Guest guest Posted January 7, 2005 Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 yeah..just like they call the cherry hill nj outbreak " sporadic CJD " ...nuthin to worry about..move along..nuthin to see here > Calif. man had human mad cow symptoms > > > By Steve Mitchell > Medical Correspondent > > Washington, DC, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Public health officials have ruled out > the human version of mad cow disease as the cause of death for a > California man, but the man's neurologist told United Press > International the man had several symptoms of the fatal disease and > questions remain about the case. > > Patrick Hicks, 49, died late last year at Reche Canyon Health Care > Center in Colton, Calif., as first reported by UPI in November. > > Upon Hicks' death, Dr. Ron Bailey, a neurologist at Riverside Medical > Center in Riverside, Calif., who treated him, arranged for a sample of > his brain to be sent to the National Prion Disease Pathology > Surveillance Center in Cleveland. NPDPSC is funded by the Centers for > Disease Control and Prevention to analyze brain specimens for possible > variant Creutztfeldt Jakob disease, a fatal condition humans can > contract from eating beef products infected with the mad cow pathogen. > > " Clinically, the case did look like it was variant CJD -- no question > about that, " Bailey told UPI. > > Hicks initially had psychiatric symptoms, his illness appears to have > lasted for more than one year and he had normal EEGs or brain-wave > patterns until the late stages -- all consistent with vCJD, Bailey said. > In addition, Hicks' relatively young age raised concerns because nearly > all of the more than 150 cases of vCJD detected worldwide have occurred > in people under age 55. > > Bailey said, however, the NPDPSC concluded in late December that Hicks > did not have vCJD, but rather a similar disease called sporadic CJD, > which has no known cause and is not thought to be due to contaminated > beef. > > Allison Marsh of the NPDPSC told UPI the center could not comment on > Hicks' final diagnosis. > > Hicks' wife, Ronele, and his brother, Thomas Hicks, recently met with > Bailey to discuss the results. Thomas told UPI he was left with the > impression that the information NPDPSC provided about the case " wasn't > acceptable, as far as Bailey was concerned. " > > " He (Bailey) feels they're hiding something, " Thomas added. > > In an interview with UPI, Bailey said he harbored no conspiracy theories > about the case and he would defer to NPDPSC's diagnosis, but he said > " some questions remain as far as I'm concerned. " > > If Hicks had vCJD, it would have been the first domestically borne case > of the disease, because his family said he had never traveled to England > or Europe, which have experienced epidemics of mad cow disease and where > nearly all cases of vCJD have occurred. > > Concerns about mad cow in North America recently were heightened due to > a second case reported in Canada the day after the U.S. Department of > Agriculture announced its intention to reopen the border to Canadian > beef. The border was closed in May 2003, when Canada reported its first > domestic case of the deadly disease. > > Seeking further information about the Hicks case, Bailey requested the > NPDPSC do a genetic analysis of Patrick's brain that could aid in > determining whether he had contracted was vCJD or CJD. > > Bailey said an NPDPSC employee, Carrie Harris, told him the lab did not > hold any frozen brain tissue from Hicks, which is required to do the > analysis. Bailey said he found Harris's explanation troubling, because > the protocol on the NPDPSC Web site stipulates the collection of frozen > tissue. > > Harris did not return phone calls from UPI. > > Bailey questioned how NPDPSC arrived at its conclusion that Hicks did > not suffer from vCJD, because he thinks it is impossible to distinguish > CJD from vCJD by examining the brain using the type of tests they did. > This is a view shared by other experts in the field and it is supported > by evidence from scientific studies. For example, recent research by > John Collinge and colleagues at University College in London > demonstrated mice injected with mad cow disease can develop brain damage > that looks like both vCJD and CJD. > > CDC spokesman Llelwyn Grant told UPI the genetic analysis Bailey wanted > conducted would have provided some added information, but it would not > have ruled out either vCJD or sporadic CJD. > > " If a lab gets a good specimen, that lab should be able to with (the > type of testing NPDPSC did and) tell whether or not they're dealing with > sporadic or variant CJD, " Grant said. > > Laura Manuelidis, an expert on these diseases and section chief of > surgery in the neuropathology department at Yale University, told UPI > the frozen tissue would have been invaluable in clearing up any > discrepancy over whether Hicks had vCJD or CJD. > > Some evidence suggests " that vCJD can look like sporadic CJD, so how do > you know which it is? " Manuelidis asked. " The answer is that you don't > because they have no other tissue with which to explore this further and > this is where the frozen tissue gets to be an issue. " > > Frozen tissue is required to conduct a type of test called Western blot > that can aid in distinguishing vCJD from CJD, Manuelidis explained. > Frozen specimens also are a requisite for animal-injection experiments, > which are time consuming but come close to being definitive about > whether a disease is vCJD or CJD, she added. > > Marsh confirmed that for unknown reasons whoever removed Hicks' brain > failed to follow protocol and fixed the entire organ in formalin, making > it impossible to do the genetic analysis or other tests. This was done > by somebody in California, however, not an employee of NPDPSC, Marsh said. > > Bailey said the NPDPSC hired the autopsy company, 1-800-Autopsy of Los > Angeles, to perform the procedure and " from what I gathered, the NPDPSC > had worked with these people in the past and they were versed in the > protocol they had. " > > A spokeswoman for 1-800-Autopsy, who did not identify herself, confirmed > that the company worked on the case. Asked why they did not collect > frozen brain tissue, as the NPDPSC protocol stipulates, she said, " We > don't have the capability to freeze it, " because the required > refrigeration equipment is too expensive. > > The spokeswoman added that the company would have informed NPDPSC of > this, " up front. " > > Asked why NPDPSC would hire a company that does not have the capability > to follow their protocol, Marsh referred UPI to Harris, who was out of > the office Wednesday and did not respond to an e-mail and another > voicemail message. > > Another issue Bailey found troubling is what he described as the refusal > of the Riverside County coroner's office to conduct an autopsy on Hicks, > which is required to get the brain tissue to send to NPDPSC. > > " It was beyond belief. It was like pulling teeth, " to get the autopsy > performed, Bailey said. " If you have a condition that is this rare with > the potential to be the first variant CJD case in the state, it raises > questions in my mind why they would be so reluctant to do an autopsy on > him, " he said. > > Bailey said the county coroner's office at first did not return his call > and even after NPDPSC's Harris called them, they still refused to > conduct an autopsy on Hicks. Ultimately, the brain tissue was removed by > 1-800-Autopsy at the crematorium prior to cremating Hicks' body. > > Earl Quinata, spokesman for the Riverside County coroner's office, told > UPI the case would have been the responsibility of the coroner in San > Bernadino County, because that is where Hicks died. > > Bailey said he never got the impression that was the reason the > coroner's office refused to deal with Hicks' body and he sent a letter > to NPDPSC apologizing for the lack of cooperation from the coroner's > office. > > -- > > E-mail sciencemail > > http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050105-062458-5715r.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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