Posted on 06/04/2014 10:56:14 AM PDT by Dallas59
Laboratory tests have confirmed a diagnosis of variant CJD (a fatal brain disorder) in a patient who recently died in Texas. The confirmation was made when laboratory results from an autopsy of the patient’s brain tested positive for variant CJD.
First described in 1996 in the United Kingdom, variant CJD is a rare, degenerative, fatal brain disorder in humans. It is believed to be caused by consumption of products from cows with the disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or "mad cow" disease).
Worldwide, more than 220 variant CJD patients have been reported, with a majority of them in the United Kingdom (177 cases) and France (27 cases). This case is the fourth to be reported in the United States. In each of the three previous cases, infection likely occurred outside the United States, including the United Kingdom (2 cases) and Saudi Arabia (1 case). The history of this fourth patient, including extensive travel to Europe and the Middle East, supports the likelihood that infection occurred outside the United States.
CDC assisted the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)'s investigation of this case and will continue to help confirm further details of the patient's history, including the potential source of infection.
A classic form of CJD, which is not caused by the BSE agent, occurs worldwide, including in the United States. Annually, for every 1 million people in the United States, 1 to 2 develops classic CJD. More information about variant CJD, including how it differs from classic CJD, is available in the Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Fact Sheet.
CJD disinfection by autoclave:
Standard gravity displacement steam sterilization at 121°C has been studied with different strains of CJD, BSE, and scrapie and has been shown to be only partially effective, even after exposure times of 120 min. As the temperature and exposure time was increased, greater inactivation of the prion agents was achieved (table 5). Although there is some disagreement about the ideal time and temperature cycle [26], the recommendations of 121°C–132°C for 60 min (gravity) and of 134°C for ⩾18 min (prevacuum) are reasonable on the basis of the scientific literature. These methods should result in a decrease of >5 logs, and cleaning should result in a 4-log reduction, which provides a significant margin of safety (brain tissue concentration 105 prions/g) [13]. Other steam sterilization cycles, such as 132°C for 15 min (gravity), have been shown to be only partially effective [36].
ping
I wonder what the source of infection was? Goat? Squirrel? Deer? Sheep?
“I wonder what the source of infection was? Goat? Squirrel? Deer? Sheep?”
Beef (hence the ‘mad cow’ designation)
Squirrel. I hate those destructive tree rats. I blame everything on squirrels. Now they are trying to get cows blamed.
NNNNNNNNNNooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!
I told you to keep out leftists and now they are spreading their skank
Yet another excuse to raise the price of beef.
A family member died last year from CJD - it is a horrible disease. He passed within weeks of diagnosis.
I think this might tend to lower the price of beef.
Apparently he didn’t catch inside the US. He traveled globally.
Ping....
thanks for the ping
I don’t think you can rely on pressure cooking alone to eliminate the threat from prions. Typically it needs to be combined with some extremely harsh phenol/chlorine/etc.
“20,000 ppm (2% sodium hypochlorite) available chlorine for 1 hour with sodium hypochorite as the chlorine releasing agent.”
“autoclave at 121°C for 30 minutes in sodium hydroxide.”
“The most effective chemical treatment for decontaminating formalin-fixed tissue is 96% formic acid for 1 hour.”
N.B.: Once infected, death is typically within six months.
The theory is the prion is normally bound to copper. In a copper deficient area, the heavy ferrimagnetic metal gets substituted. The substituted prion is activated by infrasound to make it magnetic. That is when it becomes an agent of damage. The organo phosphate poisons allow the passage of the metal ions into the brain.
It's not a "living" pathogen that is subject to sterilization. It is a chemical toxin. A protein bonded to a very strong magnet.
Purdey's work was inspired by the mad cow outbreaks in the UK where the government required applying an organo-phosphate poison down the back of cattle to deal with warble fly. The military jet aircraft and trucks in the area provided the infrasonic stimulation.
Yes, my recollection was that there had been a demonstration that CJD prions were still active after being heated to 600°C. However, I could not find that reference by a quick Google search.
The tremendous irony of prions is that they are continually being created and destroyed in our bodies, and only a miniscule number have the exact combination to not be destroyed, to be able to convince similar proteins to mutate to become like them, and to survive the physical death of the body to strike again.
Which is why they are so associated with cannibalism.
You’re Welcome, machogirl!
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