Tuesday, September 16, 2014

mad cow scaremongers consumerfreedom.com December 20, 2003 article and a 2014 review

mad cow scaremongers consumerfreedom.com December 20, 2003 article and a 2014 review
 
Mad Cow Scaremongers
 
by Terry S. Singeltary Sr. a review of the TSE prion agent 2003-2011
 
Posted On December 20, 2003
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Mad Cow Scaremongers
 
Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman says that "beef is absolutely safe to eat." Harvard University experts note that the risk of Americans contracting mad cow disease is "as close to zero as you can get." Every reputable expert tells us that the American meat supply is still safe. And yet a cabal of animal-rights activists and radical opponents of modern farming are already hitting the airwaves for one purpose: to spread fear and needless alarm. These people are activists, not knowledgeable scientists. Their expertise is in scare mongering, not livestock agriculture. Their goal is to promote animal rights and organic-only, 1800s-style agriculture. And their track record is full of doom-and-gloom predictions that never came true.
 
Who are these masters of disaster? A rogues gallery follows:
 
John Stauber -- director of the anti-corporate Center for Media & Democracy, and co-author of the 1997 book Mad Cow USA, which was supported financially by the eco-religious Foundation for Deep Ecology. Stauber sits on the national advisory board of the Organic Consumers Association, as reliable a scaremonger as any about the American food supply. Stauber has become a near-ubiquitous media presence in mad-cow-related stories. Just minutes after Secretary Veneman finished her press conference announcing the discovery of a single sick cow, Stauber told CNN -- without any evidence whatsoever -- that it was just "the tip of an invisible iceberg" and that "mad cow disease is spread throughout North America."
 
Ronnie Cummins -- head of the Organic Consumers Association, a group founded by radical anti-technology guru Jeremy Rifkin. Cummins has openly expressed his hope that a U.S. mad-cow epidemic would fuel a "crisis of confidence" in American food, similar to the one that he claims drove British consumers to "organic" and other high-priced options. In 1998 Cummins told the Minneapolis City Pages that "consumers and farmers would both be better off if people paid twice as much for their meat and ate half as much." This June he confidently told a Canadian Press reporter that "no case of mad cow has ever been found in a cow raised on an organic farm." This, actually, is not true. The British Central Veterinary Laboratory reports that in 1995 (at the height of the UK outbreak), there were 215 confirmed cases of mad cow disease from 36 different organic farms. And Germany's very first case of mad cow disease was diagnosed in a slaughterhouse that only processed organically-raised cattle.
 
Michael Greger -- a vegetarian activist doctor who maintains a brisk animal-rights speaking schedule and edits the mad-cow-scare web page of the Organic Consumers Association. He recently provided PETA with a laughable treatise suggesting that the SARS outbreak came from livestock farming. Greger titled his mad-cow stump speech "Mad Cow Disease: Plague of the 21st Century?." He argues: "although no pigs or chickens have been found with the disease ... any animal with a brain has the potential to become infected." Greger has yet to produce any evidence to support this claim, largely because there isn't any. Neither hogs nor hens (nor fish, for that matter) suffer from mad-cow-like illnesses. Greger is planning to hit the lecture circuit in an effort to "keep hammering" the meat industry and " keep this momentum going."
 
Michael Hansen -- the Consumers Union of the United States' self-proclaimed "expert" on genetically enhanced food, bovine growth hormone, mad cow disease, and any other food issue he deems ripe for scaremongering. When the Canadian mad-cow story broke earlier this year, Hansen blithely suggested that American consumers should eat only grass-fed, "organic," and other specialty beef. Hansen's statements on mad cow have appeared in hundreds of media outlets, and his boss, Jean Halloran, has weighed in as well.
 
Howard Lyman -- one part animal-rights scold, one part revival tent preacher [click here for video]. Lyman trades on the fact that he was brought up in a cattle-ranching family to imply that his strict vegetarianism is somehow more informed than everyone else's dietary choices. Lyman famously (and incorrectly) predicted on the "Oprah" show that mad cow disease among Americans would "make AIDS look like the common cold." Just 14 hours after the U.S. mad-cow announcement, animal-rights terroristand Sierra Club board member Paul Watson published an op-ed asserting that "Howard Lyman predicted this outbreak years ago. Perhaps now the public might pay more attention to this Montana rancher turned vegan. He knows that of which he speaks." It's no coincidence that Lyman is on the advisory board of Watson's violent Sea Shepard Conservation Society. The front page of The Washington Post's "Style" section seconded Watson's misleading praise of Lyman with an article titled "Ex-Cattleman's Warning Was No Bum Steer."
 
Dave Louthan -- a disgruntled former employee of the Washington state meat processing plant where the first U.S. mad-cow case was detected. After losing the job he loved (slaughtering cows), Louthan launched a crusade against beef producers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a personal jihad supported by animal rights activists who must otherwise recoil at his admitted passion for bloodying beef cattle. This is a man who clearly enjoyed his work -- using a bolt gun to kill cows, buffalo, ostrich, emu and alpaca for Vern’s Moses Lake Meats. He told the New York Times that killing is “really fun,” and beats deboning, which he calls “girls’ work.” In the Seattle Times, Louthan added: “I liked to kill cows. I don’t care if I’m hauling them, feeding them or killing them.”
 
Like many in the meat business, Louthan lost his source of income because of the mad cow scare recklessly promoted by activist groups. But he’s mad, and he’s fighting back. Despite copious evidence to the contrary, he continues to claim that the famous cow he killed (the one that later tested positive) and many others like it were ground into hamburger and entered the human food chain. “The hamburger surprise in your kids’ school lunch,” Dave claims, “has come from mad cows … Your kids will get mad cow from it.” A man of many contradictions, Louthan warns that the U.S. government “is trying to kill you.” He’s calling on anti-beef and animal-rights groups to send him money so he can “keep up the fight.” Yet he admits continuing to eat beef on a daily basis. The verdict is still out on whether or not this former trucker from Texas can successfully change careers from killing cows to assassinating the character of cattlemen.
 
*** Terry Singletary -- A retired machinist and high school dropout, Terry Singletary suffered the tragic loss of his mother to “sporadic” Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in 1997. Desperate to find an explanation for his mother’s death, he has devoted himself to the sad and fruitless task of connecting her death to her diet. Various reports confirm that Mrs. Singletary’s life was claimed by the most common sub-type of CJD (one that accounts for 70 percent of “sporadic” cases). Sporadic CJD, unlike its newer “variant,” is not linked to meat.
 
As the self-appointed international coordinator of CJD Watch, an organization he co-founded with social worker Deborah Oney, Singletary is cited in media reports as an apparent expert on tracking mad cow disease. This despite his lack of formal education and the absence for support from any credible academic, medical or scientific authority. His sensationalist allegations about the safety of U.S. beef have found their way into hundreds of newspapers and broadcasts. Singletary moderates a mad-cow discussion forum run by a vegetarian activist group; his contributions account for more than half the traffic on the “BSE-L” mailing list, which is generally read by real scientists. Animal rights activists and other food-scare artists frequently refer to him as “Dr. Terry Singletary,” apparently an honorary degree as he has yet to finish high school.
 
Like many activists, Singletary ignores overwhelming epidemiological and laboratory evidence that rules out a connection between sporadic CJD and beef. Relying entirely on shallow circumstantial evidence and frequent repetition of claims which have been publicly refuted as false, he also blindly insists upon a mad-cow with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Lou Gehrig’s disease. His specific allegations have been clearly refuted by Centers for Disease Countrol and Prevention scientists in the journal Neurology.
 
RE-Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United States
 
26 March 2003
 
Terry S. Singeltary, retired (medically) CJD WATCH
 
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?
 
 
SNIP...SEE FULL TEXT ;
 
 
 
Posted On December 20, 2003
 
AFTER THE FIRST CASE OF MAD COW DISEASE IN THE USA WAS DOCUMENTED
 
" Like many activists, Singletary ignores overwhelming epidemiological and laboratory evidence that rules out a connection between sporadic CJD and beef. Relying entirely on shallow circumstantial evidence and frequent repetition of claims which have been publicly refuted as false, he also blindly insists upon a mad-cow with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Lou Gehrig’s disease. "
 
 
SO, just who are The Center for Consumer Freedom ;
 
 
let's take a closer look shall we ;
 
The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) (formerly called the "Guest Choice Network (GCN)") is a front group for the restaurant, alcohol and tobacco industries. It runs media campaigns which oppose the efforts of scientists, doctors, health advocates, environmentalists and groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, calling them "the Nanny Culture -- the growing fraternity of food cops, health care enforcers, anti-meat activists, and meddling bureaucrats who 'know what's best for you.'"
 
CCF is registered as a tax-exempt, non-profit organization under the IRS code 501(c)(3). Its advisory board is comprised mainly of representatives from the restaurant, meat and alcoholic beverage industries.
 
 
 
SNIP...SEE FULL TEXT AND MORE HERE
 
 
 
NOW, let’s review the TSE prion aka mad cow type disease science to date, since this consumerfreedom.com article was published in December of 2003,  shall we...
 
mad cow scaremongers consumerfreedom.com 2014 review
 
Thursday, August 12, 2010
 
Seven main threats for the future linked to prions
 
First threat
 
The TSE road map defining the evolution of European policy for protection against prion diseases is based on a certain numbers of hypotheses some of which may turn out to be erroneous. In particular, a form of BSE (called atypical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), recently identified by systematic testing in aged cattle without clinical signs, may be the origin of classical BSE and thus potentially constitute a reservoir, which may be impossible to eradicate if a sporadic origin is confirmed.
 
*** Also, a link is suspected between atypical BSE and some apparently sporadic cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
 
*** These atypical BSE cases constitute an unforeseen first threat that could sharply modify the European approach to prion diseases.
 
Second threat
 
snip...
 
 
Monday, October 10, 2011
 
EFSA Journal 2011 The European Response to BSE: A Success Story
 
snip...
 
EFSA and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) recently delivered a scientific opinion on any possible epidemiological or molecular association between TSEs in animals and humans (EFSA Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) and ECDC, 2011). This opinion confirmed Classical BSE prions as the only TSE agents demonstrated to be zoonotic so far
 
*** but the possibility that a small proportion of human cases so far classified as "sporadic" CJD are of zoonotic origin could not be excluded.
 
*** Moreover, transmission experiments to non-human primates suggest that some TSE agents in addition to Classical BSE prions in cattle (namely L-type Atypical BSE, Classical BSE in sheep, transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME) and chronic wasting disease (CWD) agents) might have zoonotic potential.
 
snip...
 
 
 
To date the OIE/WAHO assumes that the human and animal health standards set out in the BSE chapter for classical BSE (C-Type) applies to all forms of BSE which include the H-type and L-type atypical forms. This assumption is scientifically not completely justified and accumulating evidence suggests that this may in fact not be the case. Molecular characterization and the spatial distribution pattern of histopathologic lesions and immunohistochemistry (IHC) signals are used to identify and characterize atypical BSE. Both the L-type and H-type atypical cases display significant differences in the conformation and spatial accumulation of the disease associated prion protein (PrPSc) in brains of afflicted cattle. Transmission studies in bovine transgenic and wild type mouse models support that the atypical BSE types might be unique strains because they have different incubation times and lesion profiles when compared to C-type BSE. When L-type BSE was inoculated into ovine transgenic mice and Syrian hamster the resulting molecular fingerprint had changed, either in the first or a subsequent passage, from L-type into C-type BSE.
 
***In addition, non-human primates are specifically susceptible for atypical BSE as demonstrated by an approximately 50% shortened incubation time for L-type BSE as compared to C-type. Considering the current scientific information available, it cannot be assumed that these different BSE types pose the same human health risks as C-type BSE or that these risks are mitigated by the same protective measures.
 
 
BSE prions propagate as either variant CJD-like or sporadic CJD-like prion strains in transgenic mice expressing human prion protein
 
*** Surprisingly, however, BSE transmission to these transgenic mice, in addition to producing a vCJD-like phenotype, can also result in a distinct molecular phenotype that is indistinguishable from that of sporadic CJD with PrPSc type 2.
 
These data suggest that more than one BSEderived prion strain might infect humans;
 
***it is therefore possible that some patients with a phenotype consistent with sporadic CJD may have a disease arising from BSE exposure.
 
snip...
 
These studies further strengthen the evidence that vCJD is caused by a BSE-like prion strain.
 
Also, remarkably, the key neuropathological hallmark of vCJD, the presence of abundant florid PrP plaques, can be recapitulated on BSE or vCJD transmission to these mice.
 
***However, the most surprising aspect of the studies was the finding that an alternate pattern of disease can be induced in 129MM Tg35 mice from primary transmission of BSE, with a molecular phenotype indistinguishable from that of a subtype of sporadic CJD. This finding has important potential implications as it raises the possibility that some humans infected with BSE prions may develop a clinical disease indistinguishable from classical CJD associated with type 2 PrPSc. This is, in our experience, the commonest molecular sub-type of sporadic CJD. In this regard, it is of interest that the reported incidence of sporadic CJD has risen in the UK since the 1970s (Cousens et al., 1997)...
 
 
-------- 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" e.asante@ic.ac.uk
 
To: "'flounder@wt.net'" flounder@wt.net
 
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: e.asante@ic.ac.uk (until 9/12/02) New e-mail: e.asante@prion.ucl.ac.uk (active from now)
 
____________________________________
 
Published March 26, 2003
 
RE-Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United States
 
Terry S. Singeltary, retired (medically)
 
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?
 
Published March 26, 2003
 
 
Letters
 
JAMA. 2001;285(6):733-734. doi: 10.1001/jama.285.6.733
 
Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
 
Terry S. Singeltary, Sr Bacliff, Tex
 
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
 
KEYWORDS: creutzfeldt-jakob disease, diagnosis. To the Editor: In their Research Letter, Dr Gibbons and colleagues1 reported that the annual US death rate due to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has been stable since 1985. These estimates, however, are based only on reported cases, and do not include misdiagnosed or preclinical cases. It seems to me that misdiagnosis alone would drastically change these figures. An unknown number of persons with a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease in fact may have CJD, although only a small number of these patients receive the postmortem examination necessary to make this diagnosis. Furthermore, only a few states have made CJD reportable. Human and animal transmissible spongiform encephalopathies should be reportable nationwide and internationally.
 
References 1. Gibbons RV, Holman RC, Belay ED, Schonberger LB. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United States: 1979-1998. JAMA. 2000;284:2322-2323.
 
 
14th ICID International Scientific Exchange Brochure - Final Abstract Number: ISE.114
 
Session: International Scientific Exchange
 
Transmissible Spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) animal and human TSE in North America update October 2009
 
T. Singeltary Bacliff, TX, USA
 
Background: An update on atypical BSE and other TSE in North America. Please remember, the typical U.K. c-BSE, the atypical l-BSE (BASE), and h-BSE have all been documented in North America, along with the typical scrapie's, and atypical Nor-98 Scrapie, and to date, 2 different strains of CWD, and also TME. All these TSE in different species have been rendered and fed to food producing animals for humans and animals in North America (TSE in cats and dogs ?), and that the trading of these TSEs via animals and products via the USA and Canada has been immense over the years, decades.
 
Methods: 12 years independent research of available data
 
Results: I propose that the current diagnostic criteria for human TSEs only enhances and helps the spreading of human TSE from the continued belief of the UKBSEnvCJD only theory in 2009. With all the science to date refuting it, to continue to validate this old myth, will only spread this TSE agent through a multitude of potential routes and sources i.e. consumption, medical i.e., surgical, blood, dental, endoscopy, optical, nutritional supplements, cosmetics etc.
 
Conclusion: I would like to submit a review of past CJD surveillance in the USA, and the urgent need to make all human TSE in the USA a reportable disease, in every state, of every age group, and to make this mandatory immediately without further delay. The ramifications of not doing so will only allow this agent to spread further in the medical, dental, surgical arena's. Restricting the reporting of CJD and or any human TSE is NOT scientific. Iatrogenic CJD knows NO age group, TSE knows no boundaries. I propose as with Aguzzi, Asante, Collinge, Caughey, Deslys, Dormont, Gibbs, Gajdusek, Ironside, Manuelidis, Marsh, et al and many more, that the world of TSE Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy is far from an exact science, but there is enough proven science to date that this myth should be put to rest once and for all, and that we move forward with a new classification for human and animal TSE that would properly identify the infected species, the source species, and then the route.
 
 
The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Volume 3, Issue 8, Page 463, August 2003 doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(03)00715-1Cite or Link Using DOI
 
Tracking spongiform encephalopathies in North America
 
Original
 
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 ...
 
 
 
SEE FULL TEXT ;
 
-------- Original Message --------
 
Subject: Tracking spongiform encephalopathies in North America LANCET INFECTIOUS DISEASE Volume 3, Number 8 01 August 2003
 
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 17:35:30 –0500
 
From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr." Reply-To: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
 
To: BSE-L@uni-karlsruhe.de
 
Volume 3, Number 8 01 August 2003
 
Previous
 
Next
 
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.
 
 
Singeltary submission to PLOS ;
 
No competing interests declared.
 
see full text ;
 
 
Re: vCJD in the USA * BSE in U.S. 15 November 1999 Terry S Singeltary, NA
 
CWD is just a small piece of a very big puzzle. I have seen while deer hunting, deer, squirrels and birds, eating from cattle feed troughs where they feed cattle, the high protein cattle by products, at least up until Aug. 4, 1997. So why would it be so hard to believe that this is how they might become infected with a TSE. Or, even by potentially infected land. It's been well documented that it could be possible, from scrapie.
 
It was proven in Oprah Winfrey's trial, that Cactus Cattle feeders, sent neurologically ill cattle, some with encephalopathy stamped on the dead slips, were picked up and sent to the renders, along with sheep carcasses.
 
 
U.S. Scientist should be concerned with a CJD epidemic in the U.S., as well... 2 January 2000 Terry S Singeltary
 
The exact same recipe for B.S.E. existed in the U.S. for years and years. In reading over the Qualitative Analysis of BSE Risk Factors-1, this is a 25 page report by the USDA:APHIS:VS. It could have been done in one page. The first page, fourth paragraph says it all;
 
"Similarities exist in the two countries usage of continuous rendering technology and the lack of usage of solvents, however, large differences still remain with other risk factors which greatly reduce the potential risk at the national level."
 
Then, the next 24 pages tries to down-play the high risks of B.S.E. in the U.S., with nothing more than the cattle to sheep ratio count, and the geographical locations of herds and flocks. That's all the evidence they can come up with, in the next 24 pages.
 
Something else I find odd, page 16;
 
"In the United Kingdom there is much concern for a specific continuous rendering technology which uses lower temperatures and accounts for 25 percent of total output. This technology was _originally_ designed and imported from the United States. However, the specific application in the production process is _believed_ to be different in the two countries."
 
A few more factors to consider, page 15;
 
"Figure 26 compares animal protein production for the two countries. The calculations are based on slaughter numbers, fallen stock estimates, and product yield coefficients. This approach is used due to variation of up to 80 percent from different reported sources. At 3.6 million tons, the United States produces 8 times more animal rendered product than the United Kingdom."
 
"The risk of introducing the BSE agent through sheep meat and bone meal is more acute in both relative and absolute terms in the United Kingdom (Figures 27 and 28). Note that sheep meat and bone meal accounts for 14 percent, or 61 thousand tons, in the United Kingdom versus 0.6 percent or 22 thousand tons in the United States. For sheep greater than 1 year, this is less than one-tenth of one percent of the United States supply."
 
"The potential risk of amplification of the BSE agent through cattle meat and bone meal is much greater in the United States where it accounts for 59 percent of total product or almost 5 times more than the total amount of rendered product in the United Kingdom."
 
Considering, it would only take _one_ scrapie infected sheep to contaminate the feed. Considering Scrapie has run rampant in the U.S. for years, as of Aug. 1999, 950 scrapie infected flocks. Also, Considering only one quarter spoonful of scrapie infected material is lethal to a cow. Considering all this, the sheep to cow ration is meaningless. As I said, it's 24 pages of B.S.e.
 
To be continued...
 
Terry S. Singeltary Sr. P.O. Box 42 Bacliff, Texas USA
 
Competing interests: None declared
 
 
Singeltary Response to USDA, and USDA RESPONSE TO SINGELTARY ON HARVARD BSE RISK ASSESSMENT
 
Owens, Julie
 
From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. [flounder9@verizon.net]
 
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 1:09 PM
 
To: FSIS RegulationsComments
 
Subject: [Docket No. FSIS-2006-0011] FSIS Harvard Risk Assessment of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Page 1 of 98
 
 
FSIS, USDA, REPLY TO SINGELTARY
 
 
Friday, December 14, 2012
 
DEFRA U.K. What is the risk of Chronic Wasting Disease CWD being introduced into Great Britain? A Qualitative Risk Assessment October 2012
 
snip...
 
In the USA, under the Food and Drug Administration’s BSE Feed Regulation (21 CFR 589.2000) most material (exceptions include milk, tallow, and gelatin) from deer and elk is prohibited for use in feed for ruminant animals. With regards to feed for non-ruminant animals, under FDA law, CWD positive deer may not be used for any animal feed or feed ingredients. For elk and deer considered at high risk for CWD, the FDA recommends that these animals do not enter the animal feed system. ***However, this recommendation is guidance and not a requirement by law. ***
 
Animals considered at high risk for CWD include:
 
1) animals from areas declared to be endemic for CWD and/or to be CWD eradication zones and
 
2) deer and elk that at some time during the 60-month period prior to slaughter were in a captive herd that contained a CWD-positive animal.
 
Therefore, in the USA, materials from cervids other than CWD positive animals may be used in animal feed and feed ingredients for non-ruminants.
 
The amount of animal PAP that is of deer and/or elk origin imported from the USA to GB can not be determined, however, as it is not specified in TRACES. It may constitute a small percentage of the 8412 kilos of non-fish origin processed animal proteins that were imported from US into GB in 2011.
 
Overall, therefore, it is considered there is a __greater than negligible risk___ that (nonruminant) animal feed and pet food containing deer and/or elk protein is imported into GB.
 
There is uncertainty associated with this estimate given the lack of data on the amount of deer and/or elk protein possibly being imported in these products.
 
snip...
 
36% in 2007 (Almberg et al., 2011). In such areas, population declines of deer of up to 30 to 50% have been observed (Almberg et al., 2011). In areas of Colorado, the prevalence can be as high as 30% (EFSA, 2011).
 
The clinical signs of CWD in affected adults are weight loss and behavioural changes that can span weeks or months (Williams, 2005). In addition, signs might include excessive salivation, behavioural alterations including a fixed stare and changes in interaction with other animals in the herd, and an altered stance (Williams, 2005). These signs are indistinguishable from cervids experimentally infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
 
Given this, if CWD was to be introduced into countries with BSE such as GB, for example, infected deer populations would need to be tested to differentiate if they were infected with CWD or BSE to minimise the risk of BSE entering the human food-chain via affected venison.
 
snip...
 
The rate of transmission of CWD has been reported to be as high as 30% and can approach 100% among captive animals in endemic areas (Safar et al., 2008).
 
snip...
 
In summary, in endemic areas, there is a medium probability that the soil and surrounding environment is contaminated with CWD prions and in a bioavailable form. In rural areas where CWD has not been reported and deer are present, there is a greater than negligible risk the soil is contaminated with CWD prion.
 
snip...
 
In summary, given the volume of tourists, hunters and servicemen moving between GB and North America, the probability of at least one person travelling to/from a CWD affected area and, in doing so, contaminating their clothing, footwear and/or equipment prior to arriving in GB is greater than negligible. For deer hunters, specifically, the risk is likely to be greater given the increased contact with deer and their environment. However, there is significant uncertainty associated with these estimates.
 
snip...
 
Therefore, it is considered that farmed and park deer may have a higher probability of exposure to CWD transferred to the environment than wild deer given the restricted habitat range and higher frequency of contact with tourists and returning GB residents.
 
snip...
 
 
 
==================================
 
In the USA, under the Food and Drug Administration’s BSE Feed Regulation (21 CFR 589.2000) most material (exceptions include milk, tallow, and gelatin) from deer and elk is prohibited for use in feed for ruminant animals. With regards to feed for non-ruminant animals, under FDA law, CWD positive deer may not be used for any animal feed or feed ingredients. For elk and deer considered at high risk for CWD, the FDA recommends that these animals do not enter the animal feed system. ***However, this recommendation is guidance and not a requirement by law.
 
=================================
 
Discussion: The C, L and H type BSE cases in Canada exhibit molecular characteristics similar to those described for classical and atypical BSE cases from Europe and Japan. *** This supports the theory that the importation of BSE contaminated feedstuff is the source of C-type BSE in Canada. *** It also suggests a similar cause or source for atypical BSE in these countries. ***
 
see page 176 of 201 pages...tss
 
 
*** Singeltary reply ; Molecular, Biochemical and Genetic Characteristics of BSE in Canada Singeltary reply ;
 
 
10,000,000+ LBS. of PROHIBITED BANNED MAD COW FEED I.E. BLOOD LACED MBM IN COMMERCE USA 2007
 
Date: March 21, 2007 at 2:27 pm PST
 
RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: VETERINARY MEDICINES -- CLASS II
 
PRODUCT
 
Bulk cattle feed made with recalled Darling's 85% Blood Meal, Flash Dried, Recall # V-024-2007
 
CODE
 
Cattle feed delivered between 01/12/2007 and 01/26/2007
 
RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER
 
Pfeiffer, Arno, Inc, Greenbush, WI. by conversation on February 5, 2007.
 
Firm initiated recall is ongoing.
 
REASON
 
Blood meal used to make cattle feed was recalled because it was cross- contaminated with prohibited bovine meat and bone meal that had been manufactured on common equipment and labeling did not bear cautionary BSE statement.
 
VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE
 
42,090 lbs.
 
DISTRIBUTION
 
WI
 
___________________________________
 
PRODUCT
 
Custom dairy premix products: MNM ALL PURPOSE Pellet, HILLSIDE/CDL Prot- Buffer Meal, LEE, M.-CLOSE UP PX Pellet, HIGH DESERT/ GHC LACT Meal, TATARKA, M CUST PROT Meal, SUNRIDGE/CDL PROTEIN Blend, LOURENZO, K PVM DAIRY Meal, DOUBLE B DAIRY/GHC LAC Mineral, WEST PIONT/GHC CLOSEUP Mineral, WEST POINT/GHC LACT Meal, JENKS, J/COMPASS PROTEIN Meal, COPPINI - 8# SPECIAL DAIRY Mix, GULICK, L-LACT Meal (Bulk), TRIPLE J - PROTEIN/LACTATION, ROCK CREEK/GHC MILK Mineral, BETTENCOURT/GHC S.SIDE MK-MN, BETTENCOURT #1/GHC MILK MINR, V&C DAIRY/GHC LACT Meal, VEENSTRA, F/GHC LACT Meal, SMUTNY, A- BYPASS ML W/SMARTA, Recall # V-025-2007
 
CODE
 
The firm does not utilize a code - only shipping documentation with commodity and weights identified.
 
RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER
 
Rangen, Inc, Buhl, ID, by letters on February 13 and 14, 2007. Firm initiated recall is complete.
 
REASON
 
Products manufactured from bulk feed containing blood meal that was cross contaminated with prohibited meat and bone meal and the labeling did not bear cautionary BSE statement.
 
VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE
 
9,997,976 lbs.
 
DISTRIBUTION
 
ID and NV
 
END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR MARCH 21, 2007
 
 
Sunday, December 15, 2013
 
*** FDA PART 589 -- SUBSTANCES PROHIBITED FROM USE IN ANIMAL FOOD OR FEED VIOLATIONS OFFICIAL ACTION INDICATED OIA UPDATE DECEMBER 2013 UPDATE ***
 
 
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
 
MAD COW USDA TSE PRION COVER UP or JUST IGNORANCE, for the record AUGUST 2014
 
 
Thursday, June 23, 2011
 
Experimental H-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy characterized by plaques and glial- and stellate-type prion protein deposits
 
 
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 4th MAD COW DISEASE U.S.A. CALIFORNIA ATYPICAL L-TYPE BSE 2012
 
 
2012 ATYPICAL L-TYPE BSE BASE CALIFORNIA ‘confirmed’ Saturday, August 4, 2012
 
*** Final Feed Investigation Summary - California BSE Case - July 2012
 
 
However, a BSE expert said that consumption of infected material is the only known way that cattle get the disease under natural conditons.
 
*** “In view of what we know about BSE after almost 20 years experience, contaminated feed has been the source of the epidemic,” said Paul Brown, a scientist retired from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke. BSE is not caused by a microbe. It is caused by the misfolding of the so-called “prion protein” that is a normal constituent of brain and other tissues. If a diseased version of the protein enters the brain somehow, it can slowly cause all the normal versions to become misfolded. It is possible the disease could arise spontaneously, though such an event has never been recorded, Brown said.
 
 
*** What irks many scientists is the USDA’s April 25 statement that the rare disease is “not generally associated with an animal consuming infected feed.” The USDA’s conclusion is a “gross oversimplification,” said Dr. Paul Brown, one of the world’s experts on this type of disease who retired recently from the National Institutes of Health. "(The agency) has no foundation on which to base that statement.”
 
 
atypical Nor-98 Scrapie
 
Overall, all Nor98 isolates contained highly PK resistant PrPres aggregates, with the main PrPres being a non-glycosylated internal fragment, cleaved at both the N and C termini, which represent the distinctive biochemical feature of Nor98. This biochemical signature, unique among animal TSEs, is reminiscent of PrPres observed in human prion disorders such as GSS and VPSPr. snip... At present the only epidemiological link between animal and human TSEs has been demonstrated for classical BSE and variant CJD [16], [78], showing for the first time the zoonotic potential of TSEs. Since then, the implementation of active surveillance in livestock has led to the identification of Nor98 and other previously unrecognised animal prion strains, mainly with a sporadic occurrence, whose origin and zoonotic potential are still poorly understood [79]. It has been previously shown that peripheral tissues of sheep with Nor98 might harbour detectable levels of infectivity [49], [50], indicating that infectious material might enter the food chain. On the other hand, the well known genetic aetiology of GSS suggests that the similar PrPSc conformations found in Nor98 and GSS P102L are unlikely to indicate a common infectious source, but might derive from a similar molecular mechanisms involved in PrPC-to-PrPSc conversion. snip...
 
Citation: Pirisinu L, Nonno R, Esposito E, Benestad SL, Gambetti P, et al. (2013)
 
Small Ruminant Nor98 Prions Share Biochemical Features with Human Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker Disease and Variably Protease-Sensitive Prionopathy.
 
PLoS ONE 8(6): e66405. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066405
 
Editor: Corinne Ida Lasmezas, The Scripps Research Institute Scripps Florida, United States of America
 
Received: January 24, 2013; Accepted: May 6, 2013; Published: June 24, 2013
 
Copyright: © 2013 Pirisinu et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
 
Funding: This work was supported by grants from the Italian Ministry of Health (RF-2009-1474624); the European Union (Neuroprion Network of Excellence CT-2004–506579); the National Institutes of Health (NIH) NS062787, NIH AG-08012, AG-14359; Alliance BioSecure, as well as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Contract UR8/CCU515004. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
 
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
 
 
*** The discovery of previously unrecognized prion diseases in both humans and animals (i.e., Nor98 in small ruminants) demonstrates that the range of prion diseases might be wider than expected and raises crucial questions about the epidemiology and strain properties of these new forms. We are investigating this latter issue by molecular and biological comparison of VPSPr, GSS and Nor98.
 
VARIABLY PROTEASE-SENSITVE PRIONOPATHY IS TRANSMISSIBLE ...price of prion poker goes up again $
 
OR-10: Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy is transmissible in bank voles
 
Romolo Nonno,1 Michele Di Bari,1 Laura Pirisinu,1 Claudia D’Agostino,1 Stefano Marcon,1 Geraldina Riccardi,1 Gabriele Vaccari,1 Piero Parchi,2 Wenquan Zou,3 Pierluigi Gambetti,3 Umberto Agrimi1 1Istituto Superiore di Sanità; Rome, Italy; 2Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche, Università di Bologna; Bologna, Italy; 3Case Western Reserve University; Cleveland, OH USA
 
Background. Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy (VPSPr) is a recently described “sporadic”neurodegenerative disease involving prion protein aggregation, which has clinical similarities with non-Alzheimer dementias, such as fronto-temporal dementia. Currently, 30 cases of VPSPr have been reported in Europe and USA, of which 19 cases were homozygous for valine at codon 129 of the prion protein (VV), 8 were MV and 3 were MM. A distinctive feature of VPSPr is the electrophoretic pattern of PrPSc after digestion with proteinase K (PK). After PK-treatment, PrP from VPSPr forms a ladder-like electrophoretic pattern similar to that described in GSS cases. The clinical and pathological features of VPSPr raised the question of the correct classification of VPSPr among prion diseases or other forms of neurodegenerative disorders. Here we report preliminary data on the transmissibility and pathological features of VPSPr cases in bank voles.
 
Materials and Methods. Seven VPSPr cases were inoculated in two genetic lines of bank voles, carrying either methionine or isoleucine at codon 109 of the prion protein (named BvM109 and BvI109, respectively). Among the VPSPr cases selected, 2 were VV at PrP codon 129, 3 were MV and 2 were MM. Clinical diagnosis in voles was confirmed by brain pathological assessment and western blot for PK-resistant PrPSc (PrPres) with mAbs SAF32, SAF84, 12B2 and 9A2.
 
Results. To date, 2 VPSPr cases (1 MV and 1 MM) gave positive transmission in BvM109. Overall, 3 voles were positive with survival time between 290 and 588 d post inoculation (d.p.i.). All positive voles accumulated PrPres in the form of the typical PrP27–30, which was indistinguishable to that previously observed in BvM109 inoculated with sCJDMM1 cases.
 
In BvI109, 3 VPSPr cases (2 VV and 1 MM) showed positive transmission until now. Overall, 5 voles were positive with survival time between 281 and 596 d.p.i.. In contrast to what observed in BvM109, all BvI109 showed a GSS-like PrPSc electrophoretic pattern, characterized by low molecular weight PrPres. These PrPres fragments were positive with mAb 9A2 and 12B2, while being negative with SAF32 and SAF84, suggesting that they are cleaved at both the C-terminus and the N-terminus. Second passages are in progress from these first successful transmissions.
 
Conclusions. Preliminary results from transmission studies in bank voles strongly support the notion that VPSPr is a transmissible prion disease. Interestingly, VPSPr undergoes divergent evolution in the two genetic lines of voles, with sCJD-like features in BvM109 and GSS-like properties in BvI109.
 
The discovery of previously unrecognized prion diseases in both humans and animals (i.e., Nor98 in small ruminants) demonstrates that the range of prion diseases might be wider than expected and raises crucial questions about the epidemiology and strain properties of these new forms. We are investigating this latter issue by molecular and biological comparison of VPSPr, GSS and Nor98.
 
 
P03.141
 
Aspects of the Cerebellar Neuropathology in Nor98
 
Gavier-Widén, D1; Benestad, SL2; Ottander, L1; Westergren, E1 1National Veterinary Insitute, Sweden; 2National Veterinary Institute,
 
Norway Nor98 is a prion disease of old sheep and goats. This atypical form of scrapie was first described in Norway in 1998. Several features of Nor98 were shown to be different from classical scrapie including the distribution of disease associated prion protein (PrPd) accumulation in the brain. The cerebellum is generally the most affected brain area in Nor98. The study here presented aimed at adding information on the neuropathology in the cerebellum of Nor98 naturally affected sheep of various genotypes in Sweden and Norway. A panel of histochemical and immunohistochemical (IHC) stainings such as IHC for PrPd, synaptophysin, glial fibrillary acidic protein, amyloid, and cell markers for phagocytic cells were conducted. The type of histological lesions and tissue reactions were evaluated. The types of PrPd deposition were characterized. The cerebellar cortex was regularly affected, even though there was a variation in the severity of the lesions from case to case. Neuropil vacuolation was more marked in the molecular layer, but affected also the granular cell layer. There was a loss of granule cells. Punctate deposition of PrPd was characteristic. It was morphologically and in distribution identical with that of synaptophysin, suggesting that PrPd accumulates in the synaptic structures. PrPd was also observed in the granule cell layer and in the white matter. The pathology features of Nor98 in the cerebellum of the affected sheep showed similarities with those of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
 
***The pathology features of Nor98 in the cerebellum of the affected sheep showed similarities with those of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
 
 
PR-26
 
NOR98 SHOWS MOLECULAR FEATURES REMINISCENT OF GSS
 
R. Nonno1, E. Esposito1, G. Vaccari1, E. Bandino2, M. Conte1, B. Chiappini1, S. Marcon1, M. Di Bari1, S.L. Benestad3, U. Agrimi1 1 Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Public Health, Rome, Italy (romolo.nonno@iss.it); 2 Istituto Zooprofilattico della Sardegna, Sassari, Italy; 3 National Veterinary Institute, Department of Pathology, Oslo, Norway
 
Molecular variants of PrPSc are being increasingly investigated in sheep scrapie and are generally referred to as "atypical" scrapie, as opposed to "classical scrapie". Among the atypical group, Nor98 seems to be the best identified. We studied the molecular properties of Italian and Norwegian Nor98 samples by WB analysis of brain homogenates, either untreated, digested with different concentrations of proteinase K, or subjected to enzymatic deglycosylation. The identity of PrP fragments was inferred by means of antibodies spanning the full PrP sequence. We found that undigested brain homogenates contain a Nor98-specific PrP fragment migrating at 11 kDa (PrP11), truncated at both the C-terminus and the N-terminus, and not N-glycosylated. After mild PK digestion, Nor98 displayed full-length PrP (FL-PrP) and N-glycosylated C-terminal fragments (CTF), along with increased levels of PrP11. Proteinase K digestion curves (0,006-6,4 mg/ml) showed that FL-PrP and CTF are mainly digested above 0,01 mg/ml, while PrP11 is not entirely digested even at the highest concentrations, similarly to PrP27-30 associated with classical scrapie. Above 0,2 mg/ml PK, most Nor98 samples showed only PrP11 and a fragment of 17 kDa with the same properties of PrP11, that was tentatively identified as a dimer of PrP11. Detergent solubility studies showed that PrP11 is insoluble in 2% sodium laurylsorcosine and is mainly produced from detergentsoluble, full-length PrPSc. Furthermore, among Italian scrapie isolates, we found that a sample with molecular and pathological properties consistent with Nor98 showed plaque-like deposits of PrPSc in the thalamus when the brain was analysed by PrPSc immunohistochemistry. Taken together, our results show that the distinctive pathological feature of Nor98 is a PrP fragment spanning amino acids ~ 90-155. This fragment is produced by successive N-terminal and C-terminal cleavages from a full-length and largely detergent-soluble PrPSc, is produced in vivo and is extremely resistant to PK digestion.
 
*** Intriguingly, these conclusions suggest that some pathological features of Nor98 are reminiscent of Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease.
 
119
 
 
A newly identified type of scrapie agent can naturally infect sheep with resistant PrP genotypes
 
Annick Le Dur*,?, Vincent Béringue*,?, Olivier Andréoletti?, Fabienne Reine*, Thanh Lan Laï*, Thierry Baron§, Bjørn Bratberg¶, Jean-Luc Vilotte?, Pierre Sarradin**, Sylvie L. Benestad¶, and Hubert Laude*,?? +Author Affiliations
 
*Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires and ?Génétique Biochimique et Cytogénétique, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France; ?Unité Mixte de Recherche, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique-Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, Interactions Hôte Agent Pathogène, 31066 Toulouse, France; §Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments, Unité Agents Transmissibles Non Conventionnels, 69364 Lyon, France; **Pathologie Infectieuse et Immunologie, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 37380 Nouzilly, France; and ¶Department of Pathology, National Veterinary Institute, 0033 Oslo, Norway
 
***Edited by Stanley B. Prusiner, University of California, San Francisco, CA (received for review March 21, 2005)
 
Abstract Scrapie in small ruminants belongs to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), or prion diseases, a family of fatal neurodegenerative disorders that affect humans and animals and can transmit within and between species by ingestion or inoculation. Conversion of the host-encoded prion protein (PrP), normal cellular PrP (PrPc), into a misfolded form, abnormal PrP (PrPSc), plays a key role in TSE transmission and pathogenesis. The intensified surveillance of scrapie in the European Union, together with the improvement of PrPSc detection techniques, has led to the discovery of a growing number of so-called atypical scrapie cases. These include clinical Nor98 cases first identified in Norwegian sheep on the basis of unusual pathological and PrPSc molecular features and "cases" that produced discordant responses in the rapid tests currently applied to the large-scale random screening of slaughtered or fallen animals. Worryingly, a substantial proportion of such cases involved sheep with PrP genotypes known until now to confer natural resistance to conventional scrapie. Here we report that both Nor98 and discordant cases, including three sheep homozygous for the resistant PrPARR allele (A136R154R171), efficiently transmitted the disease to transgenic mice expressing ovine PrP, and that they shared unique biological and biochemical features upon propagation in mice. *** These observations support the view that a truly infectious TSE agent, unrecognized until recently, infects sheep and goat flocks and may have important implications in terms of scrapie control and public health.
 
 
Monday, December 1, 2008
 
When Atypical Scrapie cross species barriers
 
Authors
 
Andreoletti O., Herva M. H., Cassard H., Espinosa J. C., Lacroux C., Simon S., Padilla D., Benestad S. L., Lantier F., Schelcher F., Grassi J., Torres, J. M., UMR INRA ENVT 1225, Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Toulouse.France; ICISA-INlA, Madrid, Spain; CEA, IBiTec-5, DSV, CEA/Saclay, Gif sur Yvette cedex, France; National Veterinary Institute, Postboks 750 Sentrum, 0106 Oslo, Norway, INRA IASP, Centre INRA de Tours, 3738O Nouzilly, France.
 
Content
 
Atypical scrapie is a TSE occurring in small ruminants and harbouring peculiar clinical, epidemiological and biochemical properties. Currently this form of disease is identified in a large number of countries. In this study we report the transmission of an atypical scrapie isolate through different species barriers as modeled by transgenic mice (Tg) expressing different species PRP sequence.
 
The donor isolate was collected in 1995 in a French commercial sheep flock. inoculation into AHQ/AHQ sheep induced a disease which had all neuro-pathological and biochemical characteristics of atypical scrapie. Transmitted into Transgenic mice expressing either ovine or PrPc, the isolate retained all the described characteristics of atypical scrapie.
 
Surprisingly the TSE agent characteristics were dramatically different v/hen passaged into Tg bovine mice. The recovered TSE agent had biological and biochemical characteristics similar to those of atypical BSE L in the same mouse model. Moreover, whereas no other TSE agent than BSE were shown to transmit into Tg porcine mice, atypical scrapie was able to develop into this model, albeit with low attack rate on first passage.
 
Furthermore, after adaptation in the porcine mouse model this prion showed similar biological and biochemical characteristics than BSE adapted to this porcine mouse model. Altogether these data indicate.
 
(i) the unsuspected potential abilities of atypical scrapie to cross species barriers
 
(ii) the possible capacity of this agent to acquire new characteristics when crossing species barrier
 
These findings raise some interrogation on the concept of TSE strain and on the origin of the diversity of the TSE agents and could have consequences on field TSE control measures.
 
 
Thursday, March 29, 2012 atypical Nor-98 Scrapie has spread from coast to coast in the USA 2012
 
NIAA Annual Conference April 11-14, 2011San Antonio, Texas
 
 
snip...see full text and more here ; Saturday, July 6, 2013
 
Small Ruminant Nor98 Prions Share Biochemical Features with Human Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker Disease and Variably Protease-Sensitive Prionopathy
 
Research Article
 
 
Monday, June 23, 2014
 
*** PRION 2014 CONFERENCE CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD
 
 
 
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
 
*** CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION DISEASE, GAME FARMS, AND POTENTIAL RISK FACTORS THERE FROM ***
 
 
Thursday, July 03, 2014
 
*** How Chronic Wasting Disease is affecting deer population and what’s the risk to humans and pets? ***
 
 
Saturday, August 02, 2014
 
*** Structural effects of PrP polymorphisms on intra- and inter-species prion transmission
 
*** In contrast, the scrapie prions used in the deer transmission studies of Greenlee and colleagues were isolated from a sheep encoding A136,
 
***raising the possibility that deer may be susceptible to multiple scrapie strains.***
 
snip...
 
Significance
 
The unpredictable recurrences of prion epidemics, their incurable lethality, and the capacity of animal prions to infect humans, provide significant motivation to ascertain the parameters governing disease transmission. The unprecedented spread, and uncertain zoonotic potential of chronic wasting disease (CWD), a contagious epidemic among deer, elk, and other cervids, is of particular concern. Here we demonstrate that naturally occurring primary structural differences in cervid PrPs differentially impact the efficiency of intra- and interspecies prion transmission. Our results not only deliver new information about the role of primary structural variation on prion susceptibility, but also provide functional support to a mechanism in which plasticity of a tertiary structural epitope governs prion protein conversion and intra- and inter-species susceptibility to prions.-
 
snip...
 
 
Monday, July 28, 2014
 
Mitigating the Risk of Transmission and Environmental Contamination of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies 2013 Annual Report
 
 
*** The potential impact of prion diseases on human health was greatly magnified by the recognition that interspecies transfer of BSE to humans by beef ingestion resulted in vCJD. While changes in animal feed constituents and slaughter practices appear to have curtailed vCJD, there is concern that CWD of free-ranging deer and elk in the U.S. might also cross the species barrier. Thus, consuming venison could be a source of human prion disease. Whether BSE and CWD represent interspecies scrapie transfer or are newly arisen prion diseases is unknown. Therefore, the possibility of transmission of prion disease through other food animals cannot be ruled out. There is evidence that vCJD can be transmitted through blood transfusion. There is likely a pool of unknown size of asymptomatic individuals infected with vCJD, and there may be asymptomatic individuals infected with the CWD equivalent. These circumstances represent a potential threat to blood, blood products, and plasma supplies.
 
 
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
 
*** Questions linger in U.S. CJD cases 2005, and still do in 2014
 
 
Thursday, January 2, 2014
 
*** CWD TSE Prion in cervids to hTGmice, Heidenhain Variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease MM1 genotype, and iatrogenic CJD ??? ***
 
 
Friday, August 16, 2013
 
*** Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) biannual update August 2013 U.K. and Contaminated blood products induce a highly atypical prion disease devoid of PrPres in primates
 
 
Sunday, August 11, 2013
 
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease CJD cases rising North America updated report August 2013
 
*** Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease CJD cases rising North America with Canada seeing an extreme increase of 48% between 2008 and 2010
 
 
Sunday, October 13, 2013
 
*** CJD TSE Prion Disease Cases in Texas by Year, 2003-2012
 
 
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
 
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) biannual update (August 2014), with updated guidance on decontamination of gastrointestinal endoscopy equipment
 
Research and analysis
 
 
Monday, June 02, 2014
 
*** Confirmed Human BSE aka mad cow Variant CJD vCJD or nvCJD Case in Texas ***
 
 
Saturday, June 14, 2014
 
*** Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) Calls for Briefing on Beef Recalled for Mad Cow Potential Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
 
 
Thursday, June 12, 2014
 
*** Missouri Firm Recalls Ribeye and Carcass Products That May Contain Specified Risk Materials 4,012 pounds of fresh beef products because the dorsal root ganglia may not have been completely removed
 
 
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
 
*** Former Rancho Employees Charged With 11 Felonies processed meat from 101 condemned cattle, including 79 with “cancer eye''
 
 
Sunday, July 06, 2014
 
*** Dietary Risk Factors for Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: A Confirmatory Case-Control Study
 
Conclusions—The a priori hypotheses were supported.
 
*** Consumption of various meat products may be one method of transmission of the infectious agent for sCJD.
 
 
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
 
After the storm? UK blood safety and the risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
 
 
Sunday, August 09, 2009
 
CJD...Straight talk with...James Ironside...and...Terry Singeltary... 2009
 
 
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
 
* BSE-The Untold Story - joe gibbs and singeltary 1999 – 2009
 
snip...
 
Subject: Re: Hello Dr. Gibbs...........
 
Wed, 29 Nov 2000 14:14:18 -0500
 
a private email from the late Dr. Gibbs, a true pioneer in the research of human/animal TSEs and one that never wavered on helping the families and victims of this horrible disease, and one that helped me many times in trying to seek out the truth;
 
Subject: Re: Hello Dr. Gibbs...........
 
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 14:14:18 –0500 
 
From: "Clarence J. Gibbs, Jr., Ph.D."
 
To: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr." References: <3a254430 .9fb97284="" wt.net="">
 
Hi Terry:
 
326 E Stret N.E., Washington, D. C. 20002.
 
Better shrimp and oysters than cards!!!!
 
Have a happy holiday and thanks for all the information you bring to the screen.
 
Joe Gibbs ==========
 
snip...RIP Dr. Gibbs...TSS
 
 
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy TSE Prion Disease North America 2014
 
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy TSE Prion Disease have now been discovered in a wide verity of species across North America. typical C-BSE, atypical L-type BASE BSE, atypical H-type BSE, atypical H-G BSE, of the bovine, typical and atypical Scrapie strains, in sheep and goats, with atypical Nor-98 Scrapie spreading coast to coast in about 5 years. Chronic Wasting Disease CWD in cervid is slowly spreading without any stopping it in Canada and the USA and now has mutated into many different strains. Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy TME outbreaks. These Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy TSE Prion Disease have been silently mutating and spreading in different species in North America for decades.
 
The USDA, FDA, et al have assured us of a robust Triple BSE TSE prion Firewall, of which we now know without a doubt, that it was nothing but ink on paper. Since the 1997 mad cow feed ban in the USA, literally tons and tons of banned mad cow feed has been put out into commerce, never to return, as late as December of 2013, serious, serious breaches in the FDA mad cow feed ban have been documented. The 2004 enhanced BSE surveillance program was so flawed, that one of the top TSE prion Scientist for the CDC, Dr. Paul Brown stated ; 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. see ; http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2006/03/15/Analysis-What-that-mad-cow-means/UPI-12841142465253/
 
The BSE surveillance and testing have also been proven to be flawed, and the GAO and OIG have both raised serious question as to just how flawed it has been (see GAO and OIG reports). North America has more documented TSE prion disease, in different documented species (excluding the Zoo BSE animals in the EU), then any other place on the Globe. This does not include the very likelihood that TSE prion disease in the domestic feline and canine have been exposed to high doses of the TSE prion disease vid pet food. To date, it’s still legal to include deer from cwd zone into pet food or deer food. Specified Risk Material i.e. SRM bans still being breach, as recently as just last month.
 
nvCJD or what they now call vCJD, another case documented in Texas last month, with very little information being released to the public on about this case? with still the same line of thought from federal officials, ‘it can’t happen here’, so another vCJD blamed on travel of a foreign animal disease from another country, while ignoring all the BSE TSE Prion risk factors we have here in the USA and Canada, and the time that this victim and others, do spend in the USA, and exposed to these risk factors, apparently do not count in any way with regard to risk factor. a flawed process of risk assessment.
 
sporadic CJD, along with new TSE prion disease in humans, of which the young are dying, of which long duration of illness from onset of symptoms to death have been documented, only to have a new name added to the pot of prion disease i.e. sporadic GSS, sporadic FFI, and or VPSPR. I only ponder how a familial type disease could be sporadic with no genetic link to any family member? when the USA is the only documented Country in the world to have documented two different cases of atypical H-type BSE, with one case being called atypical H-G BSE with the G meaning Genetic, with new science now showing that indeed atypical H-type BSE is very possible transmitted to cattle via oral transmission (Prion2014). sporadic CJD and VPSPR have been rising in Canada, USA, and the UK, with the same old excuse, better surveillance. You can only use that excuse for so many years, for so many decades, until one must conclude that CJD TSE prion cases are rising. a 48% incease in CJD in Canada is not just a blip or a reason of better surveillance, it is a mathematical rise in numbers. More and more we are seeing more humans exposed in various circumstance in the Hospital, Medical, Surgical arenas to the TSE Prion disease, and at the same time in North America, more and more humans are becoming exposed to the TSE prion disease via consumption of the TSE prion via deer and elk, cattle, sheep and goats, and for those that are exposed via or consumption, go on to further expose many others via the iatrogenic modes of transmission of the TSE prion disease i.e. friendly fire. I pondered this mode of transmission via the victims of sporadic FFI, sporadic GSS, could this be a iatrogenic event from someone sub-clinical with sFFI or sGSS ? what if?
 
Two decades have passed since Dr. Ironside first confirmed his first ten nvCJD victims in 1995. Ten years later, 2005, we had Dr. Gambetti and his first ten i.e. VPSPR in younger victims. now we know that indeed VPSPR is transmissible. yet all these TSE prion disease and victims in the USA and Canada are being pawned off as a spontaneous event, yet science has shown, the spontaneous theory has never been proven in any natural case of TSE prion disease, and scientist have warned, that they have now linked some sporadic CJD cases to atypical BSE, to atypical Scrapie, and to CWD, yet we don’t here about this in the public domain. We must make all human and animal TSE prion disease reportable in every age group, in ever state and internationally, we must have a serious re-evaluation and testing of the USA cattle herds, and we must ban interstate movement of all cervids. Any voluntary effort to do any of this will fail. Folks, we have let the industry run science far too long with regards to the TSE prion disease. While the industry and their lobbyist continues to funnel junk science to our decision policy makers, Rome burns. ...end
 
REFERENCES
 
[all scientific peer review studies and other scientific information I have put into blogs, to shorten reference data. I DO NOT advertise or make money from this, this information is for education use...lost my mom to the hvCJD, and just made a promise, never forget, and never let them forget. ...TSS] snip...see full text ; Sunday, June 29, 2014
 
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy TSE Prion Disease North America 2014
 
 
Distinct synthetic Aβ prion strains producing different amyloid deposits in bigenic mice
 
Jan Stöhra,b, Carlo Condelloa, Joel C. Wattsa,b,1, Lillian Blocha, Abby Oehlerc, Mimi Nickd, Stephen J. DeArmonda,c, Kurt Gilesa,b, William F. DeGradod, and Stanley B. Prusinera,b,2 Author Affiliations
 
aInstitute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Departments of bNeurology and cPathology, and dPharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143 Contributed by Stanley B. Prusiner, May 14, 2014 (sent for review April 15, 2014)
 
Abstract Authors & Info SI Metrics PDF PDF + SI Significance Alzheimer’s disease is the most common neurodegenerative disorder; it is a progressive dementia for which there is currently no effective therapeutic intervention. The brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease exhibit numerous amyloid β (Aβ) amyloid plaques and tau-laden neurofibrillary tangles. Our studies show that synthetic Aβ peptides can form prions that infect mice and induce Aβ amyloid plaque pathology. Two different Aβ prion strains were produced from Aβ peptides. When injected into transgenic mice, one Aβ strain produced large plaques and the other strain induced small but more numerous plaques. Our findings may help to delineate the molecular pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and the development of anti-Aβ prion therapeutics.
 
Abstract An increasing number of studies continue to show that the amyloid β (Aβ) peptide adopts an alternative conformation and acquires transmissibility; hence, it becomes a prion. Here, we report on the attributes of two strains of Aβ prions formed from synthetic Aβ peptides composed of either 40 or 42 residues. Modifying the conditions for Aβ polymerization increased both the protease resistance and prion infectivity compared with an earlier study. Approximately 150 d after intracerebral inoculation, both synthetic Aβ40 and Aβ42 prions produced a sustained rise in the bioluminescence imaging signal in the brains of bigenic Tg(APP23:Gfap-luc) mice, indicative of astrocytic gliosis. Pathological investigations showed that synthetic Aβ40 prions produced amyloid plaques containing both Aβ40 and Aβ42 in the brains of inoculated bigenic mice, whereas synthetic Aβ42 prions stimulated the formation of smaller, more numerous plaques composed predominantly of Aβ42. Synthetic Aβ40 preparations consisted of long straight fibrils; in contrast, the Aβ42 fibrils were much shorter. Addition of 3.47 mM (0.1%) SDS to the polymerization reaction produced Aβ42 fibrils that were indistinguishable from Aβ40 fibrils produced in the absence or presence of SDS. Moreover, the Aβ amyloid plaques in the brains of bigenic mice inoculated with Aβ42 prions prepared in the presence of SDS were similar to those found in mice that received Aβ40 prions. From these results, we conclude that the composition of Aβ plaques depends on the conformation of the inoculated Aβ polymers, and thus, these inocula represent distinct synthetic Aβ prion strains.
 
Alzheimer's disease in vitro neurodegenerative diseases Footnotes ↵1Present address: Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
 
↵2To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: stanley@ind.ucsf.edu. Author contributions: J.S., C.C., and S.B.P. designed research; J.S., C.C., J.C.W., L.B., A.O., and M.N. performed research; J.S., C.C., S.J.D., K.G., W.F.D., and S.B.P. analyzed data; and J.S. and S.B.P. wrote the paper.
 
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
 
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1408968111/-/DCSupplemental.
 
 
Prions causing neurodegeneration: A unifying etiology and the quest for therapeutics
 
Stanley B Prusiner University of California, Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases; San Francisco, CA, USA
 
Mounting evidence argues that prions feature in the pathogenesis of many, if not all, neurodegenerative diseases. Such disorders include Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Lou Gehrig’s and Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseases as well as the frontotemporal dementias. In each of these illnesses, aberrant forms of a particular protein accumulate as pathological deposits referred to as amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, Lewy bodies, as well as glial cytoplasmic and/or nuclear inclusions. The heritable forms of the neurodegenerative diseases are often caused by mutations in the genes encoding the mutant, prion proteins that accumulate in the CNS of patients with these fatal disorders. The late onset of the inherited neurodegenerative diseases seems likely to be explained by the protein quality control systems being less efficient in older neurons and thus, more permissive for prion accumulation. To date, there is not a single drug that halts or even slows one neurodegenerative disease.
 
References
 
Prusiner SB. Biology and genetics of prions causing neurodegeneration. Annu Rev Genet 2013; 47:601-23; PMID:24274755; http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/ annurev-genet-110711-155524
 
Jucker M, Walker LC. Self-propagation of pathogenic protein aggregates in neurodegenerative diseases. Nature 2013; 501:45-51; PMID:24005412; http://dx.doi. org/10.1038/nature12481
 
 
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
 
Do prions cause Parkinson disease?: The evidence accumulates (pages 331–333)
 
 
> Our results provide compelling evidence that α-synuclein aggregates formed in the brains of MSA patients are transmissible and, as such, are prions.
 
Transmission of multiple system atrophy prions to transgenic mice
 
Joel C. Wattsa,b, Kurt Gilesa,b, Abby Oehlerc, Lefkos Middletond, David T. Dextere, Steve M. Gentlemane, Stephen J. DeArmonda,c, and Stanley B. Prusinera,b,1 Author Affiliations
 
aInstitute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, and Departments of bNeurology and cPathology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143; and dAgeing Research Unit, School of Public Health and eCentre for Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration, Department of Medicine, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom Contributed by Stanley B. Prusiner, September 30, 2013 (sent for review August 21, 2013)
 
Significance Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the accumulation of misfolded α-synuclein protein in glial cells within the brain. Transgenic mice expressing mutant α-synuclein that were inoculated with brain homogenate from MSA patients developed clinical, biochemical, and pathological signs of a neurodegenerative disease, indicating that MSA is transmissible under certain conditions. This transmissibility is reminiscent of the human prion disorders, such as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, and suggests that MSA is caused by the accumulation of toxic α-synuclein prions in the brain.
 
Abstract
 
Prions are proteins that adopt alternative conformations, which become self-propagating. Increasing evidence argues that prions feature in the synucleinopathies that include Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia, and multiple system atrophy (MSA). Although TgM83+/+ mice homozygous for a mutant A53T α-synuclein transgene begin developing CNS dysfunction spontaneously at ∼10 mo of age, uninoculated TgM83+/− mice (hemizygous for the transgene) remain healthy. To determine whether MSA brains contain α-synuclein prions, we inoculated the TgM83+/− mice with brain homogenates from two pathologically confirmed MSA cases. Inoculated TgM83+/− mice developed progressive signs of neurologic disease with an incubation period of ∼100 d, whereas the same mice inoculated with brain homogenates from spontaneously ill TgM83+/+ mice developed neurologic dysfunction in ∼210 d. Brains of MSA-inoculated mice exhibited prominent astrocytic gliosis and microglial activation as well as widespread deposits of phosphorylated α-synuclein that were proteinase K sensitive, detergent insoluble, and formic acid extractable. Our results provide compelling evidence that α-synuclein aggregates formed in the brains of MSA patients are transmissible and, as such, are prions. The MSA prion represents a unique human pathogen that is lethal upon transmission to Tg mice and as such, is reminiscent of the prion causing kuru, which was transmitted to chimpanzees nearly 5 decades ago.
 
neurodegeneration bioluminescence imaging seeding proteinopathies Footnotes ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: stanley@ind.ucsf.edu. Author contributions: J.C.W., K.G., and S.B.P. designed research; J.C.W. and A.O. performed research; L.M., D.T.D., and S.M.G. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; J.C.W., K.G., S.J.D., and S.B.P. analyzed data; and J.C.W., K.G., and S.B.P. wrote the paper.
 
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
 
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1318268110/-/DCSupplemental.
 
 
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
 
Transmission of multiple system atrophy prions to transgenic mice
 
 
 
 
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
 
Distinct synthetic Aβ prion strains producing different amyloid deposits in bigenic mice
 
 
Saturday, May 25, 2013
 
Brain homogenates from human tauopathies induce tau inclusions in mouse brain
 
 
Sunday, February 10, 2013
 
Parkinson's Disease and Alpha Synuclein: Is Parkinson's Disease a Prion-Like Disorder?
 
 
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
 
PrioNet Canada researchers in Vancouver confirm prion-like properties in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
 
 
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
 
ENLARGING SPECTRUM OF PRION-LIKE DISEASES Prusiner Colby et al 2011 Prions
 
David W. Colby1,* and Stanley B. Prusiner1,2
 
 
 
Friday, September 3, 2010
 
Alzheimer's, Autism, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Parkinson's, Prionoids, Prionpathy, Prionopathy, TSE
 
 
 
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1982;396:131-43.
 
Alzheimer's disease and transmissible virus dementia (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease).
 
Brown P, Salazar AM, Gibbs CJ Jr, Gajdusek DC.
 
Abstract
 
Ample justification exists on clinical, pathologic, and biologic grounds for considering a similar pathogenesis for AD and the spongiform virus encephalopathies. However, the crux of the comparison rests squarely on results of attempts to transmit AD to experimental animals, and these results have not as yet validated a common etiology. Investigations of the biologic similarities between AD and the spongiform virus encephalopathies proceed in several laboratories, and our own observation of inoculated animals will be continued in the hope that incubation periods for AD may be even longer than those of CJD.
 
 
CJD1/9 0185 Ref: 1M51A
 
IN STRICT CONFIDENCE
 
Dr McGovern From: Dr A Wight Date: 5 January 1993 Copies: Dr Metters Dr Skinner Dr Pickles Dr Morris Mr Murray
 
TRANSMISSION OF ALZHEIMER-TYPE PLAQUES TO PRIMATES
 
1. CMO will wish to be aware that a meeting was held at DH yesterday, 4 January, to discuss the above findings. It was chaired by Professor Murray (Chairman of the MRC Co-ordinating Committee on Research in the Spongiform Encephalopathies in Man), and attended by relevant experts in the fields of Neurology, Neuropathology, molecular biology, amyloid biochemistry, and the spongiform encephalopathies, and by representatives of the MRC and AFRC. 2. Briefly, the meeting agreed that:
 
i) Dr Ridley et als findings of experimental induction of p amyloid in primates were valid, interesting and a significant advance in the understanding of neurodegenerative disorders;
 
ii) there were no immediate implications for the public health, and no further safeguards were thought to be necessary at present; and
 
iii) additional research was desirable, both epidemiological and at the molecular level. Possible avenues are being followed up by DH and the MRC, but the details will require further discussion. 93/01.05/4.1
 
 
BSE101/1 0136
 
IN CONFIDENCE
 
5 NOV 1992 CMO From: Dr J S Metters DCMO 4 November 1992
 
TRANSMISSION OF ALZHEIMER TYPE PLAQUES TO PRIMATES
 
1. Thank you for showing me Diana Dunstan's letter. I am glad that MRC have recognized the public sensitivity of these findings and intend to report them in their proper context. This hopefully will avoid misunderstanding and possible distortion by the media to portray the results as having more greater significance than the findings so far justify.
 
2. Using a highly unusual route of transmission (intra-cerebral injection) the researchers have demonstrated the transmission of a pathological process from two cases one of severe Alzheimer's disease the other of Gerstmann-Straussler disease to marmosets. However they have not demonstrated the transmission of either clinical condition as the "animals were behaving normally when killed'. As the report emphasizes the unanswered question is whether the disease condition would have revealed itself if the marmosets had lived longer. They are planning further research to see if the conditions, as opposed to the partial pathological process, is transmissible. What are the implications for public health?
 
3. The route of transmission is very specific and in the natural state of things highly unusual. However it could be argued that the results reveal a potential risk, in that brain tissue from these two patients has been shown to transmit a pathological process. Should therefore brain tissue from such cases be regarded as potentially infective? Pathologists, morticians, neuro surgeons and those assisting at neuro surgical procedures and others coming into contact with "raw" human brain tissue could in theory be at risk. However, on a priori grounds given the highly specific route of transmission in these experiments that risk must be negligible if the usual precautions for handling brain tissue are observed.
 
92/11.4/1-1 BSE101/1 0137
 
4. The other dimension to consider is the public reaction. To some extent the GSS case demonstrates little more than the transmission of BSE to a pig by intra-cerebral injection. If other prion diseases can be transmitted in this way it is little surprise that some pathological findings observed in GSS were also transmissible to a marmoset. But the transmission of features of Alzheimer's pathology is a different matter, given the much greater frequency of this disease and raises the unanswered question whether some cases are the result of a transmissible prion. The only tenable public line will be that "more research is required" before that hypothesis could be evaluated. The possibility on a transmissible prion remains open. In the meantime MRC needs carefully to consider the range and sequence of studies needed to follow through from the preliminary observations in these two cases. Not a particularly comfortable message, but until we know more about the causation of Alzheimer's disease the total reassurance is not practical.
 
JS METTERS Room 509 Richmond House Pager No: 081-884 3344 Callsign: DOH 832 121/YdeS 92/11.4/1.2
 
 
BSE101/1 0136
 
IN CONFIDENCE
 
CMO
 
From: Dr J S Metters DCMO
 
4 November 1992
 
TRANSMISSION OF ALZHEIMER TYPE PLAQUES TO PRIMATES
 
 
CJD1/9 0185
 
Ref: 1M51A
 
IN STRICT CONFIDENCE
 
From: Dr. A Wight Date: 5 January 1993
 
Copies:
 
Dr Metters Dr Skinner Dr Pickles Dr Morris Mr Murray
 
TRANSMISSION OF ALZHEIMER-TYPE PLAQUES TO PRIMATES
 
 
 
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
 
Alzheimer’s disease and Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy prion disease, Iatrogenic, what if ?
 
Background
 
Alzheimer’s disease and Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy disease have both been around a long time, and was discovered in or around the same time frame, early 1900’s. Both diseases are incurable and debilitating brain disease, that are in the end, 100% fatal, with the incubation/clinical period of the Alzheimer’s disease being longer (most of the time) than the TSE prion disease. Symptoms are very similar, and pathology is very similar.
 
Methods
 
Through years of research, as a layperson, of peer review journals, transmission studies, and observations of loved ones and friends that have died from both Alzheimer’s and the TSE prion disease i.e. Heidenhain Variant Creutzfelt Jakob Disease CJD.
 
Results
 
I propose that Alzheimer’s is a TSE disease of low dose, slow, and long incubation disease, and that Alzheimer’s is Transmissible, and is a threat to the public via the many Iatrogenic routes and sources. It was said long ago that the only thing that disputes this, is Alzheimer’s disease transmissibility, or the lack of. The likelihood of many victims of Alzheimer’s disease from the many different Iatrogenic routes and modes of transmission as with the TSE prion disease.
 
Conclusions
 
There should be a Global Congressional Science round table event set up immediately to address these concerns from the many potential routes and sources of the TSE prion disease, including Alzheimer’s disease, and a emergency global doctrine put into effect to help combat the spread of Alzheimer’s disease via the medical, surgical, dental, tissue, and blood arena’s. All human and animal TSE prion disease, including Alzheimer’s should be made reportable in every state, and Internationally, WITH NO age restrictions. Until a proven method of decontamination and autoclaving is proven, and put forth in use universally, in all hospitals and medical, surgical arena’s, or the TSE prion agent will continue to spread. IF we wait until science and corporate politicians wait until politics lets science _prove_ this once and for all, and set forth regulations there from, we will all be exposed to the TSE Prion agents, if that has not happened already.
 
end...tss
 
SEE FULL TEXT AND SOURCE REFERENCES ;
 
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
 
Alzheimer’s disease and Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy prion disease, Iatrogenic, what if ?
 
Proposal ID: 29403
 
From:
 
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2012 8:20 PM
 
To: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
 
Subject: RE: re-submission
 
Dear Terry,
 
Yes, your proposal was accepted as a poster presentation. Please decline the invitation if appropriate.
 
Best Regards,
 
______________________________________
 
Alzheimer’s Association – National Office
 
225 North Michigan Avenue – Floor 17
 
Chicago, Illinois 60601
 
=============snip...end...source reference...# 29403==========
 
 
Sunday, September 7, 2014
 
Twice as many cases of early dementia than was thought Alzheimer’s Society, the London School of Economics and the Institute of Psychiatry
 
 
TSE PRION URL SOURCE LINK BLOGS TSS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
layperson,
 
kindest regards, terry
 
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
 
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
 

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