meal (MBM) into the USA reached domestic cattle and leads to an internal challenge in the early nineties.

A processing risk developed in the late 80s/early 90s when cattle imports from BSE risk countries were slaughtered or died and were processed (partly) into feed, together with some imports of MBM. This risk continued to exist, and grew significantly in the mid 90's when domestic cattle, infected by imported MBM, reached processing. Given the low stability of the system, the risk increased over the years with continued imports of cattle and MBM from BSE risk countries.

EFSA concludes that the current GBR level of USA is III, i.e. it is likely but not confirmed that domestic cattle are (clinically or pre-clinically) infected with the BSE-agent. As long as there are no significant changes in rendering or feeding, the stability remains extremely/very unstable. Thus, the probability of cattle to be (pre-clinically or clinically) infected with the BSE-agent persistently increases.
http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/efsa_scientific_reports/gbr_assessments/573_en.html

SUMMARY

Summary of Scientific Report
http://www.efsa.eu.int
1 of 1
Scientific Report of the European Food Safety Authority
on the Assessment of the Geographical BSE-Risk (GBR) of
United States of America (USA)
Question N° EFSA-Q-2003-083
Adopted July 2004
Summary of scientific report
The European Food Safety Authority and its Scientific Expert Working Group on the
Assessment of the Geographical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Risk (GBR)
were asked by the European Commission (EC) to provide an up-to-date scientific report on
the GBR in the United States of America, i.e. the likelihood of the presence of one or more
cattle being infected with BSE, pre-clinically as well as clinically, in USA. This scientific
report addresses the GBR of USA as assessed in 2004 based on data covering the period
1980-2003.
The BSE agent was probably imported into USA and could have reached domestic cattle in
the middle of the eighties. These cattle imported in the mid eighties could have been rendered
in the late eighties and therefore led to an internal challenge in the early nineties. It is possible
that imported meat and bone meal (MBM) into the USA reached domestic cattle and leads to
an internal challenge in the early nineties.
A processing risk developed in the late 80s/early 90s when cattle imports from BSE risk
countries were slaughtered or died and were processed (partly) into feed, together with some
imports of MBM. This risk continued to exist, and grew significantly in the mid 90's when
domestic cattle, infected by imported MBM, reached processing. Given the low stability of
the system, the risk increased over the years with continued imports of cattle and MBM from
BSE risk countries.
EFSA concludes that the current GBR level of USA is III, i.e. it is likely but not confirmed
that domestic cattle are (clinically or pre-clinically) infected with the BSE-agent. As long as
there are no significant changes in rendering or feeding, the stability remains extremely/very
unstable. Thus, the probability of cattle to be (pre-clinically or clinically) infected with the
BSE-agent persistently increases.
Key words: BSE, geographical risk assessment, GBR, USA, third countries

http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/efsa_scientific_reports/gbr_assessments/573/sr03_biohaz02_usa_report_summary_en1.pdf

REPORT (6 PAGES)

snip...

EFSA Scientific Report (2004) 3, 1-6 on the Assessment of the Geographical BSE Risk of
Conclusions
The European Food Safety Authority concludes:
1. The BSE agent was probably imported into USA and could have reached domestic
cattle in the middle of the eighties. This cattle imported in the mid eighties could have
been rendered in the late eighties and therefore led to an internal challenge in the early
nineties. It is possible that meat and bone meal (MBM) imported into the USA
reached domestic cattle and lead to an internal challenge in the early nineties.
2. A processing risk developed in the late 80s/early 90s when cattle imports from BSE
risk countries were slaughtered or died and were processed (partly) into feed, together
with some imports of MBM. This risk continued to exist, and grew significantly in the
mid 90's when domestic cattle, infected by imported MBM, reached processing.
Given the low stability of the system, the risk increased over the years with continued
imports of cattle and MBM from BSE risk countries.
3. The current geographical BSE risk (GBR) level is III, i.e. it is likely but not confirmed
that domestic cattle are (clinically or pre-clinically) infected with the BSE-agent.
4. This assessment deviates from the previous assessment (SSC opinion, 2000) because
at that time several exporting countries were not considered a potential risk.
5. It is also worth noting that the current GBR conclusions are not dependent on the large
exchange of imports between USA and Canada. External challenge due to exports to
the USA from European countries varied from moderate to high. These challenges
indicate that it was likely that BSE infectivity was introduced into the North American
continent.
6. EFSA and its Scientific Expert Working group on GBR are concerned that the
available information was not confirmed by inspection missions as performed by the
Food and Veterinary office (FVO – DG SANCO) in Member States and other third
countries. They recommend including, as far as feasible, BSE-related aspects in
future inspection missions.
Expected development of the GBR
As long as there are no significant changes in rendering or feeding, the stability remains
extremely/very unstable. Thus, the probability of cattle to be (pre-clinically or clinically)
infected with the BSE-agent persistently increases.
A table summarising the reasons for the current assessment is given in the table below

snip...

http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/efsa_scientific_reports/gbr_assessments/573/sr03_biohaz02_usa_report_v2_en1.pdf


EFSA Scientific Report on the Assessment of the Geographical BSE-Risk (GBR) of Mexico
Last updated: 08 September 2004

Adopted July 2004 (Question N° EFSA-Q-2003-083)

* 169 kB Report


http://www.efsa.eu.int
3 of 6
Conclusions
The European Food Safety Authority concludes:
1. The BSE agent was probably imported into Mexico and could have reached domestic
cattle. These cattle imported could have been rendered and therefore led to an internal
EFSA Scientific Report (2004) 4, 1-6 on the Assessment of the Geographical BSE Risk of
challenge in the mid to late 1990's. It is possible that imported MBM into Mexico
reached domestic cattle and leads to an internal challenge around 1993.
2. It is likely that BSE infectivity entered processing at the time of imported 'at - risk'
MBM (1993) and at the time of slaughter of imported live 'at - risk' cattle (mid to late
1990s). The high level of external challenge is maintained throughout the reference
period, and the system has not been made stable. Thus it is likely that BSE infectivity
was recycled and propagated from approximately 1993. The risk has since grown
consistently due to a maintained internal and external challenge and lack of a stable
system.
3. The current geographical BSE risk (GBR) level is III, i.e. it is likely but not confirmed
that domestic cattle are (clinically or pre-clinically) infected with the BSE-agent.
4. EFSA and its Scientific Expert Working group on GBR are concerned that the
available information was not confirmed by inspection missions as performed by the
Food and Veterinary office (FVO – DG SANCO) in Member States and other third
countries. They recommend including, as far as feasible, BSE-related aspects in
future inspection missions.

http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/efsa_scientific_reports/gbr_assessments/565/sr04_biohaz02_mexico_report_v2_en1.pdf

* 109 kB Summary


Summary of Scientific Report
http://www.efsa.eu.int
1 of 2
Scientific Report of the European Food Safety Authority
on the Assessment of the Geographical BSE-Risk (GBR) of
MEXICO
Question N° EFSA-Q-2003-083
Adopted July 2004
SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC REPORT
The European Food Safety Authority and its Scientific Expert Working Group on the
Assessment of the Geographical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Risk (GBR)
were asked by the European Commission (EC) to provide an up-to-date scientific report on
the GBR in Mexico, i.e. the likelihood of the presence of one or more cattle being infected
with BSE, pre-clinically as well as clinically, in Mexico. This scientific report addresses the
GBR of Mexico as assessed in 2004 based on data covering the period 1980-2003.
The BSE agent was probably imported into Mexico and could have reached domestic cattle.
These cattle imported could have been rendered and therefore led to an internal challenge in
the mid to late 1990s. It is possible that imported meat and bone meal (MBM) into Mexico
reached domestic cattle and leads to an internal challenge around 1993.
It is likely that BSE infectivity entered processing at the time of imported 'at - risk' MBM
(1993) and at the time of slaughter of imported live 'at - risk' cattle (mid to late 1990s). The
high level of external challenge is maintained throughout the reference period, and the system
has not been made stable. Thus it is likely that BSE infectivity was recycled and propagated
from approximately 1993. The risk has since grown consistently due to a maintained internal
and external challenge and lack of a stable system.
EFSA concludes that the current geographical BSE risk (GBR) level is III, i.e. it is likely
but not confirmed that domestic cattle are (clinically or pre-clinically) infected with the BSEagent.
The GBR is likely to increase due to continued internal and external challenge, coupled
with a very unstable system.
Key words: BSE, geographical risk assessment, GBR, Mexico, third countries
Summary of Scientific Report
http://www.efsa.eu.int
2 of 2

http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/efsa_scientific_reports/gbr_assessments/565/sr04_biohaz02_mexico_report_summary_en1.pdf

Summary of the Scientific Report

The European Food Safety Authority and its Scientific Expert Working Group on the Assessment of the Geographical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Risk (GBR) were asked by the European Commission (EC) to provide an up-to-date scientific report on the GBR in Mexico, i.e. the likelihood of the presence of one or more cattle being infected with BSE, pre-clinically as well as clinically, in Mexico. This scientific report addresses the GBR of Mexico as assessed in 2004 based on data covering the period 1980-2003.

The BSE agent was probably imported into Mexico and could have reached domestic cattle. These cattle imported could have been rendered and therefore led to an internal challenge in the mid to late 1990s. It is possible that imported meat and bone meal (MBM) into Mexico reached domestic cattle and leads to an internal challenge around 1993.

It is likely that BSE infectivity entered processing at the time of imported 'at - risk' MBM (1993) and at the time of slaughter of imported live 'at - risk' cattle (mid to late 1990s). The high level of external challenge is maintained throughout the reference period, and the system has not been made stable. Thus it is likely that BSE infectivity was recycled and propagated from approximately 1993. The risk has since grown consistently due to a maintained internal and external challenge and lack of a stable system.

EFSA concludes that the current geographical BSE risk (GBR) level is III, i.e. it is likely but not confirmed that domestic cattle are (clinically or pre-clinically) infected with the BSE-agent. The GBR is likely to increase due to continued internal and external challenge, coupled with a very unstable system.
http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/efsa_scientific_reports/gbr_assessments/565_en.html



ONE YEAR PREVIOUSLY ;

From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. [[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 1:03 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected].; BSE-L
Subject: Docket No. 2003N-0312 Animal Feed Safety System [TSS SUBMISSION
TO DOCKET 2003N-0312]

Greetings FDA,

snip...

PLUS, if the USA continues to flagrantly ignore the _documented_ science to date about the known TSEs in the USA (let alone the undocumented TSEs in cattle), it is my opinion, every other Country that is dealing with BSE/TSE should boycott the USA and demand that the SSC reclassify the USA BSE GBR II risk assessment to BSE/TSE GBR III 'IMMEDIATELY'. for the SSC to _flounder_ any longer on this issue, should also be regarded with great suspicion as well. NOT to leave out the OIE and it's terribly flawed system of disease surveillance. the OIE should make a move on CWD in the USA, and make a risk assessment on this as a threat to human health. the OIE should also change the mathematical formula for testing of disease. this (in my opinion and others) is terribly flawed as well. to think that a sample survey of 400 or so cattle in a population of 100 million, to think this will find anything, especially after seeing how many TSE tests it took Italy and other Countries to find 1 case of BSE (1 million rapid TSE test in less than 2 years, to find 102 BSE cases), should be proof enough to make drastic changes of this system. the OIE criteria for BSE Country classification and it's interpretation is very problematic. a text that is suppose to give guidelines, but is not understandable, cannot be considered satisfactory. the OIE told me 2 years ago that they were concerned with CWD, but said any changes might take years. well, two years have come and gone, and no change in relations with CWD as a human health risk. if we wait for politics and science to finally make this connection, we very well may die before any decisions
or changes are made. this is not acceptable. we must take the politics and the industry out of any final decisions of the Scientific community. this has been the problem from day one with this environmental man made death sentence. some of you may think i am exaggerating, but you only have to see it once, you only have to watch a loved one die from this one time, and you will never forget, OR forgive...yes, i am still very angry... but the transmission studies DO NOT lie, only the politicians and the industry do... and they are still lying to this day...TSS


http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/03n0312/03N-0312_emc-000001.txt


Docket No. 03-080-1 -- USDA ISSUES PROPOSED RULE TO ALLOW LIVE ANIMAL
IMPORTS FROM CANADA


https://web01.aphis.usda.gov/BSEcom.nsf/0/b78ba677e2b0c12185256dd300649f9d?OpenDocument&AutoFramed



Terry S. Singeltary Sr. P.O. BOX 42 Bacliff, TEXAS USA :mad:
 
THOUGHTS PLUS, if the USA and MEXICO continues to flagrantly ignore the _documented_ science to date about the known TSEs in the USA (let alone the undocumented TSEs in cattle), it is my opinion, every other Country that is dealing with BSE/TSE should boycott the USA and demand that the SSC reclassify the USA BSE GBR II risk assessment to BSE/TSE GBR III 'IMMEDIATELY'.No EXPORTS TO Japan without RECORDS of each ANIMAL.
 

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