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"The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly implied the existence of other undetected cases," Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director of the National Institutes of Health's Laboratory for Central Nervous System Studies and an expert on mad cow-like diseases, told United Press International. "The question was, 'How many?' and we still can't answer that."

Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the latest two mad cow cases to estimate the maximum number of infected cows that occurred in the United States, said he has "absolutely no confidence in USDA tests before one year ago" because of the agency's reluctance to retest the Texas cow that initially tested positive.

USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed it was infected seven months later, but only at the insistence of the agency's inspector general.

"Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything they did before 2005 suspect," Brown said.

snip...

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved

http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20060315-055557-1284r

Perspective
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: Background, Evolution, and Current Concerns
Paul Brown,* Robert G. Will,† Raymond Bradley,‡ David M. Asher,§ and Linda Detwiler¶
*National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; †National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, Scotland; ‡Central Veterinary Laboratory, New Haw, Addlestone, UK; §Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland, USA; ¶Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Robbinsville, New Jersey, USA

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

The epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United Kingdom, which began in 1986 and has affected nearly 200,000 cattle, is waning to a conclusion, but leaves in its wake an outbreak of human Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, most probably resulting from the consumption of beef products contaminated by central nervous system tissue. Although averaging only 10-15 cases a year since its first appearance in 1994, its future magnitude and geographic distribution (in countries that have imported infected British cattle or cattle products, or have endogenous BSE) cannot yet be predicted. The possibility that large numbers of apparently healthy persons might be incubating the disease raises concerns about iatrogenic transmissions through instrumentation (surgery and medical diagnostic procedures) and blood and organ donations. Government agencies in many countries continue to implement new measures to minimize this risk.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol7no1/brown.htm

Dr. Paul Brown currently holds the title of Medical Director, U.S. Public Health Service, and Senior Research Scientist, National Institutes of Health. He is a Board Certified internist and an apprentice Neuroscientist, having devoted almost his entire career in the Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies at the NIH to the study of various aspects of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. He is the author of nearly 300 publications, of which the most recent focus on the problem of iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and on the potential for disease transmission through the administration of blood or blood products. In addition to his scientific research, he presently serves as Chairman of the TSE advisory committee to the FDA.

http://www.jifsan.umd.edu/presentations/tse/bio/BROWN.htm

TSS

<blockquote data-quote="flounder" data-source="post: 91437" data-attributes="member: 650">&quot;The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly implied the existence of other undetected cases,&quot; Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director of the National Institutes of Health&#039;s Laboratory for Central Nervous System Studies and an expert on mad cow-like diseases, told United Press International. &quot;The question was, &#039;How many?&#039; and we still can&#039;t answer that.&quot; Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the latest two mad cow cases to estimate the maximum number of infected cows that occurred in the United States, said he has &quot;absolutely no confidence in USDA tests before one year ago&quot; because of the agency&#039;s reluctance to retest the Texas cow that initially tested positive. USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed it was infected seven months later, but only at the insistence of the agency&#039;s inspector general. &quot;Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything they did before 2005 suspect,&quot; Brown said. snip...© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20060315-055557-1284r Perspective Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: Background, Evolution, and Current Concerns Paul Brown,* Robert G. Will,† Raymond Bradley,‡ David M. Asher,§ and Linda Detwiler¶*National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; †National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, Scotland; ‡Central Veterinary Laboratory, New Haw, Addlestone, UK; §Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland, USA; ¶Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Robbinsville, New Jersey, USA --------------------------------------------------------------------------------&nbsp;The epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United Kingdom, which began in 1986 and has affected nearly 200,000 cattle, is waning to a conclusion, but leaves in its wake an outbreak of human Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, most probably resulting from the consumption of beef products contaminated by central nervous system tissue. Although averaging only 10-15 cases a year since its first appearance in 1994, its future magnitude and geographic distribution (in countries that have imported infected British cattle or cattle products, or have endogenous BSE) cannot yet be predicted. The possibility that large numbers of apparently healthy persons might be incubating the disease raises concerns about iatrogenic transmissions through instrumentation (surgery and medical diagnostic procedures) and blood and organ donations. Government agencies in many countries continue to implement new measures to minimize this risk. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol7no1/brown.htmDr. Paul Brown currently holds the title of Medical Director, U.S. Public Health Service, and Senior Research Scientist, National Institutes of Health. He is a Board Certified internist and an apprentice Neuroscientist, having devoted almost his entire career in the Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies at the NIH to the study of various aspects of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. He is the author of nearly 300 publications, of which the most recent focus on the problem of iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and on the potential for disease transmission through the administration of blood or blood products. In addition to his scientific research, he presently serves as Chairman of the TSE advisory committee to the FDA.http://www.jifsan.umd.edu/presentations/tse/bio/BROWN.htmTSS</blockquote>

[QUOTE="flounder, post: 91437, member: 650"] "The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly implied the existence of other undetected cases," Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director of the National Institutes of Health's Laboratory for Central Nervous System Studies and an expert on mad cow-like diseases, told United Press International. "The question was, 'How many?' and we still can't answer that." Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the latest two mad cow cases to estimate the maximum number of infected cows that occurred in the United States, said he has "absolutely no confidence in USDA tests before one year ago" because of the agency's reluctance to retest the Texas cow that initially tested positive. USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed it was infected seven months later, but only at the insistence of the agency's inspector general. "Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything they did before 2005 suspect," Brown said. snip... © Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20060315-055557-1284r Perspective Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: Background, Evolution, and Current Concerns Paul Brown,* Robert G. Will,† Raymond Bradley,‡ David M. Asher,§ and Linda Detwiler¶ *National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; †National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, Scotland; ‡Central Veterinary Laboratory, New Haw, Addlestone, UK; §Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland, USA; ¶Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Robbinsville, New Jersey, USA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United Kingdom, which began in 1986 and has affected nearly 200,000 cattle, is waning to a conclusion, but leaves in its wake an outbreak of human Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, most probably resulting from the consumption of beef products contaminated by central nervous system tissue. Although averaging only 10-15 cases a year since its first appearance in 1994, its future magnitude and geographic distribution (in countries that have imported infected British cattle or cattle products, or have endogenous BSE) cannot yet be predicted. The possibility that large numbers of apparently healthy persons might be incubating the disease raises concerns about iatrogenic transmissions through instrumentation (surgery and medical diagnostic procedures) and blood and organ donations. Government agencies in many countries continue to implement new measures to minimize this risk. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol7no1/brown.htm Dr. Paul Brown currently holds the title of Medical Director, U.S. Public Health Service, and Senior Research Scientist, National Institutes of Health. He is a Board Certified internist and an apprentice Neuroscientist, having devoted almost his entire career in the Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies at the NIH to the study of various aspects of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. He is the author of nearly 300 publications, of which the most recent focus on the problem of iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and on the potential for disease transmission through the administration of blood or blood products. In addition to his scientific research, he presently serves as Chairman of the TSE advisory committee to the FDA. http://www.jifsan.umd.edu/presentations/tse/bio/BROWN.htm TSS [/QUOTE]

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