Human mad cow epidemic 'could be bigger than feared'

Guardian Unlimited ^ | Friday June 23, 2006 | David Batty and agencies

[11th_VA]

Far more people in the UK could be infected with the human form of mad cow disease than originally estimated, scientists warned today. The true prevalence of the condition might not become apparent for decades because variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) probably has a much longer incubation period than originally thought, the researchers said.

The scientists believe the time between infection with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), so-called mad cow disease, and developing vCJD could be more than 50 years. They warned that recent estimates of the size of the vCJD epidemic could be "substantial underestimations".

[11th_VA]

And now for something completely different - A German Soccer Fan

[sourcery]

Hmmmm...Mad cows and Englishmen?

[AntiGovernment]

The Guardian is pure trash. Any reliable sources?

[Batman94]

My mother just died of vCJD. It is indeed cruel. She went from accomplished artist to unable to hold a pencil or utter her thoughts. It is thought to be misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's disease or other. Its been told to me by Emory doctors that this fact may mean somewhat of an explosion of the numbers of cases in coming years. Although it is a prion disease it is NOT mad cow disease. It is hard to study because they usually diagnose you after you are already dead. It took my mom a year to go from early symptoms to death. Mark my words, this is the disease that will be making headlines in years to come, starting now... Thanks for posting the article, I could have done without the cow but I do have a sense of humor so I won't have one.

[I still care]

I remember years ago watching someone on TV talking about this illness. When he said prions can't even be destroyed in an incubator, and that they take years to show up, I had a bad feeling this might end up becoming a major problem.

My condolences to you on the loss of your mother. You must feel truly robbed. It's such an arbitrary illness.

[rmlew]

1. I get the feeling that I'm in trouble.
2. I wonder what the cow is thinking about being painted?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

That poor cow...

[JCEccles]

I invite all who have the desire, to do their part in helping researchers at Stanford University unravel the mystery of protein folding. Mad cow disease, Alzheimers, and other prion diseases are thought to be caused by misfolding of protein which renders it useless except to "gum up the works" in the brain and elsewhere.

Go to this link to read about the initiative. Then click on download and install a small program that will work quietly in the background when you are not using your computer. Your computer will be part of a distributed network of hundreds of thousands of CPUs all working together as a super computer to help crack the secrets of these terrible diseases.

Make sure than when asked you give the number 36120 as your team number. That way the FReeper team gets the credit! (We're already in the top 100 teams and blowing by the next 40 or so teams like a dragster racing a Vespa).

[arthurus]

Is all of England destined to go MAD?

[the crow]

bump for later. thanks for the post.

[Annie5622]

I thought the headline was going to be about all those Democrat women on Larry King last night.


sorry.........lol

[JustDoItAlways]

Although there may be some truth in what these researchers have proposed (we won't know for a long time), the cases of vCJD in Britain seem to have ended at around 160.

vCJD hits old and young people. The classic CJD in people (which is more common that most people think) seems to have a very long incubation period and only people over 50 years of age develop recognized symptoms and the desease. vCJD seems to have an incubation period of just a few years and has infected children as young as 10.

Since the incubation period is so short and new cases have dried up and the mad cow epidemic in cows in Britain has burned out, the outbreak of fast-acting vCJD in humans may be over.

[Batman94]

All very good points except some vCJD is genetic. We were tested and my mom had sporatic which means she ate something. Incubation period as long as 40 years we were told. And we were told it wasn't necassarily meat that infected her. You posters have offered some very intersting information very quickly and I appreciate it. I'm no expert but have done a lot of digging and there's really so little valid info out there. Everything seems to focus on mad cow even when talking about CJD.

[A. Pole]

The benefits of "free" market

[Nathan Zachary]

"It took my mom a year to go from early symptoms to death."

It is what "madcow" turns into in humans. The fact that your mother had such a sudden onset and rapid deterioration points to it being nvCJD.
It isn't restricted to aged people either, it could happen to someone younger as well. The thing to look for is others in your area dying of the same thing- people of ALL ages.
You are quite correct, it is something that can't be accurately diagnosed until After death. The brain has to be examined. But the sudden onset and rapid degeneration is a good sign that it is more than regular Alzheimer's disease, which progresses slower.
Another sad fact is that in most states, it isn't required that cases be reported, or even recorded, and most are just passed off as Alzheimer's, especially in older people. Again, finding cases among younger people in the same area is a big clue.
There are a few good web sites about this. I don't have the links unfortunately. I did a lot of research into this a few years ago. Not every case can be said to be linked to bad beef either. Just like BSE, this occurs naturally among humans (as it does in cows) about one case in every million. That means there should be about 280 cases a year in America among humans. Since cows also have this occur naturally, we should find about 43 cases a year. But we don't.

There are some reasons why we don't, one being the cows are slaughtered before the disease advances, the other is because we don't test every cow. We should test every single cow like the japs do, the cost is minimal.

[Batman94]

My mom had to have a brain biopsy to diagnose the Heiden-hain variant. Not the easy biopsy either. They drilled a one inch hole in her head to do it which caused seizures to develop which were held in check by some drug that inconveniently caused insomnia. If it weren't the Emory doctors we took her to it probably would have been diagnosed incorrectly. Our doctors said told about everything you have said, one in a million. Less than one percent of people in families where it shows up frequently is genetic. I saw the part of the article about New Guinea Kuru and the cannibalism but I could have sworn I saw something where the problem may have been something in the wheat they were eating. May the fertilizer? Again, I am probably an expert now in caring for CJD victims but not all the facts about the disease.

[Al Simmons]

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease used to be a fairly uncommon disease mostly seen in Eastern Europe where the practice of eating infected sheep's brains was the culprit.

The WSJ did a piece on it about 15-16 years ago I remember reading. I guess this Mad Cow disease is the bovine equivalent....makes you wonder if somehow our practice of domesticating and then artificially breeding cattle for generations might have been related to the appearance of this disease somehow...anyone with a science/medical background out there who could enlighten us???

[Finalapproach29er]

Denny Crane may be telling the truth.