Monday, July 24, 2017

USDA Detects a Case of Atypical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in Alabama

USDA Detects a Case of Atypical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in Alabama 

Last Modified: Jul 18, 2017 Print Contacts:

Donna Karlsons, Donna.L.Karlsons@aphis.usda.gov Lyndsay Cole, Lyndsay.M.Cole@aphis.usda.gov Washington, D.C., July 18, 2017 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced an atypical case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), a neurologic disease of cattle, in an eleven-year old cow in Alabama. This animal never entered slaughter channels and at no time presented a risk to the food supply, or to human health in the United States.

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) have determined that this cow was positive for atypical (L-type) BSE. The animal was showing clinical signs and was found through routine surveillance at an Alabama livestock market. APHIS and Alabama veterinary officials are gathering more information on the case.

BSE is not contagious and exists in two types - classical and atypical. Classical BSE is the form that occurred primarily in the United Kingdom, beginning in the late 1980’s, and it has been linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in people. The primary source of infection for classical BSE is feed contaminated with the infectious prion agent, such as meat-and-bone meal containing protein derived from rendered infected cattle. Regulations from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have prohibited the inclusion of mammalian protein in feed for cattle and other ruminants since 1997 and have also prohibited high risk tissue materials in all animal feed since 2009. 

Atypical BSE is different, and it generally occurs in older cattle, usually 8 years of age or greater. It seems to arise rarely and spontaneously in all cattle populations.

This is the nation’s 5th detection of BSE. Of the four previous U.S. cases, the first was a case of classical BSE that was imported from Canada; the rest have been atypical (H- or L-type) BSE.

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has recognized the United States as negligible risk for BSE. As noted in the OIE guidelines for determining this status, atypical BSE cases do not impact official BSE risk status recognition as this form of the disease is believed to occur spontaneously in all cattle populations at a very low rate. Therefore, this finding of an atypical case will not change the negligible risk status of the United States, and should not lead to any trade issues. 

The United States has a longstanding system of interlocking safeguards against BSE that protects public and animal health in the United States, the most important of which is the removal of specified risk materials - or the parts of an animal that would contain BSE should an animal have the disease - from all animals presented for slaughter. The second safeguard is a strong feed ban that protects cattle from the disease. Another important component of our system - which led to this detection - is our ongoing BSE surveillance program that allows USDA to detect the disease if it exists at very low levels in the U.S. cattle population.


TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2017 

USDA announces Alabama case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Alabama


THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2017 

USDA OIE Alabama Atypical L-type BASE Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy BSE animal feeds for ruminants rule, 21 CFR 589.200


SUNDAY, JULY 23, 2017

atypical L-type BASE Bovine Amyloidotic Spongiform Encephalopathy BSE TSE PRION


SUNDAY, JULY 23, 2017

Experimental Infection of Cattle With a Novel Prion Derived From Atypical H-Type Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy


THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2017 

EFSA BSE Sixty cases of mad cow disease since 2001 breached feed ban likely the cause 

Scientists investigate origin of isolated BSE cases


First evidence of intracranial and peroral transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) into Cynomolgus macaques: a work in progress 

Stefanie Czub1, Walter Schulz-Schaeffer2, Christiane Stahl-Hennig3, Michael Beekes4, Hermann Schaetzl5 and Dirk Motzkus6 1 

University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine/Canadian Food Inspection Agency; 2Universitatsklinikum des Saarlandes und Medizinische Fakultat der Universitat des Saarlandes; 3 Deutsches Primaten Zentrum/Goettingen; 4 Robert-Koch-Institut Berlin; 5 University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine; 6 presently: Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Research Center; previously: Deutsches Primaten Zentrum/Goettingen 

This is a progress report of a project which started in 2009. 21 cynomolgus macaques were challenged with characterized CWD material from white-tailed deer (WTD) or elk by intracerebral (ic), oral, and skin exposure routes. Additional blood transfusion experiments are supposed to assess the CWD contamination risk of human blood product. Challenge materials originated from symptomatic cervids for ic, skin scarification and partially per oral routes (WTD brain). Challenge material for feeding of muscle derived from preclinical WTD and from preclinical macaques for blood transfusion experiments. We have confirmed that the CWD challenge material contained at least two different CWD agents (brain material) as well as CWD prions in muscle-associated nerves. 

Here we present first data on a group of animals either challenged ic with steel wires or per orally and sacrificed with incubation times ranging from 4.5 to 6.9 years at postmortem. Three animals displayed signs of mild clinical disease, including anxiety, apathy, ataxia and/or tremor. In four animals wasting was observed, two of those had confirmed diabetes. All animals have variable signs of prion neuropathology in spinal cords and brains and by supersensitive IHC, reaction was detected in spinal cord segments of all animals. Protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA), real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuiC) and PET-blot assays to further substantiate these findings are on the way, as well as bioassays in bank voles and transgenic mice. 

At present, a total of 10 animals are sacrificed and read-outs are ongoing. Preclinical incubation of the remaining macaques covers a range from 6.4 to 7.10 years. Based on the species barrier and an incubation time of > 5 years for BSE in macaques and about 10 years for scrapie in macaques, we expected an onset of clinical disease beyond 6 years post inoculation. 

PRION 2017 DECIPHERING NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS 

 Subject: PRION 2017 CONFERENCE DECIPHERING NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS VIDEO

PRION 2017 CONFERENCE DECIPHERING NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS

PRION 2017 CONFERENCE VIDEO



Chronic Wasting Disease CWD TSE Prion to Humans, who makes that final call, when, or, has it already happened?

TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2017

PRION 2017 CONFERENCE ABSTRACT First evidence of intracranial and peroral transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) into Cynomolgus macaques: a work in progress


TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2017

PRION 2017 CONFERENCE ABSTRACT Chronic Wasting Disease in European moose is associated with PrPSc features different from North American CWD


TUESDAY, JULY 04, 2017

*** PRION 2017 CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS ON CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION ***


MONDAY, JULY 17, 2017 

National Scrapie Eradication Program May 2017 Monthly Report Fiscal Year 2017


TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2017 

MINK FARMING USA TRANSMISSIBLE MINK ENCEPHALOPATHY TSE PRION DISEASE SURVEILLANCE AND TESTING



VPSPr

Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy (VPSPr), a recently identified and seemingly sporadic human prion disease, is distinct from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) but shares features of Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease (GSS). However, contrary to exclusively inherited GSS, no prion protein (PrP) gene variations have been detected in VPSPr, suggesting that VPSPr might be the long-sought sporadic form of GSS.
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In conclusion, we propose that VPSPr is transmissible and, therefore, is an authentic prion disease. However, transmissibility cannot be sustained through serial passages presumably because human PrPC (or the mouse brain environment) cannot efficiently convert and propagate the VPSPr PrPSc species. If this is the case, uncovering the properties of human PrP that are required to replicate more efficiently the prion strains associated with VPSPr may help clarify the PrPSc mode of formation in this intriguing disease.
 


Friday, January 10, 2014

vpspr, sgss, sffi, TSE, an iatrogenic by-product of gss, ffi, familial type prion disease, what it ???


THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2017 

National Prion Center could lose all funding just as concern about CWD jumping to humans rises

SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2017 

*** National Prion Center could lose all funding just as concern about CWD jumping to humans rises


SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 

Why the U.S. Needs to Continue Prion Disease Surveillance, instead of reducing funding to zero


SPONTANEOUS ATYPICAL BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY

***Moreover, sporadic disease has never been observed in breeding colonies or primate research laboratories, most notably among hundreds of animals over several decades of study at the National Institutes of Health25, and in nearly twenty older animals continuously housed in our own facility.***


National Prion Center could lose all funding just as concern about CWD jumping to humans rises

SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2017 

*** National Prion Center could lose all funding just as concern about CWD jumping to humans rises


Terry S. Singeltary Sr. 

Sunday, July 23, 2017

atypical L-type BASE Bovine Amyloidotic Spongiform Encephalopathy BSE TSE PRION

Subject: atypical L-type BASE BSE TSE PRION

Identification of a second bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy: Molecular similarities with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease 

Cristina Casalone * , †, Gianluigi Zanusso † , ‡, Pierluigi Acutis *, Sergio Ferrari ‡, Lorenzo Capucci §, Fabrizio Tagliavini ¶, Salvatore Monaco ‡ , ∥, and Maria Caramelli * Author Affiliations

Edited by Stanley B. Prusiner, University of California, San Francisco, CA, and approved December 23, 2003 (received for review September 9, 2003)

AbstractFull TextAuthors & InfoFiguresMetricsRelated ContentPDF Next Section Abstract Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), or prion diseases, are mammalian neurodegenerative disorders characterized by a posttranslational conversion and brain accumulation of an insoluble, protease-resistant isoform (PrPSc) of the host-encoded cellular prion protein (PrPC). Human and animal TSE agents exist as different phenotypes that can be biochemically differentiated on the basis of the molecular mass of the protease-resistant PrPSc fragments and the degree of glycosylation. Epidemiological, molecular, and transmission studies strongly suggest that the single strain of agent responsible for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has infected humans, causing variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The unprecedented biological properties of the BSE agent, which circumvents the so-called ”species barrier” between cattle and humans and adapts to different mammalian species, has raised considerable concern for human health. To date, it is unknown whether more than one strain might be responsible for cattle TSE or whether the BSE agent undergoes phenotypic variation after natural transmission. Here we provide evidence of a second cattle TSE. The disorder was pathologically characterized by the presence of PrP-immunopositive amyloid plaques, as opposed to the lack of amyloid deposition in typical BSE cases, and by a different pattern of regional distribution and topology of brain PrPSc accumulation. In addition, Western blot analysis showed a PrPSc type with predominance of the low molecular mass glycoform and a protease-resistant fragment of lower molecular mass than BSE-PrPSc. Strikingly, the molecular signature of this previously undescribed bovine PrPSc was similar to that encountered in a distinct subtype of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), or prion diseases (1), encompass a group of progressive neurodegenerative disorders, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, scrapie in sheep, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) (1-4). These disorders are characterized by brain deposition of an insoluble, protease-resistant isoform of the host-encoded cellular prion protein (PrPC), named PrPSc (1, 4, 5) In different TSE phenotypes, PrPSc exhibits disease-specific properties, including distinctive cleavage sites after proteolytic treatment, ratio of glycoforms, and deposition patterns, all features useful in providing a means of strain identification (6-10).

Although not contagious, TSEs are potentially infective, and in humans may present as sporadic, inherited, and acquired diseases. Human-to-human transmission of TSE is well documented and has occurred either through oral or mucocutaneous route of infection, as in kuru (11), or after medical and surgical procedures, as in iatrogenic CJD (12). Recently, animal-to-human transmission has also occurred. Epidemiological (13), experimental transmission (14), and biochemical PrPSc typing (8) have provided strong evidence that the single prion strain responsible for BSE has infected humans, causing variant CJD (vCJD), in addition to several animal species. In BSE and BSE-related disorders, including vCJD, the molecular typing of disease-associated PrPSc shows identical PrP fragment sizes and predominance of the high molecular mass glycoform both in natural hosts and in experimentally inoculated animals. To date, at variance with CJD in humans and scrapie in sheep, only a single strain and a single PrPSc type have been detected in BSE.

The spreading of the BSE agent across mammalian species barriers has aroused considerable concern for the following reasons: (i) the possible existence of new or previously unrecognized cattle TSE strains, potentially pathogenic for humans; and (ii) the occurrence of phenotypic variation of the BSE strain, with propagation of a new agent encoding distinctive molecular and biological properties.

In Italy, an active surveillance system on BSE in cattle was started in January 2001, and by August 2003 a total of 103 BSE cases had been diagnosed of 1,638,275 statutory tested brainstem samples. Confirmatory positive results have been obtained in all cases by immunohistochemical and Western immunoblot demonstration of disease-specific protease-resistant PrPSc.

To assess molecular and neuropathological characteristics in Italian BSE cases, we have over the last few months collected whole brains of eight Italian cattle that were PrPSc-positive in Western immunoblots. In two cattle, older than other affected bovines, the PrPSc glycotype was clearly different from the BSE-associated PrPSc molecule, and widespread PrP-amyloid plaques were seen in supratentorial brain regions. Unlike typical BSE, the brainstem was less involved and no PrP deposition was detected in the dorsal nucleus of the vagus nerve. Given the biochemical and pathological similarities with sporadic CJD (sCJD) cases linked to type-2 PrPSc (9) and methionine/valine (M/V) polymorphism at codon 129 in the prion protein gene (PRNP), these findings have prompted ongoing strain typing in inbred mice. Although the present findings dictate caution, here we show that a PrPSc type associated with sCJD and the previously undescribed bovine PrPSc show convergent molecular signatures.

snip...

Discussion In natural and experimental TSEs, PrPSc deposition represents an early event that occurs weeks to months before the development of spongiform changes (20, 21). As a consequence, the detection of PrPSc by Western immunoblot provides a unique opportunity in the diagnosis of BSE early in the incubation period and, therefore, in presymptomatic animals. The identification of the present cattle by postmortem biochemical tests, in the absence of clear neurological involvement, suggests that the disorder was detected at early stages, and this may also explain the lack of widespread vacuolar changes.

Previous pathological studies in clinically suspect cases of BSE in Great Britain have provided evidence for a uniform pattern in the severity and distribution of vacuolar lesions in affected animals, with medulla oblongata nuclei being the most involved (22). While confirming that the BSE epidemic has been sustained by a single agent, these studies have assessed the validity of statutory criteria for the diagnosis of BSE, which is currently based on both histopathological and immunobiochemical examination of the medulla. However, the prevailing involvement of cortical regions in the cattle with amyloid deposition suggests that postmortem brain sampling should not be limited to the obex. In addition, a careful analysis of PrPSc glycoform profiles at the confirmatory Western immunoblot may provide a molecular means of identifying atypical cases of bovine TSE.

Bovine Amyloidotic Spongiform Encephalopathy (BASE): A Second Bovine TSE. The present findings show that a previously undescribed pathological and immunohistochemical phenotype, associated with cattle TSE, is related to the presence of a PrPSc type with biochemical properties, including the gel mobility of the protease-resistant fragment and glycoform ratios, different from those encountered in cattle BSE. Brain deposition of this pathological isoform of cattle PrP correlates with the formation of PrP-amyloid plaques, as opposed to typical BSE cases. Although in several natural and experimental recipients of the BSE agent, including humans (13), neuropathological changes are characterized by the presence of PrP-positive amyloid deposits with surrounding vacuolation, cattle BSE is not associated with PrP-amyloid plaque formation. On the basis of the above features, we propose to name the disease described here BASE. Although observed in only two cattle, the BASE phenotype could be more common than expected. In previous studies, amyloid congophilic plaques were found in 1 of 20 BSE cases examined systematically for amyloid (23), and it was reported that focal cerebral amyloidosis is present in a small proportion of BSE cases (24). Although no biochemical analysis of PrPSc glycotype is available for these animals with ”atypical BSE phenotype,” our present results underscore the importance of performing a strain-typing in bovine TSE with amyloid deposition.

In sCJD, the neuropathological phenotype largely correlates with the molecular type of PrPSc and distinct polymorphic sites of PRNP (9, 19). This is in contrast with the situation in cattle, where different genotypes have been reported based on the variable numbers of octapeptide repeats in each allele, but no evidence for single-codon polymorphisms in the PrP gene has been established (25, 26). Because the present animals shared a similar genetic background and breed, differences in disease phenotypes between cattle with BSE and BASE can be tentatively related only to distinct PrPSc types or alternative routes of infection and spread of prion pathology. Accordingly, the lack of involvement of the motor dorsal nucleus of the vagus and the slight involvement of the brainstem in BASE, suggests a route for spreading of the agent other than the alimentary tract. Therefore, unless the BASE agent propagates throughout the olfactory pathway or other peripheral routes, it is possible that this disorder represents a sporadic form of cattle TSE, which would also explain the difference in ages between the two groups of affected animals.

Phenotypic Similarities Between BASE and sCJD. The transmissibility of CJD brains was initially demonstrated in primates (27), and classification of atypical cases as CJD was based on this property (28). To date, no systematic studies of strain typing in sCJD have been provided, and classification of different subtypes is based on clinical, neuropathological, and molecular features (the polymorphic PRNP codon 129 and the PrPSc glycotype) (8, 9, 15, 19). The importance of molecular PrPSc characterization in assessing the identity of TSE strains is underscored by several studies, showing that the stability of given disease-specific PrPSc types is maintained upon experimental propagation of sCJD, familial CJD, and vCJD isolates in transgenic PrP-humanized mice (8, 29). Similarly, biochemical properties of BSE- and vCJD-associated PrPSc molecules remain stable after passage to mice expressing bovine PrP (30). Recently, however, it has been reported that PrP-humanized mice inoculated with BSE tissues may also propagate a distinctive PrPSc type, with a ”monoglycosylated-dominant” pattern and electrophoretic mobility of the unglycosylated fragment slower than that of vCJD and BSE (31). Strikingly, this PrPSc type shares its molecular properties with the a PrPSc molecule found in classical sCJD. This observation is at variance with the PrPSc type found in M/V2 sCJD cases and in cattle BASE, showing a monoglycosylated-dominant pattern but faster electrophoretic mobility of the protease-resistant fragment as compared with BSE. In addition to molecular properties of PrPSc, BASE and M/V2 sCJD share a distinctive pattern of intracerebral PrP deposition, which occurs as plaque-like and amyloid-kuru plaques. Differences were, however, observed in the regional distribution of PrPSc. While in M/V2 sCJD cases the largest amounts of PrPSc were detected in the cerebellum, brainstem, and striatum, in cattle BASE these areas were less involved and the highest levels of PrPSc were recovered from the thalamus and olfactory regions.

In conclusion, decoding the biochemical PrPSc signature of individual human and animal TSE strains may allow the identification of potential risk factors for human disorders with unknown etiology, such as sCJD. However, although BASE and sCJD share several characteristics, caution is dictated in assessing a link between conditions affecting two different mammalian species, based on convergent biochemical properties of disease-associated PrPSc types. Strains of TSE agents may be better characterized upon passage to transgenic mice. In the interim until this is accomplished, our present findings suggest a strict epidemiological surveillance of cattle TSE and sCJD based on molecular criteria.


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

Qingzhong Kong1,*, Mengjie Zheng1, Cristina Casalone2, Liuting Qing1,Shenghai Huang1,†, Bikram Chakraborty1, Ping Wang1, Fusong Chen1,Ignazio Cali1, Cristiano Corona2, Francesca Martucci2, Barbara Iulini2,Pierluigi Acutis2, Lan Wang1, Jingjing Liang1, Meiling Wang1, Xinyi Li1,Salvatore Monaco3, Gianluigi Zanusso3, Wen-Quan Zou1, Maria Caramelli2 andPierluigi Gambetti1,* +Author Affiliations

1Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 2CEA, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale, 10154 Torino, Italy 3Department of Neurological and Visual Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy Next Section ABSTRACT

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

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


 PPo2-26:

Transmission of Classical and Atypical (L-type) Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Prions to Cynomolgus macaques

Fumiko Ono,1 Yoshio Yamakawa,2 Minoru Tobiume,3 Yuko Sato,3 Harutaka Katano,3 Kenichi Hagiwara,2 Iori Itagaki,1 Akio Hiyaoka,1 Katuhiko Komatuzaki,1 Yasunori Emoto,1 Hiroaki Shibata,4 Yuichi Murayama,5 Keiji Terao,4 Yasuhiro Yasutomi4 and Tetsutaro Sata3

1The Corporation for Production and Research of Laboratory Primates; Tsukuba City, Japan; 2Departments of Cell Biology and Biochemistry; and 3Pathology; National Institute of Infectious Diseases; Tokyo, Japan; 4Tsukuba Primate Research Center; National Institute of Biomedical Innovation; Tsukuba City, Japan; 5Prion Disease Research Team; National Institute of Animal Health; Tsukuba City, Japan

Key words: L-type BSE, cBSE, cynomolgus macaques, transmission

BSE prion derived from classical BSE (cBSE) or L-type BSE was characterized by inoculation into the brain of cynomolgus macaques. The neurologic manifestation was developed in all cynomolgus macaques at 27–43 months after intracerebral inoculation of brain homogenate from cBSE-affected cattle (BSE JP/6). Second transmission of cBSE from macaque to macaque shortened incubation period to 13–18 months. cBSE-affected macaques showed the similar clinical signs including hyperekplexia, tremor and paralysis in both primary and second transmission.

Two macaques were intracerebrally inoculated brain homogenate from the L-type BSE-affected cattle (BSE JP/24). The incubation periods were 19–20 months in primary transmission.

The clinical course of the L-type BSE-affected macaques differed from that in cBSE-affected macaques in the points of severe myoclonus without hyperekplexia. 

The glycoform profile of PrPSc detected in macaque CNS was consistent with original pattern of either cBSE or L-typeBSE PrPSc, respectively. 

Although severe spongiform change in the brain was remarkable in all BSE-affected macaques, severe spongiform spread widely in cerebral cortex in L-type BSE-affected macaques. 

Heavy accumulation of PrPSc surrounded by vacuola formed florid plaques in cerebral cortex of cBSE-affected macaques. 

Deposit of PrPSc in L-type BSE-affected macaque was weak and diffuse synaptic pattern in cerebrum, but large PrPSc plaques were evident at cerebellum. 

MRI analysis, T2, T1, DW and flair sequences, at the time of autopsy revealed that brain atrophy and dilatation of cerebral ventricles were significantly severe in L-type BSE-affected macaques. 

***These results suggest that L-type BSE is more virulent strain to primates comparing to cBSE.


 Atypical BSE (BASE) Transmitted from Asymptomatic Aging Cattle to a Primate

Emmanuel E. Comoy1*, Cristina Casalone2, Nathalie Lescoutra-Etchegaray1, Gianluigi Zanusso3, Sophie Freire1, Dominique Marcé1, Frédéric Auvré1, Marie-Magdeleine Ruchoux1, Sergio Ferrari3, Salvatore Monaco3, Nicole Salès4, Maria Caramelli2, Philippe Leboulch1,5, Paul Brown1, Corinne I. Lasmézas4, Jean-Philippe Deslys1

1 Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies, CEA, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France, 2 Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Turin, Italy, 3 Policlinico G.B. Rossi, Verona, Italy, 4 Scripps Florida, Jupiter, Florida, United States of America, 5 Genetics Division, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Abstract Top Background Human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) results from foodborne transmission of prions from slaughtered cattle with classical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (cBSE). 

***Atypical forms of BSE, which remain mostly asymptomatic in aging cattle, were recently identified at slaughterhouses throughout Europe and North America, raising a question about human susceptibility to these new prion strains.

Methodology/Principal Findings Brain homogenates from cattle with classical BSE and atypical (BASE) infections were inoculated intracerebrally into cynomolgus monkeys (Macacca fascicularis), a non-human primate model previously demonstrated to be susceptible to the original strain of cBSE. The resulting diseases were compared in terms of clinical signs, histology and biochemistry of the abnormal prion protein (PrPres). 

***The single monkey infected with BASE had a shorter survival, and a different clinical evolution, histopathology, and prion protein (PrPres) pattern than was observed for either classical BSE or vCJD-inoculated animals. 

***Also, the biochemical signature of PrPres in the BASE-inoculated animal was found to have a higher proteinase K sensitivity of the octa-repeat region. 

***We found the same biochemical signature in three of four human patients with sporadic CJD and an MM type 2 PrP genotype who lived in the same country as the infected bovine.

*** Conclusion/Significance Our results point to a possibly higher degree of pathogenicity of BASE than classical BSE in primates and also raise a question about a possible link to one uncommon subset of cases of apparently sporadic CJD. 

***Thus, despite the waning epidemic of classical BSE, the occurrence of atypical strains should temper the urge to relax measures currently in place to protect public health from accidental contamination by BSE-contaminated products.

Citation: Comoy EE, Casalone C, Lescoutra-Etchegaray N, Zanusso G, Freire S, et al. (2008) Atypical BSE (BASE) Transmitted from Asymptomatic Aging Cattle to a Primate. PLoS ONE 3(8): e3017. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003017

Editor: Neil Mabbott, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Received: April 24, 2008; Accepted: August 1, 2008; Published: August 20, 2008

Copyright: © 2008 Comoy 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 has been supported by the Network of Excellence NeuroPrion.

Competing interests: CEA owns a patent covering the BSE diagnostic tests commercialized by the company Bio-Rad.



 Session I - Prions: Structure, Strain and Detection (II)

Searching for BASE Strain Signature in Sporadic Creutzfedlt-Jakob Disease

Gianluigi Zanusso

Department of Neurological and Visual Sciences, Section of Clinical Neurology University of Verona, Verona, Italy.

Bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy (BASE) is a newly recognized form of bovine prion disease, which was originally detected in Italy in 2004 as an effect of active surveillance. BASE or BSE L-type (L is referred to the lower electrophoretic PrPSc migration than classical BSE) has now been reported in several countries, including Japan. 

All field cases of BASE were older than 8 years and neurologically normal at the time of slaughtered. By experimental transmission, we defined the disease phenotype of cattle BASE, which is quite distinct from that seen in typical BSE and characterized by mental dullness and amyotrophy. 

Surprisingly, following intraspecies and interspecies transmission the incubation period of BASE was shorter than BSE. 

***The relatively easy transmission of BASE isolate as well as the molecular similarity with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) have raised concern regarding its potential passage to humans. Tg humanized mice Met/Met at codon 129 challenged with both BSE and BASE isolates, showed a resistance to BSE but a susceptibility to BASE at a 60% rate; in addition, BASE-inoculated Cynomolgus (129 Met/Met) had shorter incubation periods than BSE-inoculated primates. 

In this study we compared the biochemical properties of PrPSc in Cynomolgus and in TgHu Met/Met mice challenged with BSE and BASE strains, by conventional SDS-PAGE analysis and 2D separation. The results obtained disclose distinct conformational changes in PrPSc, which are dependent on the inoculated host but not on the codon 129 genotype.

This work was supported by Neuroprion contract n. FOOD CT 2004 -506579 (NOE)


P.150: Zoonotic potential of L-type BSE prions: A new prion disease in humans?

Emilie Jaumain,1 Stéphane Haïk,2 Isabelle Quadrio,3 Laetitia Herzog,1 Fabienne Reine,1 Armand Perret-Liaudet,3 Human Rezaei,1 Hubert Laude,1 Jean-Luc Vilotte,4 and Vincent Béringue1 1INR A (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique); UR892; Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires; Jouy-en-Josas, France; 2IN SERM; Equipe maladie d’Alzheimer et maladies à Prions; CRicm; UMRS 1127; CNR S; UPMC. R.; ICM, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière; Paris, France; 3Neurobiologie, CMRR , Gériatrie, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Université Lyon 1-CNR S UMR5292-IN SERM U1028; Lyon, France; 3INR A; UMR1313; Génétique Animale et Biologie Intégrative; Jouy-en-Josas, France

Two novel prion strains, referred to as BSE-L and BSE-H, have been recognized in bovines through active prion surveillance programs, both being distinct from the epizootic, ‘classical’, BSE strain (C-BSE). Both H and L-types have been detected worldwide as rare cases occurring in aged animals. Like C-BSE prions, H- and L-types prions can propagate with relative ease in foreign species or in transgenic mouse lines expressing heterologous PrP sequences. A prion exhibiting biological properties similar to C-BSE agent sometimes emerged from these cross-species transmissions. 

***Previously, L-type prions were shown to transmit to transgenic mice expressing human PrP with methionine at codon 129 with higher efficacy than C-BSE prions. 

Here, we examined whether L-type prions propagate without any apparent transmission barrier in these mice and whether such ‘humanised’ L-type prions share biological properties with CJD prions. 

L-type prions and a panel of human CJD cases with various genotypes at codon 129 and electrophoretic PrPres signatures were serially transmitted by intracerebral route to human PrP mice. 

The biological phenotypes induced by these agents were compared by all the standard methods currently used to distinguish between prion strains. 

***At each passage, L-type prions were also transmitted back to bovine PrP mice to assess whether the agent has evolved upon passaging on the human PrP sequence. L-type prions transmitted to human PrP mice at 100% attack rate, without notable alteration in the mean incubation times over 5 passages. 

***At each passage, ‘humanized’ L-type prions were able to transmit back to bovine PrP transgenic mice without apparent transmission barrier, as based on the survival time and the restoration of a L-type BSE phenotype. 

*** Comparison of mean incubation times on primary and subsequent passages in human PrP mice showed no overlap between L-type and sporadic CJD agents. 

*** While the electrophoretic signature and regional distribution of PrPres in L-type diseased mouse brains resembled that seen after transmission of MM2 CJD strain type, both agents exhibited distinct resistance of the associated PrPres molecules to protease denaturation.

*** In summary, L-type prions can be passaged on the human PrP sequence without any obvious transmission barrier. The phenotype obtained differs from the classical CJD prion types known so far. Careful extrapolation would suggest that the zoonotic transmission of this agent could establish a new prion disease type in humans.

========Prion2013==========


The present data offer novel information on the tropism of the BASE agent and highlight relevant public health issues. 

***While the transmission barrier for classical BSE is high in most species, BASE prions are readily transmissible to a variety of mammals including non-human primates [11]–[13], [35]. 

***Accordingly, the possibility of spreading of BASE prions through skeletal muscle to other species should be taken into account and evaluated in risk analysis studies.


O.05: Transmission of prions to primates after extended silent incubation periods: Implications for BSE and scrapie risk assessment in human populations

Emmanuel Comoy, Jacqueline Mikol, Valerie Durand, Sophie Luccantoni, Evelyne Correia, Nathalie Lescoutra, Capucine Dehen, and Jean-Philippe Deslys Atomic Energy Commission; Fontenay-aux-Roses, France

Prion diseases (PD) are the unique neurodegenerative proteinopathies reputed to be transmissible under field conditions since decades. The transmission of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) to humans evidenced that an animal PD might be zoonotic under appropriate conditions. Contrarily, in the absence of obvious (epidemiological or experimental) elements supporting a transmission or genetic predispositions, PD, like the other proteinopathies, are reputed to occur spontaneously (atpical animal prion strains, sporadic CJD summing 80% of human prion cases). Non-human primate models provided the first evidences supporting the transmissibiity of human prion strains and the zoonotic potential of BSE. Among them, cynomolgus macaques brought major information for BSE risk assessment for human health (Chen, 2014), according to their phylogenetic proximity to humans and extended lifetime. We used this model to assess the zoonotic potential of other animal PD from bovine, ovine and cervid origins even after very long silent incubation periods.

*** We recently observed the direct transmission of a natural classical scrapie isolate to macaque after a 10-year silent incubation period,

***with features similar to some reported for human cases of sporadic CJD, albeit requiring fourfold long incubation than BSE. Scrapie, as recently evoked in humanized mice (Cassard, 2014),

***is the third potentially zoonotic PD (with BSE and L-type BSE),

***thus questioning the origin of human sporadic cases. We will present an updated panorama of our different transmission studies and discuss the implications of such extended incubation periods on risk assessment of animal PD for human health.

===============

***thus questioning the origin of human sporadic cases***

***our findings suggest that possible transmission risk of H-type BSE to sheep and human. Bioassay will be required to determine whether the PMCA products are infectious to these animals. 


2014 

***Moreover, L-BSE has been transmitted more easily to transgenic mice overexpressing a human PrP [13,14] or to primates [15,16] than C-BSE. 

***It has been suggested that some sporadic CJD subtypes in humans may result from an exposure to the L-BSE agent. 

*** Lending support to this hypothesis, pathological and biochemical similarities have been observed between L-BSE and an sCJD subtype (MV genotype at codon 129 of PRNP) [17], and between L-BSE infected non-human primate and another sCJD subtype (MM genotype) [15]. 

snip... 


WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2017 

In vitro amplification of H-type atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy by protein misfolding cyclic amplification 

"When considering the atypical L-BSE and H-BSE diseases of cattle, they have been assessed in both non-human primate and transgenic mouse bioassays (with mice transgenic for human PRNP) and both model systems indicate that H-BSE and L-BSE may have increased zoonotic potential compare with C-BSE. 

***The detection of all types of BSE is therefore of significant importance." 


SUNDAY, JULY 23, 2017

Experimental Infection of Cattle With a Novel Prion Derived From Atypical H-Type Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy


*** Industry should be aware, however, of the implications of sporadic BSE. Its occurrence would necessitate the indefinite retention of all of the public health measures that exclude high-risk bovine tissues from the animal and human food chains, whereas its nonoccurrence would permit tissues that are now destroyed to be used as before, once orally acquired BSE has disappeared.


***Moreover, sporadic disease has never been observed in breeding colonies or primate research laboratories, most notably among hundreds of animals over several decades of study at the National Institutes of Health25, and in nearly twenty older animals continuously housed in our own facility.***


MONDAY, JANUARY 09, 2017 

Oral Transmission of L-Type Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Agent among Cattle 

CDC Volume 23, Number 2—February 2017 

*** Consumption of L-BSE–contaminated feed may pose a risk for oral transmission of the disease agent to cattle.

Volume 23, Number 2—February 2017

Dispatch

Oral Transmission of L-Type Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Agent among Cattle

Abstract

To determine oral transmissibility of the L-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prion, we orally inoculated 16 calves with brain homogenates of the agent. Only 1 animal, given a high dose, showed signs and died at 88 months. These results suggest low risk for oral transmission of the L-BSE agent among cattle.

The epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle is thought to be caused by oral infection through consumption of feed containing the BSE agent (prion). Since 2003, different neuropathologic and molecular phenotypes of BSE have been identified as causing ≈110 cases of atypical BSE worldwide, mainly in aged cattle. Although the etiology and pathogenesis of atypical BSE are not yet fully understood, atypical BSE prions possibly cause sporadic cases of BSE (1).

The L-type BSE prion (L-BSE) has been experimentally transmitted to cattle by intracerebral challenge, and the incubation period was is shorter than that for classical BSE (C-BSE) prions (2–6). The origin of transmissible mink encephalopathy in ranch-raised mink is thought to be caused by ingestion of L-BSE–infected material (7). Although L-BSE has been orally transmitted to mouse lemurs (8), it remains to be established whether L-BSE can be transmitted to cattle by oral infection. We therefore investigated the transmissibility of L-BSE by the oral route and tissue distribution of disease-associated prion protein (PrPSc) in cattle. All experiments involving animals were performed with the approval of the Animal Ethical Committee and the Animal Care and Use Committee of the National Institute of Animal Health (approval nos. 07–88 and 08–010).

The Study

We divided a group of 16 Holstein female calves, 3–5 months of age, into 4 groups of 2–6 animals each. Each group of calves was orally administered 1 g (n = 4), 5 g (n = 6), 10 g (n = 4), or 50 g (n = 2) of pooled whole-brain homogenate prepared from cattle experimentally infected with L-BSE (3,6) (Table(https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/2/16-1416-t1)). The endpoint titer of the pooled brain homogenate assayed in bovinized transgenic (TgBoPrP) mice was 106.9 of 50% lethal dose/g tissue (data not shown). As noninfected controls, 3 female calves were obtained at 3–4 months of age and euthanized at 60, 92, and 103 months of age, and samples were analyzed as for the experimental animals.

At 88 months after inoculation, 1 of the animals (91 months of age) that had received 50 g of L-BSE–infected brain homogenate was unable to get up. The animal extended her forelimbs and hind limbs rigidly forward but did not show persistent knuckling of her fetlock; she did not have difficulty eating and drinking. Seven days after appearance of clinical signs, the animal was found dead, having shown no characteristic signs of L-BSE, such as dullness, lowering of the head, and overreactivity to external stimuli, which had previously been observed after intracerebral inoculation of animals under experimental conditions (4).

Histopathologic examination of tissues from this animal revealed minimal or mild spongiform changes of the gray matter neuropil in the thalamic and brainstem nuclei; however, these changes were not visible in the cerebral and cerebellar cortices, the olfactory bulb, or the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve at the obex. Higher amounts of proteinase K–resistant PrPSc, analyzed by Western blotting with monoclonal antibody T2 (9), were detected in the thalamus, brainstem, cerebellum, spinal cord, and retina (Figure 1, lanes 8–16; Figures 2, panels A, B), whereas PrPSc accumulation was lower in the cerebral cortices and the olfactory bulb (Figure 1, lanes 1–6). The molecular characteristics of proteinase K–resistant PrPSc, such as the molecular weight and the glycoform profile in the brain of the animal, were identical to those observed in the inoculum. The most conspicuous PrPSc finding, obtained by using immunohistochemistry with monoclonal antibody F99/97.6.1 (VMRD, Pullman, WA, USA), was fine and coarse granular deposits in the neuropil of the thalamus, brainstem, and gray matter of the spinal cord, and in the retina. Perineuronal PrPSc staining was conspicuous in the large neurons of the thalamic and brainstem nuclei (Figure 2, panel C) but less common in other brain areas. Fewer PrPSc deposits were dispersed in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve at the obex (Figure 2, panel A). No amyloid plaques were detectable in any brain section. In the extracerebral tissues, PrPSc was lower in most of the samples from the nerve ganglia (trigeminal, dorsal root, stellate, cervical cranial, nodose, and celiac and mesenteric), cauda equina, vagal nerve, optic nerve, neurohypophysis, ocular muscle, and adrenal medulla (Figure 1, lanes 17–33; Figures 2, panels D–H). However, no PrPSc signal was detected in most of the somatic nerve fibers (Figure 1, lanes 25, 26, 29, 30), the enteric nervous system (Figure 1, lanes 32, 33), and any lymphoid organs including the remaining Peyer’s patches (data not shown).

The only other animal inoculated with 50 g of L-BSE brain material was alive and clinically healthy as of postinoculation month 94 (December 2016). Calves that received 1 g, 5 g, or 10 g of L-BSE brain tissues showed no clinical signs of BSE and were euthanized and underwent necropsy 51–86 months after inoculation (Table(https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/2/16-1416-t1)). For all of these animals and the uninfected controls, PrPSc results were negative by Western blot and immunohistochemical analysis.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that the risk for oral transmission of L-BSE among cattle may be very low; after 88 months, the only case of transmission occurred in a cow that had been inoculated with a high dose of L-BSE–infected brain homogenate. The incubation period was much longer for cattle dosed orally with L-BSE–infected brain homogenate than for cattle dosed orally with C-BSE–infected tissue (34−74 mo for C-BSE) (10). This finding may suggest that the L-BSE prion requires much longer to propagate from the gut to the central nervous system. In addition, the lack of clinical signs, except for difficulty in rising, may present a genuine clinical picture of L-BSE under natural conditions (11). In most cases of naturally occurring atypical BSE identified so far, the animals were >8 years of age, except for 3 cases: 1 H-BSE and 1 L-BSE in Spain (1) and 1 H-BSE in Germany (12). Therefore, we cannot exclude the possibility that L-BSE developed sporadically/spontaneously. However, this case may not have naturally occurred, in view of the low prevalence of L-BSE in Japan during October 2001–August 2016, which was 0.065 cases/1 million tested adult animals. In our study, the remaining live animal, challenged with 50 g of L-BSE brain homogenate, will provide the further information about the oral transmissibility to cattle. Bioassays of brain samples in TgBoPrP mice are ongoing.

The neuroanatomical PrPSc distribution pattern of orally challenged cattle differed somewhat from that described in cattle naturally and intracerebrally challenged with L-BSE (2–6,11,13,14), The conspicuous differences between the case we report and cases of natural and experimental infection are 1) higher amounts of PrPSc in the caudal medulla oblongata and the spinal cord coupled with that in the thalamus and the more rostral brainstem and 2) relatively low amounts of PrPSc in the cerebral cortices and the olfactory bulb. Furthermore, fewer PrPSc deposits in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve may indicate that the parasympathetic retrogressive neuroinvasion pathway does not contribute to transport of the L-BSE prion from the gut to the brain, which is in contrast to the vagus-associated transport of the agent in C-BSE (15). PrPSc accumulation in the extracerebral tissues may be a result of centrifugal trafficking of the L-BSE prion from the central nervous system along somatic or autonomic nerve fibers rather than centripetal propagation of the agent (4,6,9). Consumption of L-BSE–contaminated feed may pose a risk for oral transmission of the disease agent to cattle.

Dr. Okada is a veterinary pathologist and chief researcher at the National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Ibaraki, Japan. His research focuses on the pathogenesis of animal prion diseases in ruminants as natural hosts and in experimentally infected animals.

Acknowledgments

We thank Naoko Tabeta, Naomi Furuya, Junko Yamada, Ritsuko Miwa, Noriko Shinozaki, and the animal caretakers for their expert technical assistance.

This work was supported by grants-in-aid from the BSE and Other Prion Disease project and the Improving Food Safety and Animal Health project of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan.

References


***********OCTOBER 2015*************

*** PRION 2015 ORAL AND POSTER CONGRESSIONAL ABSTRACTS ***

THANK YOU PRION 2015 TAYLOR & FRANCIS, Professor Chernoff, and Professor Aguzzi et al, for making these PRION 2015 Congressional Poster and Oral Abstracts available freely to the public. ...Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

P.108: Successful oral challenge of adult cattle with classical BSE

Sandor Dudas1,*, Kristina Santiago-Mateo1, Tammy Pickles1, Catherine Graham2, and Stefanie Czub1 1Canadian Food Inspection Agency; NCAD Lethbridge; Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada; 2Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture; Pathology Laboratory; Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada

Classical Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (C-type BSE) is a feed- and food-borne fatal neurological disease which can be orally transmitted to cattle and humans. Due to the presence of contaminated milk replacer, it is generally assumed that cattle become infected early in life as calves and then succumb to disease as adults. Here we challenged three 14 months old cattle per-orally with 100 grams of C-type BSE brain to investigate age-related susceptibility or resistance. During incubation, the animals were sampled monthly for blood and feces and subjected to standardized testing to identify changes related to neurological disease. At 53 months post exposure, progressive signs of central nervous system disease were observed in these 3 animals, and they were euthanized. Two of the C-BSE animals tested strongly positive using standard BSE rapid tests, however in 1 C-type challenged animal, Prion 2015 Poster Abstracts S67 PrPsc was not detected using rapid tests for BSE. Subsequent testing resulted in the detection of pathologic lesion in unusual brain location and PrPsc detection by PMCA only. 

***Our study demonstrates susceptibility of adult cattle to oral transmission of classical BSE. 

We are further examining explanations for the unusual disease presentation in the third challenged animal.


***our findings suggest that possible transmission risk of H-type BSE to sheep and human. Bioassay will be required to determine whether the PMCA products are infectious to these animals.

P.86: Estimating the risk of transmission of BSE and scrapie to ruminants and humans by protein misfolding cyclic amplification

Morikazu Imamura, Naoko Tabeta, Yoshifumi Iwamaru, and Yuichi Murayama National Institute of Animal Health; Tsukuba, Japan

To assess the risk of the transmission of ruminant prions to ruminants and humans at the molecular level, we investigated the ability of abnormal prion protein (PrPSc) of typical and atypical BSEs (L-type and H-type) and typical scrapie to convert normal prion protein (PrPC) from bovine, ovine, and human to proteinase K-resistant PrPSc-like form (PrPres) using serial protein misfolding cyclic amplifi- cation (PMCA).

Six rounds of serial PMCA was performed using 10% brain homogenates from transgenic mice expressing bovine, ovine or human PrPC in combination with PrPSc seed from typical and atypical BSE- or typical scrapie-infected brain homogenates from native host species. In the conventional PMCA, the conversion of PrPC to PrPres was observed only when the species of PrPC source and PrPSc seed matched. However, in the PMCA with supplements (digitonin, synthetic polyA and heparin), both bovine and ovine PrPC were converted by PrPSc from all tested prion strains. On the other hand, human PrPC was converted by PrPSc from typical and H-type BSE in this PMCA condition.

Although these results were not compatible with the previous reports describing the lack of transmissibility of H-type BSE to ovine and human transgenic mice, our findings suggest that possible transmission risk of H-type BSE to sheep and human. Bioassay will be required to determine whether the PMCA products are infectious to these animals.


P.170: Potential detection of oral transmission of H type atypical BSE in cattle using in vitro conversion

***P.170: Potential detection of oral transmission of H type atypical BSE in cattle using in vitro conversion

Sandor Dudas, John G Gray, Renee Clark, and Stefanie Czub Canadian Food Inspection Agency; Lethbridge, AB Canada

Keywords: Atypical BSE, oral transmission, RT-QuIC

The detection of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has had a significant negative impact on the cattle industry worldwide. In response, governments took actions to prevent transmission and additional threats to animal health and food safety. While these measures seem to be effective for controlling classical BSE, the more recently discovered atypical BSE has presented a new challenge. To generate data for risk assessment and control measures, we have challenged cattle orally with atypical BSE to determine transmissibility and mis-folded prion (PrPSc) tissue distribution. Upon presentation of clinical symptoms, animals were euthanized and tested for characteristic histopathological changes as well as PrPSc deposition.

The H-type challenged animal displayed vacuolation exclusively in rostral brain areas but the L-type challenged animal showed no evidence thereof. To our surprise, neither of the animals euthanized, which were displaying clinical signs indicative of BSE, showed conclusive mis-folded prion accumulation in the brain or gut using standard molecular or immunohistochemical assays. To confirm presence or absence of prion infectivity, we employed an optimized real-time quaking induced conversion (RT-QuIC) assay developed at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory, Hamilton, USA.

Detection of PrPSc was unsuccessful for brain samples tests from the orally inoculated L type animal using the RT-QuIC. It is possible that these negative results were related to the tissue sampling locations or that type specific optimization is needed to detect PrPSc in this animal. We were however able to consistently detect the presence of mis-folded prions in the brain of the H-type inoculated animal. Considering the negative and inconclusive results with other PrPSc detection methods, positive results using the optimized RT-QuIC suggests the method is extremely sensitive for H-type BSE detection. This may be evidence of the first successful oral transmission of H type atypical BSE in cattle and additional investigation of samples from these animals are ongoing.




O.11.3

Infectivity in skeletal muscle of BASE-infected cattle

Silvia Suardi1 , Chiara Vimercati1 , Fabio Moda1 , Ruggerone Margherita1 , Ilaria Campagnani1 , Guerino Lombardi2 , Daniela Gelmetti2 , Martin H. Groschup3 , Anne Buschmann3 , Cristina Casalone4 , Maria Caramelli4 , Salvatore Monaco5 , Gianluigi Zanusso5 , Fabrizio Tagliavini1 1 Carlo Besta” Neurological Institute,Italy; 2 IZS Brescia, Italy; 3 3FLI Insel Riems, D, Germany; 4 CEA-IZS Torino, Italy; 5 University of Verona, Italy

Background: BASE is an atypical form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy caused by a prion strain distinct from that of BSE. Upon experimental transmission to cattle, BASE induces a previously unrecognized disease phenotype marked by mental dullness and progressive atrophy of hind limb musculature. Whether affected muscles contain infectivity is unknown. This is a critical issue since the BASE strain is readily transmissible to a variety of hosts including primates, suggesting that humans may be susceptible.

Objectives: To investigate the distribution of infectivity in peripheral tissues of cattle experimentally infected with BASE. Methods: Groups of Tg mice expressing bovine PrP (Tgbov XV, n= 7-15/group) were inoculated both i.c. and i.p. with 10% homogenates of a variety of tissues including brain, spleen, cervical lymph node, kidney and skeletal muscle (m. longissimus dorsi) from cattle intracerebrally infected with BASE. No PrPres was detectable in the peripheral tissues used for inoculation either by immunohistochemistry or Western blot.

Results: Mice inoculated with BASE-brain homogenates showed clinical signs of disease with incubation and survival times of 175±15 and 207±12 days. Five out of seven mice challenged with skeletal muscle developed a similar neurological disorder, with incubation and survival times of 380±11 and 410±12 days. At present (700 days after inoculation) mice challenged with the other peripheral tissues are still healthy. The neuropathological phenotype and PrPres type of the affected mice inoculated either with brain or muscle were indistinguishable and matched those of Tgbov XV mice infected with natural BASE.

Discussion: Our data indicate that the skeletal muscle of cattle experimentally infected with BASE contains significant amount of infectivity, at variance with BSE-affected cattle, raising the issue of intraspecies transmission and the potential risk for humans. Experiments are in progress to assess the presence of infectivity in skeletal muscles of natural BASE.

=====

P.4.23 Transmission of atypical BSE in humanized mouse models

Liuting Qing1 , Wenquan Zou1 , Cristina Casalone2 , Martin Groschup3 , Miroslaw Polak4 , Maria Caramelli2 , Pierluigi Gambetti1 , Juergen Richt5 , Qingzhong Kong1 1 Case Western Reserve University, USA; 2 Instituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale, Italy; 3 Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Germany; 4 National Veterinary Research Institute, Poland; 5 Kansas State University (Previously at USDA National Animal Disease Center), USA

Background: Classical BSE is a world-wide prion disease in cattle, and the classical BSE strain (BSE-C) has led to over 200 cases of clinical human infection (variant CJD). Atypical BSE cases have been discovered in three continents since 2004; they include the L-type (also named BASE), the H-type, and the first reported case of naturally occurring BSE with mutated bovine PRNP (termed BSE-M). The public health risks posed by atypical BSE were largely undefined.

Objectives: To investigate these atypical BSE types in terms of their transmissibility and phenotypes in humanized mice. Methods: Transgenic mice expressing human PrP were inoculated with several classical (C-type) and atypical (L-, H-, or Mtype) BSE isolates, and the transmission rate, incubation time, characteristics and distribution of PrPSc, symptoms, and histopathology were or will be examined and compared.

Results: Sixty percent of BASE-inoculated humanized mice became infected with minimal spongiosis and an average incubation time of 20-22 months, whereas only one of the C-type BSE-inoculated mice developed prion disease after more than 2 years. Protease-resistant PrPSc in BASE-infected humanized Tg mouse brains was biochemically different from bovine BASE or sCJD. PrPSc was also detected in the spleen of 22% of BASE-infected humanized mice, but not in those infected with sCJD. Secondary transmission of BASE in the humanized mice led to a small reduction in incubation time. The atypical BSE-H strain is also transmissible with distinct phenotypes in the humanized mice, but no BSE-M transmission has been observed so far.

*** Discussion: Our results demonstrate that BASE is more virulent than classical BSE, has a lymphotropic phenotype, and displays a modest transmission barrier in our humanized mice.

*** BSE-H is also transmissible in our humanized Tg mice. 

*** The possibility of more than two atypical BSE strains will be discussed.

Supported by NINDS NS052319, NIA AG14359, and NIH AI 77774.

=====

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. ***

P.9.21

Molecular characterization of BSE in Canada

Jianmin Yang 1 , Sandor Dudas 2 , Catherine Graham 2 , Markus Czub 3 , Tim McAllister 1 , Stefanie Czub 1 1 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Centre, Canada; 2 National and OIE BSE Reference Laboratory, Canada; 3 University of Calgary, Canada

Background: Three BSE types (classical and two atypical) have been identified on the basis of molecular characteristics of the misfolded protein associated with the disease. To date, each of these three types have been detected in Canadian cattle. Objectives: This study was conducted to further characterize the 16 Canadian BSE cases based on the biochemical properties of there associated PrPres.

Methods: Immuno-reactivity, molecular weight, glycoform profiles and relative proteinase K sensitivity of the PrPres from each of the 16 confirmed Canadian BSE cases was determined using modified Western blot analysis.

Results: Fourteen of the 16 Canadian BSE cases were C type, 1 was H type and 1 was L type. The Canadian H and L-type BSE cases exhibited size shifts and changes in glycosylation similar to other atypical BSE cases. PK digestion under mild and stringent conditions revealed a reduced protease resistance of the atypical cases compared to the C-type cases. N terminal-specific antibodies bound to PrPres from H type but not from C or L type. The C-terminal-specific antibodies resulted in a shift in the glycoform profile and detected a fourth band in the Canadian H-type BSE.

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;


RE-Molecular, Biochemical and Genetic Characteristics of BSE in Canada

Posted by flounder on 19 May 2010 at 21:21 GMT

Greetings, 

 >>> The occurrence of atypical cases of BSE in countries such as Canada with low BSE prevalence and transmission risk argues for the occurrence of sporadic forms of BSE worldwide. <<< 

In my opinion ; 

THE statement above is about as non-scientific as a statement can be. There is no proof what-so-ever that any of the atypical BSE cases or atypical scrapie cases anywhere on the globe was a spontaneous case without any route and source of the TSE agent. This is a myth. The USDA and the OIE are trying to make the atypical BSE cases and they have already made the atypical Scrapie cases a legal trading commodity, without any transmission studies first confirming that in fact these atypical TSE will not transmit via feed. I suppose it is a human transmission study in progress. IT's like what happened in England with c-BSE and the transmission to humans via nvCJD never happened to the OIE and the USDA. Canada does not have a low prevalence of BSE either, they have a high prevalence. WHO knows about North America ? it's just that the U.S.A. try's much harder at concealing cases of mad cow disease. THIS was proven with the first stumbling and staggering mad cow in Texas, that was Wisk away to be rendered without any test at all. Then, you had the second case of mad cow disease that the USDA et al was almost as successful with as the first one, but the O.I.G. stepped in and demanded testing over seas, this after many scientist around the globe spoke out. Finally, after an act of Congress, the second case of mad cow disease in Texas was confirmed. all this was done for a reason, and that reason was the OIE USDA BSE MRR policy. Again, This study reeks of TRADE policy wrangling. There is NO proof that the atypical TSE are spontaneous. please show me these transmission studies ? on the other hand, we now know that the L-type atypical BSE is much more virulent than the typical C-BSE, and we now know that the H-type atypical BSE will transmit to humans. WHY can it not be that these atypical cases are simply from feed that had different strains of TSE ? WHY is it that no one will comment on the studies that was suppose to show infectivity of tissues from atypical BSE ? WHY is it I had to file a FOIA on that issue? L-type atypical BSE (BASE) is more virulent than classical BSE, has a lymphotropic phenotype, and displays a modest transmission barrier in our humanized mice. BSE-H is also transmissible in our humanized Tg mice. SEE Liuting Qing1, Wenquan Zou1, Cristina Casalone2, Martin Groschup3, Miroslaw Polak4, Maria Caramelli2, Pierluigi Gambetti1, Juergen Richt5, Qingzhong Kong1 et al 2009 ; 

 Atypical BSE, BSE, and other human and animal TSE in North America Update October 19, 2009 

snip... 

I ask Professor Kong ; 

Thursday, December 04, 2008 3:37 PM Subject: RE: re--Chronic Wating Disease (CWD) and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathies (BSE): Public Health Risk Assessment 

IS the h-BSE more virulent than typical BSE as well, or the same as cBSE, or less virulent than cBSE? just curious..... 

Professor Kong reply ; 

.....snip 

As to the H-BSE, we do not have sufficient data to say one way or another, but we have found that H-BSE can infect humans. I hope we could publish these data once the study is complete. Thanks for your interest. 

Best regards, Qingzhong Kong, PhD Associate Professor Department of Pathology Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH 44106 USA 

 P.4.23 Transmission of atypical BSE in humanized mouse models 

Liuting Qing1, Wenquan Zou1, Cristina Casalone2, Martin Groschup3, Miroslaw Polak4, Maria Caramelli2, Pierluigi Gambetti1, Juergen Richt5, Qingzhong Kong1 1Case Western Reserve University, USA; 2Instituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale, Italy; 3Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Germany; 4National Veterinary Research Institute, Poland; 5Kansas State University (Previously at USDA National Animal Disease Center), USA 

Background: Classical BSE is a world-wide prion disease in cattle, and the classical BSE strain (BSE-C) has led to over 200 cases of clinical human infection (variant CJD). Atypical BSE cases have been discovered in three continents since 2004; they include the L-type (also named BASE), the H-type, and the first reported case of naturally occurring BSE with mutated bovine PRNP (termed BSE-M). The public health risks posed by atypical BSE were argely undefined. 

Objectives: To investigate these atypical BSE types in terms of their transmissibility and phenotypes in humanized mice. 

Methods: Transgenic mice expressing human PrP were inoculated with several classical (C-type) and atypical (L-, H-, or Mtype) BSE isolates, and the transmission rate, incubation time, characteristics and distribution of PrPSc, symptoms, and histopathology were or will be examined and compared. 

Results: Sixty percent of BASE-inoculated humanized mice became infected with minimal spongiosis and an average incubation time of 20-22 months, whereas only one of the C-type BSE-inoculated mice developed prion disease after more than 2 years. Protease-resistant PrPSc in BASE-infected humanized Tg mouse brains was biochemically different from bovine BASE or sCJD. PrPSc was also detected in the spleen of 22% of BASE-infected humanized mice, but not in those infected with sCJD. Secondary transmission of BASE in the humanized mice led to a small reduction in incubation time. The atypical BSE-H strain is also transmissible with distinct phenotypes in the humanized mice, but no BSE-M transmission has been observed so far. 

Discussion: Our results demonstrate that BASE is more virulent than classical BSE, has a lymphotropic phenotype, and displays a modest transmission barrier in our humanized mice. BSE-H is also transmissible in our humanized Tg mice. The possibility of more than two atypical BSE strains will be discussed. 

Supported by NINDS NS052319, NIA AG14359, and NIH AI 77774. 


 see full text ; 


14th International Congress on Infectious Diseases H-type and L-type Atypical BSE January 2010 (special pre-congress edition) 

18.173 page 189 

Experimental Challenge of Cattle with H-type and L-type Atypical BSE 

A. Buschmann1, U. Ziegler1, M. Keller1, R. Rogers2, B. Hills3, M.H. Groschup1. 1Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany, 2Health Canada, Bureau of Microbial Hazards, Health Products & Food Branch, Ottawa, Canada, 3Health Canada, Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Secretariat, Ottawa, Canada 

Background: After the detection of two novel BSE forms designated H-type and L-type atypical BSE the question of the pathogenesis and the agent distribution of these two types in cattle was fully open. From initial studies of the brain pathology, it was already known that the anatomical distribution of L-type BSE differs from that of the classical type where the obex region in the brainstem always displays the highest PrPSc concentrations. In contrast in L-type BSE cases, the thalamus and frontal cortex regions showed the highest levels of the pathological prion protein, while the obex region was only weakly involved. 

Methods: We performed intracranial inoculations of cattle (five and six per group) using 10%brainstemhomogenates of the two German H- and L-type atypical BSE isolates. The animals were inoculated under narcosis and then kept in a free-ranging stable under appropriate biosafety conditions. At least one animal per group was killed and sectioned in the preclinical stage and the remaining animals were kept until they developed clinical symptoms. The animals were examined for behavioural changes every four weeks throughout the experiment following a protocol that had been established during earlier BSE pathogenesis studies with classical BSE. 

Results and Discussion: All animals of both groups developed clinical symptoms and had to be euthanized within 16 months. The clinical picture differed from that of classical BSE, as the earliest signs of illness were loss of body weight and depression. However, the animals later developed hind limb ataxia and hyperesthesia predominantly and the head. Analysis of brain samples from these animals confirmed the BSE infection and the atypical Western blot profile was maintained in all animals. Samples from these animals are now being examined in order to be able to describe the pathoge esis and agent distribution for these novel BSE types. 

Conclusions: A pilot study using a commercially avaialble BSE rapid test ELISA revealed an essential restriction of PrPSc to the central nervous system for both atypical BSE forms. A much more detailed analysis for PrPSc and infectivity is still ongoing. 

http://www.isid.org/14th

http://ww2.isid.org/Downl...

http://www.isid.org/publi..


 
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. 

http://ww2.isid.org/Downl... 


Wednesday, February 24, 2010 

Transmissible Spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) animal and human TSE in North America 14th ICID International Scientific Exchange Brochure - 



TSE 




URGENT DATA ON ATYPICAL BSE RISK FACTORS TO HUMANS AND ANIMALS OIE REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE $ 

 position: Post Doctoral Fellow 

Atypical BSE in Cattle 

Closing date: December 24, 2009 

Anticipated start date: January/February 2010 

Employer: Canadian and OIE Reference Laboratories for BSE CFIA Lethbridge Laboratory, Lethbridge/Alberta 

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-t pe 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. 




Sunday, April 4, 2010 

USDA AND OIE OUT OF TOUCH WITH RISK FACTOR ON ATYPICAL TSE 


IN FACT, the fumbling and bumbling the USDA and FDA et al did with the infamous 2004 enhanced BSE surveillance program was so BAD, one of the leading scientist for the NIH/CDC et al on prions, Dr. Paul Brown was quoted as saying ; 

"The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly implied the existence of other undetected cases," Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director of the National Institutes of Health's Laboratory for Central Nervous System Studies and an expert on mad cow-like diseases, told United Press International. "The question was, 'How many?' and we still can't answer that." Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the latest two mad cow cases to estimate the maximum number of infected cows that occurred in the United States, said he has "absolutely no confidence in USDA tests before one year ago" because of the agency's reluctance to retest the Texas cow that initially tested positive. USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed it was infected seven months later, but only at the insistence of the agency's inspector general. "Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything USDA did before 2005 suspect," Brown said. ... 

snip...end 

 see FULL TEXT HERE ; 

 Wednesday, May 19, 2010 

Molecular, Biochemical and Genetic Characteristics of BSE in Canada 

http://bse-atypical.blogs... 

No competing interests declared.


***however in 1 C-type challenged animal, Prion 2015 Poster Abstracts S67 PrPsc was not detected using rapid tests for BSE.

***Subsequent testing resulted in the detection of pathologic lesion in unusual brain location and PrPsc detection by PMCA only.

*** IBNC Tauopathy or TSE Prion disease, it appears, no one is sure ***

Posted by Terry S. Singeltary Sr. on 03 Jul 2015 at 16:53 GMT


Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Additional BSE TSE prion testing detects pathologic lesion in unusual brain location and PrPsc by PMCA only, how many cases have we missed?

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2015/07/additional-bse-tse-prion-testing.html

USDA announces Alabama case of Atypical L-type BASE Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and BANNED FEED

look at the table and you'll see that as little as 1 mg (or 0.001 gm) caused 7% (1 of 14) of the cows to come down with BSE; 

Risk of oral infection with bovine spongiform encephalopathy agent in primates

Corinne Ida Lasmézas, Emmanuel Comoy, Stephen Hawkins, Christian Herzog, Franck Mouthon, Timm Konold, Frédéric Auvré, Evelyne Correia, Nathalie Lescoutra-Etchegaray, Nicole Salès, Gerald Wells, Paul Brown, Jean-Philippe Deslys 

Summary The uncertain extent of human exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)--which can lead to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)--is compounded by incomplete knowledge about the efficiency of oral infection and the magnitude of any bovine-to-human biological barrier to transmission. We therefore investigated oral transmission of BSE to non-human primates. We gave two macaques a 5 g oral dose of brain homogenate from a BSE-infected cow. One macaque developed vCJD-like neurological disease 60 months after exposure, whereas the other remained free of disease at 76 months. On the basis of these findings and data from other studies, we made a preliminary estimate of the food exposure risk for man, which provides additional assurance that existing public health measures can prevent transmission of BSE to man. 

snip... 

BSE bovine brain inoculum

100 g 10 g 5 g 1 g 100 mg 10 mg 1 mg 0·1 mg 0·01 mg

Primate (oral route)* 1/2 (50%)

Cattle (oral route)* 10/10 (100%) 7/9 (78%) 7/10 (70%) 3/15 (20%) 1/15 (7%) 1/15 (7%)

RIII mice (ic ip route)* 17/18 (94%) 15/17 (88%) 1/14 (7%)

PrPres biochemical detection

The comparison is made on the basis of calibration of the bovine inoculum used in our study with primates against a bovine brain inoculum with a similar PrPres concentration that was

inoculated into mice and cattle.8 *Data are number of animals positive/number of animals surviving at the time of clinical onset of disease in the first positive animal (%). The accuracy of

bioassays is generally judged to be about plus or minus 1 log. ic ip=intracerebral and intraperitoneal.

Table 1: Comparison of transmission rates in primates and cattle infected orally with similar BSE brain inocula 

Published online January 27, 2005

http://www.thelancet.com/journal/journal.isa

It is clear that the designing scientists must

also have shared Mr Bradley's surprise at the results because all the dose

levels right down to 1 gram triggered infection. 


6. It also appears to me that Mr Bradley's answer (that it would take less than say 100 grams) was probably given with the benefit of hindsight; particularly if one considers that later in the same answer Mr Bradley expresses his surprise that it could take as little of 1 gram of brain to cause BSE by the oral route within the same species. This information did not become available until the "attack rate" experiment had been completed in 1995/96. This was a titration experiment designed to ascertain the infective dose. A range of dosages was used to ensure that the actual result was within both a lower and an upper limit within the study and the designing scientists would not have expected all the dose levels to trigger infection. The dose ranges chosen by the most informed scientists at that time ranged from 1 gram to three times one hundred grams.

***It is clear that the designing scientists must have also shared Mr Bradley's surprise at the results because all the dose levels right down to 1 gram triggered infection. 



2) Infectious dose:

To cattle: 1 gram of infected brain material (by oral ingestion) 


The Presence of Disease-Associated Prion Protein in Skeletal Muscle of Cattle Infected with Classical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy 

Hiroyuki OKADA,1,* Kohtaro MIYAZAWA,1 Shigeo FUKUDA,2 Yoshifumi IWAMARU,1 Morikazu IMAMURA,1 Kentaro MASUJIN,1 Yuichi MATSUURA,1 Takashi FUJII,2 Kei FUJII,2 Soichi KAGEYAMA,2 Miyako YOSHIOKA,1 Yuichi MURAYAMA,1 and Takashi YOKOYAMA1


Infectivity in Skeletal Muscle of Cattle with Atypical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy 

Silvia Suardi , Chiara Vimercati , Cristina Casalone , Daniela Gelmetti, Cristiano Corona, Barbara Iulini, Maria Mazza, Guerino Lombardi, Fabio Moda, Margherita Ruggerone, Ilaria Campagnani, Elena Piccoli, Marcella Catania, [ ... ], Fabrizio Tagliavini [ view all ] Published: February 21, 2012https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031449

The present data offer novel information on the tropism of the BASE agent and highlight relevant public health issues. While the transmission barrier for classical BSE is high in most species, BASE prions are readily transmissible to a variety of mammals including non-human primates [11]–[13], [35]. Accordingly, the possibility of spreading of BASE prions through skeletal muscle to other species should be taken into account and evaluated in risk analysis studies.


Scientists investigate origin of isolated BSE cases 

The European response to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) after the crisis of the 1980s has significantly reduced prevalence of the disease in cattle. However, isolated cases are still being reported in the EU and for this reason the European Commission asked EFSA to investigate their origin.

The key measure for controlling BSE in the EU is a ban on the use of animal proteins in livestock feed. This is because BSE can be transmitted to cattle through contaminated feed, mainly in the first year of life.

Sixty cases of classical BSE have been reported in cattle born after the EU ban was enforced in 2001. None of these animals entered the food chain. Classical BSE is the type of BSE transmissible to humans. The Commission asked EFSA to determine if these cases were caused by contaminated feed or whether they occurred spontaneously, i.e. without an apparent cause.

EFSA experts concluded that contaminated feed is the most likely source of infection. This is because the infectious agent that causes BSE has the ability to remain active for many years. Cattle may have been exposed to contaminated feed because the BSE infectious agent was present where feed was stored or handled. A second possibility is that contaminated feed ingredients may have been imported from non-EU countries.

Experts could not rule out other causes due to the difficulty of investigating individual cases. Some constraints are the long incubation period of the disease and the lack of detailed information available from farms at the time of the trace-back investigation.

EFSA experts made a series of recommendations to maintain and strengthen the EU monitoring and reporting system, and to evaluate new scientific data that become available.

The European response to BSE

The coordinated European response to BSE has succeeded in reducing the prevalence of the disease. Between 2005 and 2015 about 73,000,000 cattle were tested for BSE in the EU, out of which 60 born after the ban tested positive for classical BSE. The number of affected animals rises to 1,259 if cattle born before the ban are included. The number of classical BSE cases has dropped significantly in the EU over time, from 554 cases reported in 2005 to just two in 2015 (both animals born after the ban). Moreover the EU food safety system is designed to prevent the entry of BSE-contaminated meat into the food chain.


10 years post mad cow feed ban August 1997 

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 




RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: VETERINARY MEDICINE -- CLASS II

______________________________ 

PRODUCT

a) CO-OP 32% Sinking Catfish, Recall # V-100-6;

b) Performance Sheep Pell W/Decox/A/N, medicated, net wt. 50 lbs, Recall # V-101-6;

c) Pro 40% Swine Conc Meal -- 50 lb, Recall # V-102-6;

d) CO-OP 32% Sinking Catfish Food Medicated, Recall # V-103-6;

e) "Big Jim’s" BBB Deer Ration, Big Buck Blend, Recall # V-104-6;

f) CO-OP 40% Hog Supplement Medicated Pelleted, Tylosin 100 grams/ton, 50 lb. bag, Recall # V-105-6;

g) Pig Starter Pell II, 18% W/MCDX Medicated 282020, Carbadox -- 0.0055%, Recall # V-106-6;

h) CO-OP STARTER-GROWER CRUMBLES, Complete Feed for Chickens from Hatch to 20 Weeks, Medicated, Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate, 25 and 50 Lbs, Recall # V-107-6;

i) CO-OP LAYING PELLETS, Complete Feed for Laying Chickens, Recall # 108-6;

j) CO-OP LAYING CRUMBLES, Recall # V-109-6;

k) CO-OP QUAIL FLIGHT CONDITIONER MEDICATED, net wt 50 Lbs, Recall # V-110-6;

l) CO-OP QUAIL STARTER MEDICATED, Net Wt. 50 Lbs, Recall # V-111-6;

m) CO-OP QUAIL GROWER MEDICATED, 50 Lbs, Recall # V-112-6

CODE

Product manufactured from 02/01/2005 until 06/06/2006

RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER

Alabama Farmers Cooperative, Inc., Decatur, AL, by telephone, fax, email and visit on June 9, 2006. FDA initiated recall is complete.

REASON

Animal and fish feeds which were possibly contaminated with ruminant based protein not labeled as "Do not feed to ruminants".

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE

125 tons

DISTRIBUTION

AL and FL 

______________________________

PRODUCT

Bulk custom dairy feds manufactured from concentrates, Recall # V-113-6

CODE

All dairy feeds produced between 2/1/05 and 6/16/06 and containing H. J. Baker recalled feed products.

RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER

Vita Plus Corp., Gagetown, MI, by visit beginning on June 21, 2006. Firm initiated recall is complete.

REASON

The feed was manufactured from materials that may have been contaminated with mammalian protein.

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE

27,694,240 lbs

DISTRIBUTION

MI 

______________________________

PRODUCT

Bulk custom made dairy feed, Recall # V-114-6

CODE

None

RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER

Burkmann Feeds LLC, Glasgow, KY, by letter on July 14, 2006. Firm initiated recall is ongoing.

REASON

Custom made feeds contain ingredient called Pro-Lak, which may contain ruminant derived meat and bone meal.

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE

?????

DISTRIBUTION

KY

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR AUGUST 2, 2006

###



=====

PRODUCT 

Bulk Whole Barley, Recall # V-256-2009

CODE

No code or lot number.

RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER

Mars Petcare US, Clinton, OK, by telephone on May 21, 2009. Firm initiated recall is complete.

REASON

Product may have contained prohibited materials without cautionary statement on the label.

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE

208,820 pounds

DISTRIBUTION

TX

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR AUGUST 26, 2009

###



Subject: MAD COW FEED RECALL KY VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE ????? 

Date: August 6, 2006 at 6:19 pm PST 

PRODUCT Bulk custom made dairy feed, Recall # V-114-6 

CODE None 

RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER Burkmann Feeds LLC, Glasgow, KY, by letter on July 14, 2006. 

Firm initiated recall is ongoing. REASON Custom made feeds contain ingredient called Pro-Lak, which may contain ruminant derived meat and bone meal. 

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE ????? 

DISTRIBUTION KY 

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR AUGUST 2, 2006

### 



MAD COW FEED RECALL USA EQUALS 10,878.06 TONS NATIONWIDE Sun Jul 16, 2006 09:22 71.248.128.67 

RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: VETERINARY MEDICINE -- CLASS II ______________________________ 

PRODUCT a) PRO-LAK, bulk weight, Protein Concentrate for Lactating Dairy Animals, Recall # V-079-6; 

b) ProAmino II, FOR PREFRESH AND LACTATING COWS, net weight 50lb (22.6 kg), Recall # V-080-6; 

c) PRO-PAK, MARINE & ANIMAL PROTEIN CONCENTRATE FOR USE IN ANIMAL FEED, Recall # V-081-6; 

d) Feather Meal, Recall # V-082-6 

CODE a) Bulk b) None c) Bulk d) Bulk 

RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER H. J. Baker & Bro., Inc., Albertville, AL, by telephone on June 15, 2006 and by press release on June 16, 2006. 

Firm initiated recall is ongoing.

 REASON Possible contamination of animal feeds with ruminent derived meat and bone meal. 

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 10,878.06 tons 

DISTRIBUTION Nationwide

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR July 12, 2006

###




Subject: MAD COW FEED BAN WARNING LETTER ISSUED MAY 17, 2006 

Date: June 27, 2006 at 7:42 am PST Public Health Service Food and Drug Administration

New Orleans District 297 Plus Park Blvd. Nashville, TN 37217

Telephone: 615-781-5380 Fax: 615-781-5391

May 17, 2006

WARNING LETTER NO. 2006-NOL-06

FEDERAL EXPRESS OVERNIGHT DELIVERY

Mr. William Shirley, Jr., Owner Louisiana.DBA Riegel By-Products 2621 State Street Dallas, Texas 75204

Dear Mr. Shirley:

On February 12, 17, 21, and 22, 2006, a U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) investigator inspected your rendering plant, located at 509 Fortson Street, Shreveport, Louisiana. The inspection revealed significant deviations from the requirements set forth in Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 589.2000 [21 CFR 589.2000], Animal Proteins Prohibited in Ruminant Feed. This regulation is intended to prevent the establishment and amplification of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). You failed to follow the requirements of this regulation; products being manufactured and distributed by your facility are misbranded within the meaning of Section 403(a)(1) [21 USC 343(a)(1)] of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act).

Our investigation found you failed to provide measures, including sufficient written procedures, to prevent commingling or cross-contamination and to maintain sufficient written procedures [21 CFR 589.2000(e)] because:

You failed to use clean-out procedures or other means adequate to prevent carryover of protein derived from mammalian tissues into animal protein or feeds which may be used for ruminants. For example, your facility uses the same equipment to process mammalian and poultry tissues. However, you use only hot water to clean the cookers between processing tissues from each species. You do not clean the auger, hammer mill, grinder, and spouts after processing mammalian tissues.

You failed to maintain written procedures specifying the clean-out procedures or other means to prevent carryover of protein derived from mammalian tissues into feeds which may be used for ruminants.

As a result . the poultry meal you manufacture may contain protein derived from mammalian tissues prohibited in ruminant feed. Pursuant to 21 CFR 589.2000(e)(1)(i), any products containing or may contain protein derived from mammalian tissues must be labeled, "Do not feed to cattle or other ruminants." Since you failed to label a product which may contain protein derived from mammalian tissues with the required cautionary statement. the poultry meal is misbranded under Section 403(a)(1) [21 USC 343(a)(1)] of the Act.

This letter is not intended as an all-inclusive list of violations at your facility. As a manufacturer of materials intended for animal feed use, you are responsible for ensuring your overall operation and the products you manufacture and distribute are in compliance with the law. You should take prompt action to correct these violations, and you should establish a system whereby violations do not recur. Failure to promptly correct these violations may result in regulatory action, such as seizure and/or injunction, without further notice.

You should notify this office in writing within 15 working days of receiving this letter, outlining the specific steps you have taken to bring your firm into compliance with the law. Your response should include an explanation of each step taken to correct the violations and prevent their recurrence. If corrective action cannot be completed within 15 working days, state the reason for the delay and the date by which the corrections will be completed. Include copies of any available documentation demonstrating corrections have been made.

Your reply should be directed to Mark W. Rivero, Compliance Officer, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2424 Edenborn Avenue, Suite 410, Metairie, Louisiana 70001. If you have questions regarding any issue in this letter, please contact Mr. Rivero at (504) 219-8818, extension 103.

Sincerely,

/S

Carol S. Sanchez Acting District Director New Orleans District 

http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/g5883d.htm










PLEASE NOTE, THE FDA URLS FOR OLD WARNING LETTERS ARE OBSOLETE AND DO NOT WORK IN MOST CASES. I LOOKED UP THE OLD ONE ABOVE AND FOUND IT, BUT HAVE NOT DONE THAT FOR THE OTHERS TO FOLLOW. THE DATA IS VALID THOUGH! 

Subject: MAD COW PROTEIN IN COMMERCE USA 2006 RECALL UPDATE 

From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr." <[log in to unmask]> 

Reply-To: SAFETY <[log in to unmask]> 

Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2006 14:10:37 -0500 

Subject: MAD COW FEED RECALL USA SEPT 6, 2006 1961.72 TONS 

IN COMMERCE AL, TN, AND WV 

Date: September 6, 2006 at 7:58 am PST

PRODUCT 

a) EVSRC Custom dairy feed, Recall # V-130-6; 

b) Performance Chick Starter, Recall # V-131-6; 

c) Performance Quail Grower, Recall # V-132-6; 

d) Performance Pheasant Finisher, Recall # V-133-6. 

CODE None RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER Donaldson & Hasenbein/dba J&R Feed Service, Inc., Cullman, AL, by telephone on June 23, 2006 and by letter dated July 19, 2006. 

Firm initiated recall is complete.

REASON Dairy and poultry feeds were possibly contaminated with ruminant based protein.

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 477.72 tons 

DISTRIBUTION AL

______________________________

snip...

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/enforce/2006/ENF00968.html

PRODUCT 

Bulk Whole Barley, Recall # V-256-2009

CODE

No code or lot number.

RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER

Mars Petcare US, Clinton, OK, by telephone on May 21, 2009. Firm initiated recall is complete.

REASON

Product may have contained prohibited materials without cautionary statement on the label.

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE

208,820 pounds

DISTRIBUTION

TX

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR AUGUST 26, 2009


Texas Firm Recalls Cattle Heads That Contain Prohibited Materials

Recall Release CLASS II RECALL FSIS-RC-020-2008 HEALTH RISK: LOW

Congressional and Public Affairs (202) 720-9113 Peggy Riek

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2008 – Beltex Corporation, doing business as Frontier Meats, a Fort Worth, Texas, establishment, is recalling approximately 2,850 pounds of fresh cattle heads which may contain specified risk materials (SRMs), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.

SRMs are tissues that are known to contain the infective agent in cattle infected with BSE, as well as materials that are closely associated with these potentially infective tissues. Therefore, FSIS prohibits SRMs from use as human food to minimize potential human exposure to the BSE agent.

The products subject to recall include: Cases of "BEEF WHOLE HEAD." Each shipping package bears the establishment number "EST. 7041B" inside the USDA mark of inspection, as well as a package code of "51904" or "63922."

The company is recalling all products packed between May 31, 2007, and June 24, 2008. These products were distributed to retail establishments and lunch carts in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas, area.

The problem was discovered by the State of Texas officials during a routine inspection at a retail establishment.

Media and consumers with questions about the recall should contact the company Sales Department at (817) 624-1136.

Consumers with food safety questions can “Ask Karen,” the FSIS virtual representative available 24 hours a day at AskKaren.gov. The toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) is available in English and Spanish and can be reached from l0 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Eastern Time) Monday through Friday. Recorded food safety messages are available 24 hours a day.

#

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_020_2008_Release/index.asp

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Texas Firm Recalls Cattle Heads That Contain Prohibited Materials


 Subject: MAD COW FEED RECALLS ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR AUGUST 9, 2006 KY, LA, MS, AL, GA, AND TN 11,000+ TONS 

Date: August 16, 2006 at 9:19 am PST RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: VETERINARY MEDICINE - CLASS II

______________________________

snip...

______________________________

PRODUCT Bulk custom dairy pre-mixes, Recall # V-120-6 

CODE None 

RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER Ware Milling Inc., Houston, MS, by telephone on June 23, 2006. Firm initiated recall is complete.

REASON Possible contamination of dairy animal feeds with ruminant derived meat and bone meal.

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 350 tons DISTRIBUTION AL and MS

______________________________

PRODUCT 

a) Tucker Milling, LLC Tm 32% Sinking Fish Grower, #2680-Pellet, 50 lb. bags, Recall # V-121-6; 

b) Tucker Milling, LLC #31120, Game Bird Breeder Pellet, 50 lb. bags, Recall # V-122-6; 

c) Tucker Milling, LLC #31232 Game Bird Grower, 50 lb. bags, Recall # V-123-6; 

d) Tucker Milling, LLC 31227-Crumble, Game Bird Starter, BMD Medicated, 50 lb bags, Recall # V-124-6; 

e) Tucker Milling, LLC #31120, Game Bird Breeder, 50 lb bags, Recall # V-125-6; 

f) Tucker Milling, LLC #30230, 30 % Turkey Starter, 50 lb bags, Recall # V-126-6; 

g) Tucker Milling, LLC #30116, TM Broiler Finisher, 50 lb bags, Recall # V-127-6 

CODE All products manufactured from 02/01/2005 until 06/20/2006 

RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER Recalling Firm: Tucker Milling LLC, Guntersville, AL, by telephone and visit on June 20, 2006, and by letter on June 23, 2006. Manufacturer: H. J. Baker and Brothers Inc., Stamford, CT. Firm initiated recall is ongoing.

REASON Poultry and fish feeds which were possibly contaminated with ruminant based protein were not labeled as "Do not feed to ruminants".

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 7,541-50 lb bags

DISTRIBUTION AL, GA, MS, and TN

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR AUGUST 9, 2006

###


 Subject: MAD COW FEED RECALL AL AND FL VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 125 TONS

Products manufactured from 02/01/2005 until 06/06/2006 

Date: August 6, 2006 at 6:16 pm PST 

PRODUCT 

a) CO-OP 32% Sinking Catfish, Recall # V-100-6; 

b) Performance Sheep Pell W/Decox/A/N, medicated, net wt. 50 lbs, Recall # V-101-6; 

c) Pro 40% Swine Conc Meal -- 50 lb, Recall # V-102-6; d) CO-OP 32% Sinking Catfish Food Medicated, Recall # V-103-6; 

e) "Big Jim's" BBB Deer Ration, Big Buck Blend, Recall # V-104-6; 

f) CO-OP 40% Hog Supplement Medicated Pelleted, Tylosin 100 grams/ton, 50 lb. bag, Recall # V-105-6; 

g) Pig Starter Pell II, 18% W/MCDX Medicated 282020, Carbadox -- 0.0055%, Recall # V-106-6; 

h) CO-OP STARTER-GROWER CRUMBLES, Complete Feed for Chickens from Hatch to 20 Weeks, Medicated, Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate, 25 and 50 Lbs, Recall # V-107-6; 

i) CO-OP LAYING PELLETS, Complete Feed for Laying Chickens, Recall # 108-6; 

j) CO-OP LAYING CRUMBLES, Recall # V-109-6; 

k) CO-OP QUAIL FLIGHT CONDITIONER MEDICATED, net wt 50 Lbs, Recall # V-110-6; 

l) CO-OP QUAIL STARTER MEDICATED, Net Wt. 50 Lbs, Recall # V-111-6; 

m) CO-OP QUAIL GROWER MEDICATED, 50 Lbs, Recall # V-112-6 

CODE 

Product manufactured from 02/01/2005 until 06/06/2006 RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER Alabama Farmers Cooperative, Inc., Decatur, AL, by telephone, fax, email and visit on June 9, 2006. FDA initiated recall is complete.

REASON Animal and fish feeds which were possibly contaminated with ruminant based protein not labeled as "Do not feed to ruminants".

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 125 tons DISTRIBUTION AL and FL

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR AUGUST 2, 2006

###

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/enforce/2006/ENF00963.html



 MAD COW FEED RECALL USA EQUALS 10,878.06 TONS NATIONWIDE Sun Jul 16, 2006 09:22 71.248.128.67

RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: VETERINARY MEDICINE -- CLASS II

______________________________

PRODUCT 

a) PRO-LAK, bulk weight, Protein Concentrate for Lactating Dairy Animals, Recall # V-079-6; 

b) ProAmino II, FOR PREFRESH AND LACTATING COWS, net weight 50lb (22.6 kg), Recall # V-080-6; 

c) PRO-PAK, MARINE & ANIMAL PROTEIN CONCENTRATE FOR USE IN ANIMAL FEED, Recall # V-081-6; 

d) Feather Meal, Recall # V-082-6 

CODE a) Bulk b) None c) Bulk d) Bulk 

RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER H. J. Baker & Bro., Inc., Albertville, AL, by telephone on June 15, 2006 and by press release on June 16, 2006. 

Firm initiated recall is ongoing.

REASON Possible contamination of animal feeds with ruminent derived meat and bone meal.

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 10,878.06 tons

DISTRIBUTION Nationwide

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR July 12, 2006

###

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/enforce/2006/ENF00960.html


Office of Inspector General Semiannual Report to Congress FY 2007 - 2nd Half

Two Texas Companies Sentenced and Fined for Misbranding Meat Products In April 2007, two closely held and related Texas companies pled guilty in Federal court and were sentenced to 12 months of probation and ordered to pay $10,250 in fines for misbranding meat products. One of the companies sold adulterated meat products to a retail store in New Mexico. Additionally, portions of the invoices failed to properly and consistently identify the meat products as being from cattle more than 30 months old at time of slaughter. This information is required to be disclosed because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or "mad cow disease") concerns. No adulterated meat reached consumers.


 Saturday, August 29, 2009

FOIA REQUEST FEED RECALL 2009 Product may have contained prohibited materials Bulk Whole Barley, Recall # V-256-2009


 Friday, September 4, 2009

FOIA REQUEST ON FEED RECALL PRODUCT 429,128 lbs. feed for ruminant animals may have been contaminated with prohibited material Recall # V-258-2009


Thursday, March 19, 2009

MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF MAD COW FEED IN COMMERCE USA WITH ONGOING 12 YEARS OF DENIAL NOW, WHY IN THE WORLD DO WE TO TALK ABOUT THIS ANYMORE $$$



*** PLEASE SEE THIS URGENT UPDATE ON CWD AND FEED ANIMAL PROTEIN ***

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Docket No. FDA-2003-D-0432 (formerly 03D-0186) Use of Material from Deer and Elk in Animal Feed ***UPDATED MARCH 2016*** Singeltary Submission


SEE MAD COW FEED VIOLATIONS AFER MAD COW FEED VIOLATIONS ;


Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Docket No. FDA-2013-N-0764 for Animal Feed Regulatory Program Standards Singeltary Comment Submission


16 years post mad cow feed ban August 1997 2013 

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, December 23, 2014 

FDA PART 589 -- SUBSTANCES PROHIBITED FROM USE IN ANIMAL FOOD OR FEEDVIOLATIONS OFFICIAL ACTION INDICATED OAI UPDATE DECEMBER 2014 BSE TSE PRION 


17 years post mad cow feed ban August 1997 

Monday, October 26, 2015 

FDA PART 589 -- SUBSTANCES PROHIBITED FROM USE IN ANIMAL FOOD OR FEED VIOLATIONS OFFICIAL ACTION INDICATED OIA UPDATE October 2015 


Saturday, July 23, 2016

BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY BSE TSE PRION SURVEILLANCE, TESTING, AND SRM REMOVAL UNITED STATE OF AMERICA UPDATE JULY 2016


Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Atypical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy BSE TSE Prion UPDATE JULY 2016


Monday, June 20, 2016

Specified Risk Materials SRMs BSE TSE Prion Program


TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2016 

Docket No. FDA-2013-N-0764 for Animal Feed Regulatory Program Standards Singeltary Comment Submission


TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 

FDA PART 589 -- SUBSTANCES PROHIBITED FROM USE IN ANIMAL FOOD OR FEEDVIOLATIONS OFFICIAL ACTION INDICATED OAI UPDATE 2016 to 2017 BSE TSE PRION


2012 ATYPICAL L-TYPE BASE BSE TSE PRION CALIFORNIA ‘confirmed’ Saturday, August 4, 2012

*** Final Feed Investigation Summary - California BSE Case - July 2012


2009 UPDATE ON ALABAMA AND TEXAS MAD COWS 2005 and 2006 


LET'S take a closer look at this new prionpathy or prionopathy, and then let's look at the g-h-BSEalabama mad cow. 

This new prionopathy in humans? 

the genetic makeup is IDENTICAL to the g-h-BSEalabama mad cow, the only _documented_ mad cow in the world to date like this, ......

wait, it get's better. this new prionpathy is killing young and old humans, with LONG DURATION from onset of symptoms to death, and the symptoms are very similar to nvCJD victims, OH, and the plaques are very similar in some cases too, bbbut, it's not related to the g-h-BSEalabama cow, 

WAIT NOW, it gets even better, the new human prionpathy that they claim is a genetic TSE, has no relation to any gene mutation in that family. daaa, ya think it could be related to that mad cow with the same genetic make-up ??? 

there were literally tons and tons of banned mad cow protein in Alabama in commerce, and none of it transmitted to cows, and the cows to humans there from ??? r i g h t $$$ 

ALABAMA MAD COW g-h-BSEalabama 

In this study, we identified a novel mutation in the bovine prion protein gene (Prnp), called E211K, of a confirmed BSE positive cow from Alabama, United States of America. 

This mutation is identical to the E200K pathogenic mutation found in humans with a genetic form of CJD. 

This finding represents the first report of a confirmed case of BSE with a potential pathogenic mutation within the bovine Prnp gene. 

We hypothesize that the bovine Prnp E211K mutation most likely has caused BSE in "the approximately 10-year-old cow" carrying the E221K mutation. 



Saturday, August 14, 2010 

BSE Case Associated with Prion Protein Gene Mutation (g-h-BSEalabama) and VPSPr PRIONPATHY (see mad cow feed in COMMERCE IN ALABAMA...TSS) 


her healthy calf also carried the mutation (J. A. Richt and S. M. Hall PLoS Pathog. 4, e1000156; 2008). This raises the possibility that the disease could occasionally be genetic in origin. Indeed, the report of the UK BSE Inquiry in 2000 suggested that the UK epidemic had most likely originated from such a mutation and argued against the scrapierelated assumption. Such rare potential pathogenic PRNP mutations could occur in countries at present considered to be free of BSE, such as Australia and New Zealand. So it is important to maintain strict surveillance for BSE in cattle, with rigorous enforcement of the ruminant feed ban (many countries still feed ruminant proteins to pigs). Removal of specified risk material, such as brain and spinal cord, from cattle at slaughter prevents infected material from entering the human food chain. Routine genetic screening of cattle for PRNP mutations, which is now available, could provide additional data on the risk to the public. Because the point mutation identified in the Alabama animals is identical to that responsible for the commonest type of familial (genetic) CJD in humans, it is possible that the resulting infective prion protein might cross the bovine-human species barrier more easily. Patients with vCJD continue to be identified. The fact that this is happening less often should not lead to relaxation of the controls necessary to prevent future outbreaks. Malcolm A. Ferguson-Smith Cambridge University Department of Veterinary Medicine, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ES, UK e-mail: maf12@cam.ac.uk Jürgen A. Richt College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, K224B Mosier Hall, Manhattan, Kansas 66506-5601, USA NATURE|Vol 457|26 February 2009


2009 UPDATE ON ALABAMA AND TEXAS MAD COWS 2005 and 2006 


THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2015 

Former Ag Secretary Ann Veneman talks women in agriculture and we talk mad cow disease USDA and what really happened


Evidence That Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy Results from Feeding Infected Cattle

Over the next 8-10 weeks, approximately 40% of all the adult mink on the farm died from TME.

snip...

The rancher was a ''dead stock'' feeder using mostly (>95%) downer or dead dairy cattle...


Evidence That Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy Results from Feeding Infected Cattle Over the next 8-10 weeks, approximately 40% of all the adult mink on the farm died from TME. 

snip... 

The rancher was a ''dead stock'' feeder using mostly (>95%) downer or dead dairy cattle... 




In Confidence - Perceptions of unconventional slow virus diseases of animals in the USA - APRIL-MAY 1989 - G A H Wells 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. ... 


The occurrence of CWD must be viewed against the contest of the locations in which it occurred. It was an incidental and unwelcome complication of the respective wildlife research programmes. Despite it’s subsequent recognition as a new disease of cervids, therefore justifying direct investigation, no specific research funding was forthcoming. The USDA veiwed it as a wildlife problem and consequently not their province! ...page 26. 


*** Spraker suggested an interesting explanation for the occurrence of CWD. The deer pens at the Foot Hills Campus were built some 30-40 years ago by a Dr. Bob Davis. At or abut that time, allegedly, some scrapie work was conducted at this site. When deer were introduced to the pens they occupied ground that had previously been occupied by sheep. 


Final Feed Investigation Summary - California BSE Case - July 2012 

On Tuesday, April 24, 2012, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were informed by the CDFA Animal Health Safety Service (AHSS) Division that a brain sample collected from a dead cow at the Baker Commodities rendering transfer station in Hanford, California tested positive for L-type atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). While cases of classical BSE have been clearly linked to the use of contaminated meat and bone meal (MBM) as an ingredient in cattle feed, the origin of atypical strains of BSE is unknown. Given the scientific uncertainty about the origin of the L-type strain of BSE, FDA and CDFA conducted a feed investigation to try to determine if any feed supplied to the index premises since the birth of the index cow could have been manufactured with or cross-contaminated by ingredients that are prohibited for use in feed for ruminant animals. 

FDA published BSE feed regulations in 1997 and 2008 to protect against cattle exposure to the BSE agent through animal feed. The 1997 “feed ban” (21 CFR 589.2000) prohibits feeding mammalian protein, with certain exceptions such as for milk products and blood products, to ruminants. The 2008 “enhanced feed rule” (21 CFR 589.2001) addresses concerns that the 1997 rule might not completely eliminate the potential for cattle to be exposed to infectivity as a result of cross-contamination during feed manufacturing or distribution, or as a result of on-farm misfeeding of swine feed, poultry feed, or pet food to cattle. To further reduce the BSE risks associated with cross-contamination and on-farm misfeeding, the 2008 rule banned the use of the highest risk cattle tissues - the brain and spinal cord from cattle 30 months of age and older - in all animal feed. 

To investigate whether the BSE positive cow in California had access to feed ingredients containing bovine origin MBM, the CDFA and the FDA visited the index dairy farm where they evaluated the dairy farm’s compliance with BSE feed regulations, obtained the feeding history of the index cow since her birth in September 2001 to the present, and identified all feed suppliers to those premises where the cow had resided since birth. An inspection for compliance with 21 CFR 589.2000 and 589.2001 (a BSE inspection) was then conducted at each of the feed suppliers identified. In addition, inspection reports from all previous inspections at the identified feed firms were reviewed to determine each firm’s history of using prohibited material in feed manufacturing, as well as each firm’s history of compliance with FDA’s BSE feed regulations. Particular attention was focused on controls in place at each facility to prevent cross contamination. 

Review of the BSE inspection histories found that compliance with BSE feed regulations was excellent. None of the facilities had used prohibited material in their feed manufacturing during the entire period of interest. All historical BSE inspections at the 12 feed suppliers were NAI (no action indicated) for all inspections conducted over the period of interest. One facility had minor violations (VAI, or voluntary action indicated) for medicated feed good manufacturing practices (GMP) deficiencies. Prior to the period of interest, one firm was OAI for an April 2000 inspection because the firm had inadequate cleanout procedures and failed to label product potentially containing prohibited material with the required caution statement “do not feed to cattle or other ruminants”. The next inspection of that facility, in May 2001 (6 months before the date of birth of the index cow), found that the facility no longer used prohibited material. 

Although none of the facilities had used prohibited material in their feed manufacturing during the entire period of interest, one facility distributed prohibited material but did not use it to manufacture feeds. This facility maintained separation between its manufactured feed and products for distribution that contained prohibited material. Six facilities used only vegetable origin protein sources such as whole and rolled corn, soybean meal, canola meal, distillers dried grain, corn gluten, wheat, almond hulls, rolled barley, cottonseed, sunflower meal, and beet pulp. Five facilities used blood meal (one of the five used only porcine origin blood meal). Two used feather meal, two used fish meal, and one used porcine origin MBM. One facility processed and manufactured with poultry waste. Three facilities distributed pet food or sold it to retail customers. All three of these facilities kept the pet food in an area of the facility separated from feed manufacturing, with posted signs saying “do not feed to cattle or other ruminants.” 

The reporting form used to conduct BSE inspections requires the investigator to verify that facilities that do not use prohibited material have safeguards in place to assure that the facility does not receive prohibited material. All 12 firms had procedures in place for obtaining written certification or other assurances from suppliers that products contained no prohibited material. Written procedures at each facility also required that plant personnel review labels of incoming product for prohibited ingredients. The inspection reports showed that each feed supplier also had appropriate procedures for ensuring that vehicles used to haul incoming or outgoing product had either not previously hauled product containing prohibited material, or had been properly cleaned. 

This feed investigation found that no feed suppliers to the index premises processed with prohibited material during the period of interest, that all feed facilities obtained appropriate assurances from their suppliers that incoming ingredients did not contain prohibited material, and that vehicle inspections and/or driver certifications were used by all facilities to ensure that products were not transported in vehicles that had hauled product containing prohibited material in the previous load. Based on these findings, the feed investigation team did not identify any conditions where feed ingredients supplied to the index premises had been manufactured with prohibited material, or where feed suppliers to the index premises did not have adequate safeguards in place to prevent cross-contamination during feed manufacture, storage, or transportation. 



Monday, January 09, 2017 

Oral Transmission of L-Type Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Agent among Cattle 

CDC Volume 23, Number 2—February 2017 

*** Consumption of L-BSE–contaminated feed may pose a risk for oral transmission of the disease agent to cattle. 


SPONTANEOUS ATYPICAL BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY

***Moreover, sporadic disease has never been observed in breeding colonies or primate research laboratories, most notably among hundreds of animals over several decades of study at the National Institutes of Health25, and in nearly twenty older animals continuously housed in our own facility.***


Wednesday, December 21, 2016 

TRANSMISSION, DIFFERENTIATION, AND PATHOBIOLOGY OF TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES 2016 ANNUAL REPORT ARS RESEARCH 


Tuesday, September 06, 2016

A comparison of classical and H-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy associated with E211K prion protein polymorphism in wild type and EK211 cattle following intracranial inoculation


Thursday, December 08, 2016 

USDA APHIS National Scrapie Eradication Program October 2016 Monthly Report Fiscal Year 2017 atypical NOR-98 Scrapie 


Saturday, December 01, 2007

Phenotypic Similarity of Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy in Cattle and L-type Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in a Mouse Model


Sunday, December 10, 2006

Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy TME


http://transmissible-mink-encephalopathy.blogspot.com/

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Transmissibility of BSE-L and Cattle-Adapted TME Prion Strain to Cynomolgus Macaque

"BSE-L in North America may have existed for decades"


Wednesday, April 25, 2012

4th MAD COW DISEASE U.S.A. CALIFORNIA ATYPICAL L-TYPE BSE 2012


P.150: Zoonotic potential of L-type BSE prions: A new prion disease in humans?

Emilie Jaumain,1 Stéphane Haïk,2 Isabelle Quadrio,3 Laetitia Herzog,1 Fabienne Reine,1 Armand Perret-Liaudet,3 Human Rezaei,1 Hubert Laude,1 Jean-Luc Vilotte,4 and Vincent Béringue1 1INR A (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique); UR892; Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires; Jouy-en-Josas, France; 2IN SERM; Equipe maladie d’Alzheimer et maladies à Prions; CRicm; UMRS 1127; CNR S; UPMC. R.; ICM, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière; Paris, France; 3Neurobiologie, CMRR , Gériatrie, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Université Lyon 1-CNR S UMR5292-IN SERM U1028; Lyon, France; 3INR A; UMR1313; Génétique Animale et Biologie Intégrative; Jouy-en-Josas, France

Two novel prion strains, referred to as BSE-L and BSE-H, have been recognized in bovines through active prion surveillance programs, both being distinct from the epizootic, ‘classical’, BSE strain (C-BSE). Both H and L-types have been detected worldwide as rare cases occurring in aged animals. Like C-BSE prions, H- and L-types prions can propagate with relative ease in foreign species or in transgenic mouse lines expressing heterologous PrP sequences. A prion exhibiting biological properties similar to C-BSE agent sometimes emerged from these cross-species transmissions. Previously, L-type prions were shown to transmit to transgenic mice expressing human PrP with methionine at codon 129 with higher efficacy than C-BSE prions. Here, we examined whether L-type prions propagate without any apparent transmission barrier in these mice and whether such ‘humanised’ L-type prions share biological properties with CJD prions. L-type prions and a panel of human CJD cases with various genotypes at codon 129 and electrophoretic PrPres signatures were serially transmitted by intracerebral route to human PrP mice. The biological phenotypes induced by these agents were compared by all the standard methods currently used to distinguish between prion strains. At each passage, L-type prions were also transmitted back to bovine PrP mice to assess whether the agent has evolved upon passaging on the human PrP sequence. L-type prions transmitted to human PrP mice at 100% attack rate, without notable alteration in the mean incubation times over 5 passages. At each passage, ‘humanized’ L-type prions were able to transmit back to bovine PrP transgenic mice without apparent transmission barrier, as based on the survival time and the restoration of a L-type BSE phenotype. Comparison of mean incubation times on primary and subsequent passages in human PrP mice showed no overlap between L-type and sporadic CJD agents. While the electrophoretic signature and regional distribution of PrPres in L-type diseased mouse brains resembled that seen after transmission of MM2 CJD strain type, both agents exhibited distinct resistance of the associated PrPres molecules to protease denaturation.

In summary, L-type prions can be passaged on the human PrP sequence without any obvious transmission barrier. The phenotype obtained differs from the classical CJD prion types known so far. Careful extrapolation would suggest that the zoonotic transmission of this agent could establish a new prion disease type in humans.

========Prion2013==========


WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2017 

In vitro amplification of H-type atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy by protein misfolding cyclic amplification 

"When considering the atypical L-BSE and H-BSE diseases of cattle, they have been assessed in both non-human primate and transgenic mouse bioassays (with mice transgenic for human PRNP) and both model systems indicate that H-BSE and L-BSE may have increased zoonotic potential compare with C-BSE. 

***The detection of all types of BSE is therefore of significant importance." 


TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2017 

*** USDA announces Alabama case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Alabama ***


THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2017 

*** USDA OIE Alabama Atypical L-type BASE Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy BSE animal feeds for ruminants rule, 21 CFR 589.200


THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2017 

EFSA BSE Sixty cases of mad cow disease since 2001 breached feed ban likely the cause 

Scientists investigate origin of isolated BSE cases


SUNDAY, JULY 23, 2017

Experimental Infection of Cattle With a Novel Prion Derived From Atypical H-Type Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy


First evidence of intracranial and peroral transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) into Cynomolgus macaques: a work in progress 

Stefanie Czub1, Walter Schulz-Schaeffer2, Christiane Stahl-Hennig3, Michael Beekes4, Hermann Schaetzl5 and Dirk Motzkus6 1 

University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine/Canadian Food Inspection Agency; 2Universitatsklinikum des Saarlandes und Medizinische Fakultat der Universitat des Saarlandes; 3 Deutsches Primaten Zentrum/Goettingen; 4 Robert-Koch-Institut Berlin; 5 University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine; 6 presently: Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Research Center; previously: Deutsches Primaten Zentrum/Goettingen 

This is a progress report of a project which started in 2009. 21 cynomolgus macaques were challenged with characterized CWD material from white-tailed deer (WTD) or elk by intracerebral (ic), oral, and skin exposure routes. Additional blood transfusion experiments are supposed to assess the CWD contamination risk of human blood product. Challenge materials originated from symptomatic cervids for ic, skin scarification and partially per oral routes (WTD brain). Challenge material for feeding of muscle derived from preclinical WTD and from preclinical macaques for blood transfusion experiments. We have confirmed that the CWD challenge material contained at least two different CWD agents (brain material) as well as CWD prions in muscle-associated nerves. 

Here we present first data on a group of animals either challenged ic with steel wires or per orally and sacrificed with incubation times ranging from 4.5 to 6.9 years at postmortem. Three animals displayed signs of mild clinical disease, including anxiety, apathy, ataxia and/or tremor. In four animals wasting was observed, two of those had confirmed diabetes. All animals have variable signs of prion neuropathology in spinal cords and brains and by supersensitive IHC, reaction was detected in spinal cord segments of all animals. Protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA), real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuiC) and PET-blot assays to further substantiate these findings are on the way, as well as bioassays in bank voles and transgenic mice. 

At present, a total of 10 animals are sacrificed and read-outs are ongoing. Preclinical incubation of the remaining macaques covers a range from 6.4 to 7.10 years. Based on the species barrier and an incubation time of > 5 years for BSE in macaques and about 10 years for scrapie in macaques, we expected an onset of clinical disease beyond 6 years post inoculation. 

PRION 2017 DECIPHERING NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS 

 Subject: PRION 2017 CONFERENCE DECIPHERING NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS VIDEO

PRION 2017 CONFERENCE DECIPHERING NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS

PRION 2017 CONFERENCE VIDEO



Chronic Wasting Disease CWD TSE Prion to Humans, who makes that final call, when, or, has it already happened?

TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2017

PRION 2017 CONFERENCE ABSTRACT First evidence of intracranial and peroral transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) into Cynomolgus macaques: a work in progress


TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2017

PRION 2017 CONFERENCE ABSTRACT Chronic Wasting Disease in European moose is associated with PrPSc features different from North American CWD


TUESDAY, JULY 04, 2017

*** PRION 2017 CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS ON CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD TSE PRION ***


TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2017 

MINK FARMING USA TRANSMISSIBLE MINK ENCEPHALOPATHY TSE PRION DISEASE SURVEILLANCE AND TESTING



WEDNESDAY, APRIL 05, 2017

Disease-associated prion protein detected in lymphoid tissues from pigs challenged with the agent of chronic wasting disease


***Moreover, sporadic disease has never been observed in breeding colonies or primate research laboratories, most notably among hundreds of animals over several decades of study at the National Institutes of Health25, and in nearly twenty older animals continuously housed in our own facility.***


MONDAY, JULY 17, 2017 

National Scrapie Eradication Program May 2017 Monthly Report Fiscal Year 2017


VPSPr

Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy (VPSPr), a recently identified and seemingly sporadic human prion disease, is distinct from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) but shares features of Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease (GSS). However, contrary to exclusively inherited GSS, no prion protein (PrP) gene variations have been detected in VPSPr, suggesting that VPSPr might be the long-sought sporadic form of GSS.
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In conclusion, we propose that VPSPr is transmissible and, therefore, is an authentic prion disease. However, transmissibility cannot be sustained through serial passages presumably because human PrPC (or the mouse brain environment) cannot efficiently convert and propagate the VPSPr PrPSc species. If this is the case, uncovering the properties of human PrP that are required to replicate more efficiently the prion strains associated with VPSPr may help clarify the PrPSc mode of formation in this intriguing disease.
 


Friday, January 10, 2014

vpspr, sgss, sffi, TSE, an iatrogenic by-product of gss, ffi, familial type prion disease, what it ???


THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2017 

National Prion Center could lose all funding just as concern about CWD jumping to humans rises

SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2017 

*** National Prion Center could lose all funding just as concern about CWD jumping to humans rises


SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 

Why the U.S. Needs to Continue Prion Disease Surveillance, instead of reducing funding to zero



Terry S. Singeltary Sr.