2/3/2008

covering up mad cow disease?

By: Cao, Filed under: Health , News @ 1:44 pm


From Pat Dollard.

I had previously put up a post about waterboarding cows, tongue-in-cheek.

The video shows it’s a serious and frightening thing.

Schools scramble to find questionable meat-LA Times:

The California Department of Education on Thursday urged all schools in the state to temporarily strike from the menu any item containing ground beef, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture investigated claims that Hallmark Meat Packing butchered so-called downer cattle that are too weak to walk.

A video released Wednesday by the Humane Society of the United States showed workers at Hallmark dragging downed animals by their legs or using forklifts and water hoses to force weak cattle to their feet, prompting the federal investigation.

The USDA banned “non-ambulatory” cattle from the human food supply last year because inability to walk may be a sign of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease. Studies in Europe found that cattle that were unable to rise or walk were more likely than other cattle to carry the disease, which can be transferred to humans through consumption.

Just last year ‘non-ambulatory’ cattle were banned from the human food supply? What about the animal food supply? How long has this been going on before the ban?

My family has been talking about this silent epidemic for some time. I wonder if it will slip back under the covers.

Articles:

First apparent U.S. case of mad cow disease discovered-CNN, 2003

5 Responses to “covering up mad cow disease?”

  1. Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Says:

    for Pete’s sake, that’s insane !!!

    i have wasted a decade daily researching this, and ever bit of
    this suspect product or any product from this company should be pulled from
    the shelf NOW. DOWNERS are highly suspect BSE, and in the USA, the last two
    documented mad cows were of the atypical h-BASE BSE mad cow strain i.e.
    bovine spongiform encephalopathy, this strain is MORE VIRULENT TO HUMANS
    than the UK BSE strain. please read the science and sources
    below……………….terry

    THE SPIN ;

    Release No. 0028.08
    Contact:
    Office of Communications (202) 720-4623

    TRANSCRIPT: USDA Officials Hold Technical Briefing Regarding Inhumane
    Handling Allegations

    Washington January 31, 2008

    snip…

    http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2008/02/0028.xml

    THE FACTS ;

    > TRANSCRIPT: USDA Officials Hold Technical Briefing Regarding Inhumane

    > Handling Allegations

    THE title is very misleading. A better title in my opinion would have read ;

    HIGHLY SUSPECT BSE, H-BASE, MAD COW BEEF DISTRIBUTED NATIONALLY (35 states
    to date), to CHILDREN AND THE ELDERLY

    USDA CERTIFIED H-BASE MAD COW SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM

    http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/2008/02/usda-certified-h-base-mad-cow-school.html

    It’s the American way $$$

    PRION DISEASE UPDATE 2008 (03)
    ******************************
    A ProMED-mail post

    ProMED-mail is a program of the
    International Society for Infectious Diseases

    [With the continuing decline of the number of cases of variant
    Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (abbreviated previously as vCJD or CJD (new
    var.) in ProMED-mail) in the human population, it has been decided to
    broaden the scope of the occasional ProMED mail reports to include
    other prion-related diseases. Data on vCJD cases from any part of the
    world are now included in these updates where appropriate, and other
    forms of CJD (sporadic, iatrogenic, familial, and GSS
    (Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease) are included also when they
    have some relevance to the incidence and etiology of vCJD. - Mod.CP]

    In this update:
    [1] UK: National CJD Surveillance Unit — monthly statistics
    [2] UK: SEAC 99th meeting report
    [3] BASE transmission risk

    ******
    [1] UK: National CJD Surveillance Unit — monthly statistics
    Date: Fri 1 Feb 2008
    Source: UK National CJD Surveillance Unit, monthly statistics [edited]

    Monthly Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease statistics — as of 1 Feb 2008
    —————————————————————-
    These following figures show the number of suspect cases of CJD
    referred to the CJD surveillance unit in Edinburgh and the number of
    deaths of definite and probable variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
    [abbreviated in ProMED-mail as CJD (new var.) or vCJD], the form of
    the disease thought to be linked to BSE (bovine spongiform
    encephalopathy).

    Definite and probable vCJD cases in the UK as of 1 Feb 2008
    ———————————————————–
    Summary of vCJD cases — deaths
    ——————————————-
    Deaths from definite vCJD (confirmed): 114
    Deaths from probable vCJD (without neuropathological confirmation): 48
    Deaths from probable vCJD (neuropathological confirmation pending): 1
    Number of deaths from definite or probable vCJD (as above): 163

    Summary of vCJD cases — alive
    ——————————
    Number of probable vCJD cases still alive: 3

    Total
    —–
    Number of definite or probable vCJD (dead and alive): 166

    These data indicate that there have been no new cases diagnosed
    during the past month, and the number of patients alive is unchanged.

    These data are still consistent with the view that the vCJD outbreak
    in the UK is in decline (although the incidence curve may be
    developing a tail). The peak number of deaths was 28 in the year
    2000, followed by 20 in 2001, 17 in 2002, 18 in 2003, 9 in 2004, 5 in
    2005, 5 in 2006, 5 in 2007, and so far none in 2008

    Totals for all types of CJD cases in the year 2008
    ————————————————–
    As of 1 Feb 2008 in the UK in the year 2008 so far there have been 9
    referrals, 6 deaths from sporadic CJD, one death from iatrogenic CJD,
    none from familial CJD, none from GSS, and none from vCJD.


    Communicated by:
    ProMED-mail

    ******
    [2] UK: SEAC 99th meeting report
    Date: Thu 31 Jan 2008R (SEAC)
    Source: Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC), 99th
    meeting, 14 Dec 2007 [edited]

    READ FULL TEXT HERE…TSS

    Update on vCJD and sCJD epidemiology
    ————————————
    Dr Richard Knight (NCJDSU-National CJD Surveillance Unit) presented
    an update on the epidemiology of cases of sporadic CJD (sCJD) and
    vCJD in the UK and elsewhere. Between May 1990 and October 2007, 944
    cases of sCJD had been identified in the UK with a mean age at onset
    of 66 (range 15-94) years and mean age of death of 67 (range 20-95)
    years. There is no significant gender difference in sCJD incidence.
    There had been a trend towards an increasing number of cases over
    time to almost 80 cases per year in 2003; this increased trend had
    also been observed in other countries and was considered to be a
    result of better surveillance and diagnosis of disease. There has
    been a decline in number since 2003, but this may not be of
    significance. The post mortem rate for sCJD referral is about 60
    percent. The genotype distribution of sCJD cases was 64 percent MM,
    18 percent MV and 18 percent VV at codon 129 of the prion protein
    gene.

    Dr Knight explained that the total number of definite and probable
    vCJD cases in the UK up to November 2007 was 166, with 4 cases still
    alive. 3 out of 4 vCJD cases treated with pentosan polysulphate (PPS)
    had appreciably longer survival times, but it is not proven that this
    is the result of treatment. No statistically significant gender
    difference had been observed in vCJD cases. The age distribution of
    vCJD had not altered over the course of the UK epidemic, with the
    median age of death of 30 (range 14-75) years. Statistical analysis
    of the UK incidence of deaths from vCJD suggested the epidemic had
    peaked in 2000 with 28 deaths. There are 3 cases identified with
    onset in 2006 and four deaths in 2007. Geographical distribution of
    vCJD cases in the UK shows higher incidence in the North than South.
    All 146 vCJD cases tested to date are of the MM genotype [but see
    ProMED-mail Prion disease update 2008 (02) 20080107.0087 for a recent
    exception. - Mod.CP]

    Dr Knight explained that elsewhere in the world up to November 2007,
    39 vCJD cases have been reported with 23 in France, 4 in the Republic
    of Ireland (RoI), 3 in the USA, 2 in the Netherlands, 2 in Portugal
    and single cases in Italy, Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Spain.

    Infection is considered likely to have occurred in the UK in 2 Ireland
    cases, 2 USA cases, and the single French, Japanese & Canadian cases.
    One of the French cases had a history of possibly significant
    residence in the UK. One USA case is thought likely to have been
    exposed to infection in Saudi Arabia, rather than the USA.

    Dr Knight explained that the Transfusion Medicine Epidemiology Review
    study had identified 4 instances of vCJD infection resulting from
    receipt of non-leucodepleted [white cell reduced] red blood cells
    donated by individuals who had subsequently developed vCJD. The donors
    developed clinical vCJD ranging from 17 months to 3.5 years after
    blood donation and this indicates that blood can be infective 3.5
    years before the development of clinical disease. Clinical vCJD was
    identified in 3 recipients (all of MM genotype) between 6.5 and 8.3
    years after receipt of blood. The 4th recipient, who died of
    non-neurological disease, with only lymphoreticular evidence of vCJD
    infection, was of MV genotype.

    In response to a question about the neuropathology of the vCJD case
    that died after receiving PPS, Dr Knight explained that no autopsy
    was undertaken.

    A member asked about the reason for the increase in sCJD detection in
    the years up to 2003. Dr Knight replied that it was probably due to
    better awareness of the disease and the availability of better
    diagnostic methods such as cerebrospinal fluid testing and magnetic
    resonance imaging.

    Mr Mark Noterman (Department of Health [DH]) asked whether the
    neuropathological referrals rate had increased after the Chief
    Medical Officer’s letter to clinicians earlier in the year to remain
    vigilant about cases of neurological disease that could be related to
    prion disease. Dr Knight replied that there had been no subsequent
    significant increase in referral rate.


    Communicated by:
    Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

    ******
    [3] BASE transmission risk
    Date: Wed 30 Jan 2008
    Source: Journal of Virology, Wed 20 Jan 2008 [edited]

    Evaluation of the human transmission risk of an atypical bovine
    spongiform encephalopathy prion strain
    —————————————————————
    The following is the Abstract of a paper published in the Journal of
    Virology by Qingzhong Kong and colleagues at the Department of
    Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106,
    USA; CEA [Centro di Referenza per le Encefalopatie Animali], and the
    Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale, 10154 Torino, Italy;
    Department of Neurological and Visual Sciences, University of Verona,
    37134 Verona, Italy.

    “Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the prion disease in cattle,
    was widely believed to have only one strain (BSE-C). BSE-C causes the
    fatal prion disease named new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob [vCJD]
    disease in humans. Since 2004, 2 atypical BSE strains, BASE [bovine
    amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy] (or BSE-L) and BSE-H, have
    been discovered in several countries ; their transmissibility and
    phenotypes in humans are unknown. We investigated the infectivity and
    human phenotype of BASE by inoculating transgenic (Tg) mice
    expressing the human prion protein with brain homogenates from 2
    BASE-affected cattle. 60 percent of the inoculated Tg mice became
    infected after 20-22 months incubation, a transmission rate higher
    than those reported for BSE-C. A quarter of BASE-infected Tg mice,
    but none of the Tg mice infected with a sporadic human prion disease,
    showed presence of pathogenic prion protein isoforms in the spleen,
    indicating that the BASE prion is intrinsically lymphotropic. The
    pathological prion protein isoforms in BASE-infected humanized Tg
    mouse brains are different from those of the original cattle BASE or
    sporadic human prion disease. Minimal brain spongiosis and long
    incubation time are observed in the BASE-infected Tg mice. These
    results suggest that, in humans, BASE is a more virulent BSE strain
    and likely lymphotropic.”


    Communicated by:
    Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

    [see also:
    Prion disease update 2008 (02) 20080107.0087
    Prion disease update 2008 (01): correction 20080104.0046
    Prion disease update 2008 (01) 20080102.0014
    2007
    —-
    Prion disease update 2007 (08) 20071205.3923
    Prion disease update 2007 (07) 20071105.3602
    Prion disease update 2007 (06) 20071003.3269
    Prion disease update 2007 (05) 20070901.2879
    Prion disease update 2007 (04) 20070806.2560
    Prion disease update 2007 (03) 20070702.2112
    Prion disease update 2007 (02) 20070604.1812
    Prion disease update 2007 20070514.1542
    CJD (new var.) update 2007 (05) 20070403.1130
    CJD (new var.) update 2007 (04) 20070305.0780
    CJD (new var.) update 2007 (03) 20070205.0455
    CJD (new var.) update 2007 (02): South Korea, susp 20070115.0199
    2006
    —-
    CJD (new var.), blood transfusion risk 20061208.3468
    CJD, transmission risk - Canada (ON) 20061207.3457
    CJD (new var.) update 2006 (12) 20061205.3431
    CJD (new var.) update 2006 (11) 20061106.3190
    CJD (new var.) update 2006 (10) 20061002.2820
    CJD (new var.) - Netherlands: 2nd case 20060623.1741
    CJD (new var.) - UK: 3rd transfusion-related case 20060209.0432
    CJD (new var.) update 2006 (02) 20060206.0386
    CJD (new var.) update 2006 20060111.0101
    2005
    —-
    CJD (new var.) update 2005 (12) 20051209.3547
    CJD (new var.) update 2005 (11) 20051108.3270
    CJD (new var.) update 2005 (10) 20051006.2916
    CJD (new var.) update 2005 (02) 20050211.0467
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update 2005 (01) 20050111.0095
    2004
    —-
    CJD, genetic susceptibility 20041112.3064
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update 2004 (14) 20041206.3242
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update 2004 (10) 20040909.2518
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update 2004 (02) 20040202.0400
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update 2004 (01) 20040106.0064
    CJD (new var.) - France: 8th case 20041022.2864
    CJD (new var.) - France: 9th case 20041123.3138
    CJD (new var.), blood supply - UK 20040318.0758
    CJD (new var.), carrier frequency study - UK 20040521.1365
    2003
    —-
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update 2003 (13) 20031216.3072
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update 2003 (01) 20030108.0057
    2002
    —-
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update Dec 2002 20021207.5997
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update Jan 2002 20020111.3223
    2001
    —-
    CJD (new var.), incidence & trends - UK (02) 20011124.2875
    CJD (new var.), incidence & trends - UK 20011115.2816
    CJD (new var.) - UK: reassessment 20011029.2671
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update Oct 2001 20011005.2419
    CJD (new var.) - UK: regional variation (02) 20010907.2145
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update Sep 2001 20010906.2134
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update Aug 2001 20010808.1872
    CJD (new var.) - UK: 9th Annual Report 20010628.1231
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update June 2001 20010622.1188
    CJD (new var.) - UK: update 3 Jan 2001 20010104.0025]
    ………………………………….cp/mj/jw
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    Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

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

    Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

    Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150
    words of the full text and any section headings.

    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.

    Terry S. Singeltary, Sr
    Bacliff, Tex

    1. Gibbons RV, Holman RC, Belay ED, Schonberger LB. Creutzfeldt-Jakob
    disease in the United States: 1979-1998. JAMA. 2000;284:2322-2323. FREE FULL
    TEXT

    http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/285/6/733?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=singeltary&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

    TSS

  2. Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Says:

    I would kindly like to reply about this suspect beef recall. suspect being
    that any cow in that condition is suspect TSE i.e. BSE/BASE mad cow or
    rabies. i have wasted over a decade daily investigating this issue. i can
    assure you do not know all of what is going on. i wish to send this data to
    you below. ………

    p.s. this nightmare goes much further than the ukbsenvcjd hamburger eating
    adolescents only theory.
    Pandora’s box has been opened for some time, and friendly fire i.e. medical
    and surgical arena will
    play a huge role in spreading and exposing this agent to millions. …tss

    [Docket No. 03-025IFA] FSIS Prohibition of the Use of Specified Risk
    Materials for Human Food and Requirement for the Disposition of
    Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle

    03-025IFA
    03-025IFA-2
    Terry S. Singeltary

    Page 1 of 17

    9/13/2005

    http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/03-025IFA/03-025IFA-2.pdf

    Audit Report

    Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

    Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance Program – Phase II

    and

    Food Safety and Inspection Service

    Controls Over BSE Sampling, Specified Risk Materials, and Advanced Meat
    Recovery Products - Phase III

    Report No. 50601-10-KC January 2006

    Finding 2 Inherent Challenges in Identifying and Testing High-Risk Cattle
    Still Remain

    Our prior report identified a number of inherent problems in identifying and
    testing high-risk cattle. We reported that the challenges in identifying the
    universe of high-risk cattle, as well as the need to design procedures to
    obtain an appropriate representation of samples, was critical to the success
    of the BSE surveillance program. The surveillance program was designed to
    target nonambulatory cattle, cattle showing signs of CNS disease (including
    cattle testing negative for rabies), cattle showing signs not inconsistent
    with BSE, and dead cattle. Although APHIS designed procedures to ensure FSIS
    condemned cattle were sampled and made a concerted effort for outreach to
    obtain targeted samples, industry practices not considered in the design of
    the surveillance program reduced assurance that targeted animals were tested
    for BSE.

    In our prior report, we recommended that APHIS work with public health and
    State diagnostic laboratories to develop and test rabies-negative samples
    for BSE. This target group is important for determining the prevalence of
    BSE in the United States because rabies cases exhibit clinical signs not
    inconsistent with BSE; a negative rabies test means the cause of the
    clinical signs has not been diagnosed.

    APHIS agreed with our recommendation and initiated an outreach program with
    the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, as well as
    State laboratories. APHIS also agreed to do ongoing monitoring to ensure
    samples were obtained from this target population.

    Although APHIS increased the samples tested from this target group as
    compared to prior years, we found that conflicting APHIS instructions on the
    ages of cattle to test resulted in inconsistencies in what samples were
    submitted for BSE testing. Therefore, some laboratories did not refer their
    rabies negative samples to APHIS in order to maximize the number tested for
    this critical target population. In addition, APHIS did not monitor the
    number of submissions of rabies negative samples for BSE testing from
    specific laboratories.

    snip…

    An NVSL official stated that APHIS is not concerned with rabies negatives
    samples from cattle less than 30 months of age. This position, however, is
    contrary to APHIS’ published target population.

    Our prior audit recognized the significant challenge for APHIS to obtain
    samples from some high-risk populations because of the inherent problems
    with obtaining voluntary compliance and transporting the carcasses for
    testing. USDA issued rules to prohibit nonambulatory animals (downers) from
    entering the food supply at inspected slaughterhouses. OIG recommended, and
    the International Review Subcommittee33 emphasized, that USDA should take
    additional steps to assure that facilitated pathways exist for dead and
    nonambulatory cattle to allow for the collection of samples and proper
    disposal of carcasses. Between June 1, 2004, and May 31, 2005, the APHIS
    database documents 27,617 samples were collected showing a reason for
    submission of nonambulatory and 325,225 samples were collected with reason
    of submission showing “dead.”

    APHIS made extensive outreach efforts to notify producers and private
    veterinarians of the need to submit and have tested animals from these
    target groups. They also entered into financial arrangements with 123
    renderers and other collection sites to reimburse them for costs associated
    with storing, transporting, and collecting samples. However, as shown in
    exhibit F, APHIS was not always successful in establishing agreements with
    non-slaughter collection sites in some States. APHIS stated that agreements
    do not necessarily reflect the entire universe of collection sites and that
    the presentation in exhibit F was incomplete because there were many
    collection sites without a payment involved or without a formal agreement.
    We note that over 90 percent of the samples collected were obtained from the
    123 collection sites with agreements and; therefore, we believe agreements
    offer the best source to increase targeted samples in underrepresented
    areas.

    We found that APHIS did not consider industry practices in the design of its
    surveillance effort to provide reasonable assurance that cattle exhibiting
    possible clinical signs consistent with BSE were tested. Slaughter
    facilities do not always accept all cattle arriving for slaughter because of
    their business requirements. We found that, in one State visited, slaughter
    facilities pre-screened and rejected cattle (sick/down/dead/others not
    meeting business

    Downers and Cattle that Died on the Farm standards) before presentation for
    slaughter in areas immediately adjacent or contiguous to the official
    slaughter establishment. These animals were not inspected and/or observed by
    either FSIS or APHIS officials located at the slaughter facilities.

    FSIS procedures state that they have no authority to inspect cattle not
    presented for slaughter. Further, APHIS officials stated they did not
    believe that they had the authority to go into these sorting and/or
    screening areas and require that the rejected animals be provided to APHIS
    for BSE sampling. Neither APHIS nor FSIS had any process to assure that
    animals left on transport vehicles and/or rejected for slaughter arrived at
    a collection site for BSE testing. FSIS allows slaughter facilities to
    designate the area of their establishment where federal inspection is
    performed; this is designated as the official slaughter establishment.34

    We observed animals that were down or dead in pens outside the official
    premises that were to be picked up by renderers. Animals that were rejected
    by plant personnel were transported off the premises on the same vehicles
    that brought them to the plant.35

    A policy statement36 regarding BSE sampling of condemned cattle at slaughter
    plants provided that effective June 1, 2004, FSIS would collect BSE samples
    for testing: 1) from all cattle regardless of age condemned by FSIS upon
    ante mortem inspection for CNS impairment, and 2) from all cattle, with the
    exception of veal calves, condemned by FSIS upon ante mortem inspection for
    any other reason.

    FSIS Notice 28-04, dated May 20, 2004, informed FSIS personnel that, “FSIS
    will be collecting brain samples from cattle at federally-inspected
    establishments for the purpose of BSE testing.” The notice further states
    that, “Cattle off-loaded from the transport vehicle onto the premises of the
    federally-inspected establishment (emphasis added), whether dead or alive,
    will be sampled by the FSIS Public Health Veterinarian (PHV) for BSE after
    the cattle have been condemned during ante mortem inspection. In addition,
    cattle passing ante mortem inspection but later found dead prior to
    slaughter will be condemned and be sampled by the FSIS PHV.”

    APHIS has the responsibility for sampling dead cattle off-loaded onto
    plant-owned property that is adjoining to, but not considered part of, the
    “official premises.37 FSIS procedures38 provide that “Dead cattle that are
    off-loaded to facilitate the off-loading of live animals, but that will be
    re-loaded onto the transport vehicle, are not subject to sampling by FSIS.

    While performing our review in one State, we reviewed the circumstances at
    two slaughter facilities in the State that inspected and rejected unsuitable
    cattle before the animals entered the official receiving areas of the
    plants. This pre-screening activity was conducted in areas not designated by
    the facility as official premises of the establishment and not under the
    review or supervision of FSIS inspectors. The plant rejected all
    nonambulatory and dead/dying/sick animals delivered to the establishment.
    Plant personnel refused to offload any dead or downer animals to facilitate
    the offloading of ambulatory animals. Plant personnel said that the driver
    was responsible for ensuring nonambulatory animals were humanely euthanized
    and disposing of the carcasses of the dead animals. Plant personnel informed
    us that they did not want to jeopardize contracts with business partners by
    allowing unsuitable animals on their slaughter premises.

    In the second case, one family member owned a slaughter facility while
    another operated a livestock sale barn adjacent to the slaughter facility.
    The slaughter facility was under FSIS’ supervision while the sale barn was
    not. Cattle sometimes arrived at the sale barn that were sick/down/dead or
    would die or go down while at the sale barn. According to personnel at the
    sale barn, these animals were left for the renderer to collect. The healthy
    ambulatory animals that remained were marketed to many buyers including the
    adjacent slaughter facility. When the slaughter facility was ready to accept
    the ambulatory animals for processing, the cattle would be moved from the
    sale barn to the slaughter facility where they were subject to FSIS’
    inspection.

    We requested the slaughter facilities to estimate the number of cattle
    rejected on a daily basis (there were no records to confirm the estimates).
    We visited a renderer in the area and found that the renderer had a contract
    with APHIS to collect samples for BSE testing. In this case, although we
    could not obtain assurance that all rejected cattle were sampled, the
    renderer processed a significant number of animals, as compared to the
    slaughter plants’ estimates of those rejected. Due to the close proximity
    (less than 5 miles) of the renderer to the slaughter facilities, and the
    premium it paid for dead cattle that were in good condition, there was a
    financial incentive for transport drivers to dispose of their dead animals
    at this renderer.

    USDA/OIG-A/50601-10-KC Page 25

    In our discussions with APHIS officials in Wisconsin and Iowa, they
    confirmed that there were plants in their States that also used
    pre-screening practices. On May 27, 2005, we requested APHIS and FSIS to
    provide a list of all slaughter facilities that pre-screened cattle for
    slaughter in locations away from the area designated as the official
    slaughter facility. Along with this request, we asked for information to
    demonstrate that either APHIS or FSIS confirmed there was a high likelihood
    that high-risk animals were sampled at other collection sites.

    In response to our request, the APHIS BSE Program Manager stated that APHIS
    did not have information on slaughter plants that pre-screen or screen their
    animals for slaughter suitability off their official plant premises. To
    their knowledge, every company or producer that submits animals for
    slaughter pre-sorts or screens them for suitability at various locations
    away from the slaughter facility. For this reason, USDA focused its BSE
    sample collection efforts at other types of facilities such as renderers,
    pet food companies, landfills, and dead stock haulers. Further, in a letter
    to OIG on June 14, 2005, the administrators of APHIS and FSIS noted the
    following:

    “…we believe that no specific actions are necessary or appropriate to obtain
    reasonable assurance that animals not presented for slaughter are being
    tested for BSE. There are several reasons for our position. First, we do not
    believe that the practice is in fact causing us to not test a significant
    enough number of animals in our enhanced surveillance program to invalidate
    the overall results. Second, OIG has concluded that because of the
    geographical proximity and business relationships of the various entities
    involved in the case investigated, there is reasonable assurance that a
    majority of the rejected cattle had been sampled. Third, it is also
    important to remember that the goal of the enhanced surveillance program is
    to test a sufficient number of animals to allow us to draw conclusions about
    the level of BSE (if any) in the American herd…We believe that the number we
    may be not testing because of the “pre-sorting” practice does not rise to a
    significant level. The number of animals tested to date has far exceeded
    expectations, so it is reasonable to infer that there are few of the animals
    in question, or that we are testing them at some other point in the
    process…APHIS estimated…there were approximately 446,000 high risk
    cattle…[and APHIS has]…tested over 375,000 animals in less than 1 year. This
    indicated that we are missing few animals in the high-risk population,
    including those that might be pre-sorted before entering a slaughter
    facility’s property.”

    snip…

    APHIS notes that for the current surveillance program, it had established
    regional goals and APHIS was not trying to meet particular sampling levels
    in particular States. However, we believe that it would be advantageous for
    APHIS to monitor collection data and increase outreach when large
    geographical areas such as the above States do not provide samples in
    proportion to the numbers and types of cattle in the population.

    We also disagree with APHIS/FSIS’ contention that because they have tested
    over 375,000 of their 446,000 estimate of high risk cattle, few in the
    high-risk population are being missed, including those that might be
    pre-screened before entering a slaughter facility’s property. In our prior
    audit, we reported that APHIS underestimated the high-risk population; we
    found that this estimate should have been closer to 1 million animals (see
    Finding 1). We recognize that BSE samples are provided on a voluntary basis;
    however, APHIS should consider industry practice in any further maintenance
    surveillance effort. Animals unsuitable for slaughter exhibiting symptoms
    not inconsistent with BSE should be sampled and their clinical signs
    recorded. However, this cited industry practice results in rejected animals
    not being made available to either APHIS or FSIS veterinarians for their
    observation and identification of clinical signs exhibited ante mortem.
    Although these animals may be sampled later at other collection sites, the
    animals are provided post mortem without information as to relevant clinical
    signs exhibited ante mortem. For these reasons, we believe APHIS needs to

    USDA/OIG-A/50601-10-KC Page 27

    observe these animals ante mortem when possible to assure the animals from
    the target population are ultimately sampled and the clinical signs
    evaluated.

    snip…

    http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/50601-10-KC.pdf

    [Docket No. FSIS-2006-0011] FSIS Harvard Risk Assessment of Bovine
    Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)

    http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/2006-0011/2006-0011-1.pdf

    APHIS-2006-0041-0006 TSE advisory committee for the meeting December 15,
    2006

    http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer?objectId=09000064801f3413&disposition=attachment&contentType=msw8

    Attachment to Singletary comment

    January 28, 2007

    Greetings APHIS,

    I would kindly like to submit the following to ;

    BSE; MRR; IMPORTATION OF LIVE BOVINES AND PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM BOVINES
    [Docket No. APHIS-2006-0041] RIN 0579-AC01

    [Federal Register: January 9, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 5)]
    [Proposed Rules]
    [Page 1101-1129]
    From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
    [DOCID:fr09ja07-21]

    http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&o=09000064801f8152

    BSE; MRR; IMPORTATION OF LIVE BOVINES AND PRODUCTS
    DERIVED FROM BOVINES [Docket No. APHIS-2006-0041] RIN 0579-AC01
    Date: January 9, 2007 at 9:08 am PST

    http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&o=09000064801f3412

    Thursday, January 31, 2008

    Evaluation of the Human Transmission Risk of an Atypical Bovine Spongiform
    Encephalopathy Prion Strain

    J. Virol. doi:10.1128/JVI.02561-07
    Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed
    Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

    Evaluation of the Human Transmission Risk of an Atypical Bovine Spongiform
    Encephalopathy Prion Strain

    Qingzhong Kong*, Mengjie Zheng, Cristina Casalone, Liuting Qing, Shenghai
    Huang, Bikram Chakraborty, Ping Wang, Fusong Chen, Ignazio Cali, Cristiano
    Corona, Francesca Martucci, Barbara Iulini, Pierluigi Acutis, Lan Wang,
    Jingjing Liang, Meiling Wang, Xinyi Li, Salvatore Monaco, Gianluigi Zanusso,
    Wen-Quan Zou, Maria Caramelli, and Pierluigi Gambetti*
    Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
    44106, USA; CEA, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale, 10154 Torino, Italy;
    Department of Neurological and Visual Sciences, University of Verona, 37134
    Verona, Italy

    * To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: qxk2@case.edu.
    pxg13@case.edu.

    Abstract

    snip…

    These results suggest that, in humans, BASE is a more virulent BSE strain
    and likely lymphotropic.

    snip…

    SEE FULL TEXT ;

    http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/JVI.02561-07v1?papetoc

    http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/2008/01/evaluation-of-human-transmission-risk.html

    http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/

    Thursday, January 31, 2008

    SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY ADVISORY COMMITTEE Draft minutes of the 99th
    meeting held on 14th December 2007

    snip…

    ITEM 8 – PUBLIC QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION

    40. The Chair explained that the purpose of the question and answer
    session was to give members of the public an opportunity to ask
    questions related to the work of SEAC. Mr Terry Singeltary
    (Texas, USA) had submitted a question prior to the meeting,
    asking: “With the Nor-98 now documented in five different states so
    far in the USA in 2007, and with the two atypical BSE H-base

    13
    © SEAC 2007

    cases in Texas and Alabama, with both scrapie and chronic
    wasting disease (CWD) running rampant in the USA, is there any
    concern from SEAC with the rise of sporadic CJD in the USA from
    ”unknown phenotype”, and what concerns if any, in relations to
    blood donations, surgery, optical, and dental treatment, do you
    have with these unknown atypical phenotypes in both humans and
    animals in the USA? Does it concern SEAC, or is it of no concern
    to SEAC? Should it concern USA animal and human health
    officials?”

    41. A member considered that this question …………

    snip… please see full text, sources, and comments here ;

    http://seac992007.blogspot.com/2008/01/spongiform-encephalopathy-advisory.html

    CJD TEXAS

    http://cjdtexas.blogspot.com/

    Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in
    the United States

    http://cjdusa.blogspot.com/

    Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease

    http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/

    Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, Prion Protein Gene Codon 129VV, and a Novel PrPSc
    Type in a Young British Woman

    http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2008/01/creutzfeldt-jakob-disease-prion-protein.html

    CJD QUESTIONNAIRE

    http://cjdquestionnaire.blogspot.com/

    ANIMAL HEALTH REPORT 2006 (BSE h-BASE EVENT IN ALABAMA, Scrapie, and CWD)

    http://animalhealthreport2006.blogspot.com/

    CREUTZFELDT JAKOB DISEASE MAD COW BASE UPDATE USA

    http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/

    Friday, January 11, 2008

    CJD HUMAN TSE REPORT UK, USA, CANADA, and Mexico JANUARY 2008

    http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/2008/01/cjd-human-tse-report-uk-usa-canada-and.html

    Friday, January 25, 2008
    January 2008 Update on Feed Enforcement Activities to Limit the Spread of
    BSE

    http://madcowspontaneousnot.blogspot.com/2008/01/january-2008-update-on-feed-enforcement.html

    http://madcowspontaneousnot.blogspot.com/

    BSE BASE MAD COW TESTING TEXAS, USA, AND CANADA

    http://madcowtesting.blogspot.com/

    NOR-98 ATYPICAL SCRAPIE USA UPDATE AS AT OCT 2007

    http://nor-98.blogspot.com/

    http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/

    Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

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

    Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

    Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150
    words of the full text and any section headings.

    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.

    Terry S. Singeltary, Sr
    Bacliff, Tex

    1. Gibbons RV, Holman RC, Belay ED, Schonberger LB. Creutzfeldt-Jakob
    disease in the United States: 1979-1998. JAMA. 2000;284:2322-2323. FREE FULL
    TEXT

    http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/285/6/733?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=singeltary&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

    PDF]Freas, William TSS SUBMISSION
    File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat -Page 1. J Freas, William From: Sent:
    To:
    Subject:
    Terry S. SingeltarySr. [flounder@wt.net]
    Monday, January 08,200l 3:03 PM freas …

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

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

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

    DER SPIEGEL (9/2001) - 24.02.2001 (9397 Zeichen)USA: Loch in der MauerDie
    BSE-Angst erreicht Amerika: Trotz strikter Auflagen gelangte in Texas
    verbotenes Tiermehl ins Rinderfutter - die Kontrollen der
    Aufsichtsbehördensind lax.Link auf diesen Artikel im
    Archiv:http://service.spiegel.de/digas/find?DID=18578755

    “Its as full of holes as Swiss Cheese” says Terry Singeltary of the FDA
    regulations. …

    http://service.spiegel.de/digas/servlet/find/DID=18578755

    2 January 2000

    British Medical Journal

    U.S. Scientist should be concerned with a CJD epidemic in the U.S., as well

    http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/320/7226/8/b#6117

    15 November 1999

    British Medical Journal

    vCJD in the USA * BSE in U.S.

    http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/319/7220/1312/b#5406

    thank you,

    kindest regards,

    I am sincerely,

    Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
    P.O. Box 42
    Bacliff, Texas USA 77518

  3. Cao Says:

    Really long cut and pastes like that are kind of hard to follow.

    Could you summarize in a reader’s digest version?

  4. Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Says:

    it’s taken me over 10 years to uncover the cover-up. so it would take me a long time to explain here, that’s why i posted the links. in short, we have been lied to about mad cow disease in the USA. it’s been here. there is more than one strain in N. America, and the only reason Canada has found more cases, is the simple fact they are finding and _documenting_ cases. Canada’s feed ban is better. sporadic CJD (six documented phenotypes to date, with a recent _unknown_ phenotype documented in the USA). the h-BASE mad cow strain here in the USA is more virulent to humans than the UK BSE strain. the l-BASE mad cow strain has not been documented in the USA to date, but that does not say much. from the beginning of the enhanced BSE surveillance program, the testing was flawed, and the surveillance program itself was flawed (see links). the ruminant to rumiant feed ban i.e. mad cow feed, that was put into place August 4, 1997 would have helped. one problem, it nothing more than ink on paper, we are still feeding cows to cows and of that SRMs i.e. specified risk materials i.e. high risk organs, tissues etc.. the usda and fda have failed at every fire-wall. i said it in 2001 ;

    DER SPIEGEL (9/2001) - 24.02.2001 (9397 Zeichen)
    USA: Loch in der Mauer
    Die BSE-Angst erreicht Amerika: Trotz strikter Auflagen gelangte in Texas
    verbotenes Tiermehl ins Rinderfutter - die Kontrollen der Aufsichtsbehörden
    sind lax.
    Link auf diesen Artikel im Archiv:
    http://service.spiegel.de/digas/find?DID=18578755

    “Its as full of holes as Swiss Cheese” says Terry Singeltary of the FDA
    regulations. …

    http://service.spiegel.de/digas/servlet/find/DID=18578755

    Thu Dec 6, 2007 11:38

    FDA IN CRISIS MODE, AMERICAN LIVES AT RISK

    http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/fs/food-disease/news/dec0407fda.html

    FDA SCIENCE AND MISSION AT RISK

    http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/07/briefing/2007-4329b_02_01_FDA%20Report%20on%20Science%20and%20Technology.pdf

    and the houston chronicle today stated that it would take the FDA, at present staffing level, 1,900 YEARS, to check every foreign food processor.

    from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    FALLOUT OF FDA NEGLECT

    and then we wonder about the recent downer cattle that went to the school lunch programs and elderly, these are HIGH RISK MAD COWS. BUT, what are we feeding these cows still, one example;

    10,000,000+ LBS. of PROHIBITED BANNED MAD COW FEED I.E. 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

    http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/enforce/2007/ENF00996.html

    and 2006 was a banner year for mad cow protein animal feed in commerce. but there is not enough space here to list them all.

    scrapie in sheep and goats is rampant in the USA, with the new atypical NOR-98 strain documented in 5 different states for the first time in 2007.

    CWD in deer and elk is also rampant and spreading.

    the significance of all this, human health risk, medical and surgical arena, second, third, fourth passage i.e. friendly fire exposure, only time will tell, but the transmission studies to date are very troublesome and disturbing. the incubation period of these different TSE, is what hinders research, and allows this agent to secretly spread for years. …

    p.s. two old papers i always refer to;

    Gerald Wells: Report of the Visit to USA, April-May 1989

    snip…

    The general opinion of those present was that BSE, as an
    overt disease phenomenon, _could exist in the USA, but if it did,
    it was very rare. The need for improved and specific surveillance
    methods to detect it as recognised…

    snip…

    It is clear that USDA have little information and _no_ regulatory
    responsibility for rendering plants in the US…

    snip…

    3. Prof. A. Robertson gave a brief account of BSE. The US approach
    was to accord it a _very low profile indeed_. Dr. A Thiermann showed
    the picture in the ”Independent” with cattle being incinerated and thought
    this was a fanatical incident to be _avoided_ in the US _at all costs_…

    snip…

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

    To be published in the Proceedings of the
    Fourth International Scientific Congress in
    Fur Animal Production. Toronto, Canada,
    August 21-28, 1988

    Evidence That Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy
    Results from Feeding Infected Cattle

    R.F. Marsh* and G.R. Hartsough

    •Department of Veterinary Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison,
    Wisconsin 53706; and ^Emba/Creat Lakes Ranch Service, Thiensville, Wisconsin 53092

    ABSTRACT
    Epidemiologic investigation of a new incidence of
    transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME) in Stetsonville, Wisconsin
    suggests that the disease may have resulted from feeding infected
    cattle to mink. This observation is supported by the transmission of
    a TME-like disease to experimentally inoculated cattle, and by the
    recent report of a new bovine spongiform encephalopathy in
    England.

    INTRODUCTION

    Transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME) was first reported in 1965 by Hartsough
    and Burger who demonstrated that the disease was transmissible with a long incubation
    period, and that affected mink had a spongiform encephalopathy similar to that found in
    scrapie-affecied sheep (Hartsough and Burger, 1965; Burger and Hartsough, 1965).
    Because of the similarity between TME and scrapie, and the subsequent finding that the
    two transmissible agents were indistinguishable (Marsh and Hanson, 1969), it was
    concluded that TME most likely resulted from feeding mink scrapie-infecied sheep.
    The experimental transmission of sheep scrapie to mink (Hanson et al., 1971)
    confirmed the close association of TME and scrapie, but at the same time provided
    evidence that they may be different. Epidemiologic studies on previous incidences of
    TME indicated that the incubation periods in field cases were between six months and
    one year in length (Harxsough and Burger, 1965). Experimentally, scrapie could not be
    transmitted to mink in less than one year.
    To investigate the possibility that TME may be caused by a (particular strain of
    scrapie which might be highly pathogenic for mink, 21 different strains of the scrapie
    agent, including their sheep or goat sources, were inoculated into a total of 61 mink.
    Only one mink developed a progressive neurologic disease after an incubation period of
    22 mon..s (Marsh and Hanson, 1979). These results indicated that TME was either caused
    by a strain of sheep scrapie not yet tested, or was due to exposure to a scrapie-like agent
    from an unidentified source.

    OBSERVATIONS AND RESULTS

    A New Incidence of TME. In April of 1985, a mink rancher in Stetsonville, Wisconsin
    reported that many of his mink were “acting funny”, and some had died. At this time, we
    visited the farm and found that approximately 10% of all adult mink were showing
    typical signs of TME: insidious onset characterized by subtle behavioral changes, loss of
    normal habits of cleanliness, deposition of droppings throughout the pen rather than in a
    single area, hyperexcitability, difficulty in chewing and swallowing, and tails arched over
    their _backs like squirrels. These signs were followed by progressive deterioration of
    neurologic function beginning with locomoior incoordination, long periods of somnolence
    in which the affected mink would stand motionless with its head in the corner of the
    cage, complete debilitation, and death. Over the next 8-10 weeks, approximately 40% of
    all the adult mink on the farm died from TME.
    Since previous incidences of TME were associated with common or shared feeding
    practices, we obtained a careful history of feed ingredients used over the past 12-18
    months. The rancher was a “dead stock” feeder using mostly (>95%) downer or dead dairy
    cattle and a few horses. Sheep had never been fed.

    Experimental Transmission. The clinical diagnosis of TME was confirmed by
    histopaihologic examination and by experimental transmission to mink after incubation
    periods of four months. To investigate the possible involvement of cattle in this disease
    cycle, two six-week old castrated Holstein bull calves were inoculated intracerebrally
    with a brain suspension from affected mink. Each developed a fatal spongiform
    encephalopathy after incubation periods of 18 and 19 months.

    DISCUSSION
    These findings suggest that TME may result from feeding mink infected cattle and
    we have alerted bovine practitioners that there may exist an as yet unrecognized
    scrapie-like disease of cattle in the United States (Marsh and Hartsough, 1986). A new
    bovine spongiform encephalopathy has recently been reported in England (Wells et al.,
    1987), and investigators are presently studying its transmissibility and possible
    relationship to scrapie. Because this new bovine disease in England is characterized by
    behavioral changes, hyperexcitability, and agressiveness, it is very likely it would be
    confused with rabies in the United Stales and not be diagnosed. Presently, brains from
    cattle in the United States which are suspected of rabies infection are only tested with
    anti-rabies virus antibody and are not examined histopathologically for lesions of
    spongiform encephalopathy.
    We are presently pursuing additional studies to further examine the possible
    involvement of cattle in the epidemiology of TME. One of these is the backpassage of
    our experimental bovine encephalopathy to mink. Because (here are as yet no agent-
    specific proteins or nucleic acids identified for these transmissible neuropathogens, one
    means of distinguishing them is by animal passage and selection of the biotype which
    grows best in a particular host. This procedure has been used to separate hamster-
    adapted and mink-udapted TME agents (Marsh and Hanson, 1979). The intracerebral
    backpassage of the experimental bovine agent resulted in incubations of only four months
    indicating no de-adaptation of the Stetsonville agent for mink after bovine passage.
    Mink fed infected bovine brain remain normal after six months. It will be essential to
    demonstrate oral transmission fiom bovine to mink it this proposed epidemiologic
    association is to be confirmed.

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
    These studies were supported by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences,
    University of Wisconsin-Madison and by a grant (85-CRCR-1-1812) from the United
    States Department of Agriculture. The authors also wish to acknowledge the help and
    encouragement of Robert Hanson who died during the course of these investigations.

    REFERENCES
    Burger, D. and Hartsough, G.R. 1965. Encephalopathy of mink. II. Experimental and
    natural transmission. J. Infec. Dis. 115:393-399.
    Hanson, R.P., Eckroade, R.3., Marsh, R.F., ZuRhein, C.M., Kanitz, C.L. and Gustatson,
    D.P. 1971. Susceptibility of mink to sheep scrapie. Science 172:859-861.
    Hansough, G.R. and Burger, D. 1965. Encephalopathy of mink. I. Epizoociologic and
    clinical observations. 3. Infec. Dis. 115:387-392.
    Marsh, R.F. and Hanson, R.P. 1969. Physical and chemical properties of the
    transmissible mink encephalopathy agent. 3. ViroL 3:176-180.
    Marsh, R.F. and Hanson, R.P. 1979. On the origin of transmissible mink
    encephalopathy. In Hadlow, W.J. and Prusiner, S.P. (eds.) Slow transmissible
    diseases of the nervous system. Vol. 1, Academic Press, New York, pp 451-460.
    Marsh, R.F. and Hartsough, G.R. 1986. Is there a scrapie-like disease in cattle?
    Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Western Conference for Food Animal Veterinary
    Medicine. University of Arizona, pp 20.
    Wells, G.A.H., Scott, A.C., Johnson, C.T., Cunning, R.F., Hancock, R.D., Jeffrey, M.,
    Dawson, M. and Bradley, R. 1987. A novel progressive spongiform encephalopathy
    in cattle. Vet. Rec. 121:419-420.

    MARSH

    http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09/tab05.pdf

    kindest regards,
    terry

  5. Cao Says:

    That looks like the same cut and paste. Now I’m beginning to think this is spam.

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