Second Wave of Mad Cow Disease Possible

[Guest guest]

Second wave of mad cow disease possible

 

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060520-122339-7983r

Previously posted to SoFlaVeg

 

EDINBURGH, Scotland, May 19 (UPI) -- British

scientists recently discovered that the gene

responsible for mad cow disease can lie dormant many

years, which could create a second wave of disease.

 

Scientists had thought only 40 percent of the

population was at risk for vCJD, the human equivalent

of the mad cow infection. They now believe tens of

thousands more people could be at risk if they

consumed diseased meat in the 1980s and 1990s, the

Scotsman reported.

 

A dormant infection was recently found in someone with

the MV genotype that accounts for half the population.

Now two other dormant infections have been discovered

in the W genotype, meaning virtually everyone can be a

carrier.

 

Professor James Ironside, of the National CJD

Surveillance Unit at Edinburgh University, says it is

possible incubation periods are very, very long. Blood

transfusions and surgery could then allow the disease

to spread indefinitely.

 

Microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington said it was a

case of waiting and seeing what might happen because

no one really knows.