Thursday, September 30, 2010

Characterization of the Prion Protein in Human Urine*

Characterization of the Prion Protein in Human Urine*

Ayuna Dagdanova‡,1, Serguei Ilchenko§,1, Silvio Notari‡,1, Qiwei Yang‡, Mark E. Obrenovich‡, Kristen Hatcher‡, Peter McAnulty¶, Lequn Huang?, Wenquan Zou‡, Qingzhong Kong‡, Pierluigi Gambetti‡,2 and Shu G. Chen‡,3 + Author Affiliations

From the ‡Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, the §Center for Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, the ¶Non-Clinical Consultancy, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark, and the ?Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210093, China 2 To whom correspondence may be addressed: Dept. of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, 2085 Adelbert Rd., Cleveland, OH 44106. Tel.: 216-368-0586; Fax: 216-368-4090; E-mail: pierluigi.gambetti@case.edu. 3 To whom correspondence may be addressed: Dept. of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, 2103 Cornell Rd., WRB 5533, Cleveland, OH 44106. Tel.: 216-368-8925; Fax: 216-368-0494; E-mail: shu.chen@case.edu. ?1 These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

The presence of the prion protein (PrP) in normal human urine is controversial and currently inconclusive. This issue has taken a special relevance because prion infectivity has been demonstrated in urine of animals carrying experimental or naturally occurring prion diseases, but the actual presence and tissue origin of the infectious prion have not been determined. We used immunoprecipitation, one- and two-dimensional electrophoresis, and mass spectrometry to prove definitely the presence of PrP in human urine and its post-translational modifications. We show that urinary PrP (uPrP) is truncated mainly at residue 112 but also at other residues up to 122. This truncation makes uPrP undetectable with some commonly used antibodies to PrP. uPrP is glycosylated and carries an anchor which, at variance with that of cellular PrP, lacks the inositol-associated phospholipid moiety, indicating that uPrP is probably shed from the cell surface. The detailed characterization of uPrP reported here definitely proves the presence of PrP in human urine and will help determine the origin of prion infectivity in urine.

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol Anchors Mass Spectrometry (MS) Post-translational Modification Prions Urine Prion Protein


Footnotes * This work was supported, in whole or in part, by National Institutes of Health Grant AG14359. This work was also supported by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Grant UR8/CCU515004, Department of Agriculture National Research Initiative Grant 2002-35201-2608, Department of Defense National Prion Research Program Grant DAMD17-03-1-0283, and by the Charles S. Britton Fund. Received July 6, 2010. © 2010 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.


Received July 6, 2010. © 2010 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.


http://www.jbc.org/content/285/40/30489.abstract?sid=a1dfa5a0-3f41-44d8-ae63-ec27f39d8b4b




ahhh, the fruits of Harash Narang's work finally going to pay off for somebody. ...TSS


1996 NARANG URINE TEST


http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20081106082948/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1996/02/09003001.pdf




http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20080102200511/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1996/02/21004001.pdf




http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20081106042311/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1996/02/21005001.pdf




http://web.archive.org/web/20030527133551/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/ws/s113.pdf




http://web.archive.org/web/20010305030338/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/report/volume11/chaptec3.htm





5.289 We have concluded, for the reasons given above, that Dr Narang's work received fair consideration by MAFF scientists. While we would pay tribute to Dr Narang's dedication to research into TSEs, we feel that he had a fair opportunity to demonstrate the validity of his work but did not succeed in doing so.


http://web.archive.org/web/20010301194458/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/report/volume11/chaptec4.htm




No way to treat a pioneer

Apr 20 2003 By Phil Doherty

A leading charity has called for a public inquiry into the way a top mad cow disease expert has been treated by the establishment. Harash Narang was the first scientist to make the link between the illness and its human equivalent- variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - in 1990. Dr Narang says he was made redundant from his job at Newcastle's Public Health Laboratory Services after making his findings known. He claims that he lost his post after the then Health Minister Stephen Dorrell ordered all the lab's work on the killer disease to cease. Since he became a whistle-blower, he says, he has not been able to get lab time in the UK to continue his work.

Dr Narang has since moved to the United States. He is now working at the CJD surveillance unit based at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

CJD Foundation head Noel Baldwin, who lost his son Patrick to the killer disease, said: "There is more and more information coming out that proves Dr Narang was right all along.

Medical

"He said years ago that CJD could be found in blood and passed on by transfusions and medical instruments. This has now been accepted.

"He argued that BSE could cause both sporadic as well as vCJD, and recent research has shown this to be correct. He also invented a urine test which shows if someone is harbouring the disease."

Mr Baldwin also rued the Government's decision to pull Medical Research Council funding from Dr Narang.

He said: "Now it looks as if the US will benefit financially from this ground-breaking research. "The UK establishment has ignored him for more than 10 years. We believe those responsible should be made accountable for this because if they had listened to Dr Narang maybe some of those poor people wouldn't have died from this terrible disease.

Scandal

"This is a national scandal that needs to be fully addressed by a public inquiry. "We are planning to launch this campaign in the next few months and will be involving sympathetic MPs to get this issue aired in the House of Commons."


http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100local/page.cfm?objectid=12871105&method=full&siteid=50081&headline=No%20way%20to%20treat%20a%20pioneer




2005 NARANG URINE TEST USA CWRU

CJD doc jets off

Mar 9 2003

By Phil Doherty, Sunday Sun

The North scientist who first established a link between mad cow disease and its human form is quitting Britain.

Harash Narang has been head-hunted by a top US university to continue his research into variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

He was working for the Government's Public Health Laboratory Service in Newcastle when he revealed the link and later lost his job.

Dr Narang claimed he was made redundant because he went public with his findings, an allegation which has always been denied. He said: "I now have a job at the United States CJD Surveillance Centre based in Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.

"I'm very excited because it has excellent facilities and is one of the best CJD surveillance centres in the world.

The university is examining a urine test pioneered by Dr Narang which can show whether someone has CJD.

Currently only a post-mortem diagnosis can be made.

Dr Narang said: "Early indications show that my test has performed even better than anticipated. It is expected to be validated very shortly."

And he revealed: "I do not regret telling the truth all those years ago. If I had to do it again then I would."

Ken Bell, a financial backer of Dr Narang's work, claimed he had been forced to go abroad because he cannot get laboratory time in the UK.

He said: "Harash has been blackballed in the UK because he told the public the truth. "The establishment will try anything to stop him working here. It's a disgrace."

Noel Baldwin, of the CJD Foundation charity, said: "He has been proved right about so many things . . . that CJD can be transmitted through blood, that BSE can cause both variant and sporadic CJD and that you can test for the disease through urine samples."

Dr Narang starts work at Case University later this month. Shu Chen, one of his future colleagues, said: "He will be a great asset to our CJD research."


http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100local/page.cfm?objectid=12716797&method=full&siteid=50081



Edmonton company boasts cheap BSE test Duncan Thorne , CanWest News Service; Edmonton Journal Published: Friday, July 21, 2006 EDMONTON -- An Edmonton company is confident it has a cheap, ground-breaking test for mad cow disease, but the test's British inventor who claims to have first made the link between BSE and the disease's human form insists he still holds the rights.

Despite their differences, inventor Harash Narang and BSE Prion Solutions Inc. agree the test holds amazing potential to quickly and inexpensively test live cattle for bovine spongiform encephalopathy better known as mad-cow disease. The only approved tests so far for mad cow and its human equivalent depend on removing brain samples after death. A test on live animals would open the way to guaranteeing disease-free herds.

"We have a test that not only works, but works each and every time," said Ron Arnold of BSE Prion Solutions Inc., adding formal validation may take up to two years and regulatory approval. Narang, a former British government scientist who went public about human risks from BSE in 1990, started developing tests for detecting the disease in the late 1980s while at a public health laboratory. He had been studying cases of a fatal but rare human brain illness, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), when he started noticing some cases were different. He has said he was well on the way to establishing a link between BSE and the unusual CJD cases when he was ordered to stop his research. He has also claimed officials rejected his calls for increased testing for BSE and the new form of CJD, now known as variant CJD.

Narang developed three diagnostic tests, including an early version of the urine test that BSE Prion intends to bring to market.

A wide-ranging 1998 inquiry into Britain's response to the mad cow crisis found problems with Narang's claims. It cited evidence that fellow scientists could not get his test to work. Even so, Narang continued development of the urine test. A British company, Biotec Global, sponsored much of his work. He is no longer part of the research, but work on it continues at the United States National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Narang and Case Western researchers reported in 2005 that the urine test could reliably detect a harmless form of the prion protein that is blamed for BSE and variant CJD. It could also detect the bad form if the prion was first added directly to the urine.

They said their findings "may lay the foundation for a future technique," if in fact the bad prion can turn up naturally in urine.

"It needs a lot of work still," Ayuna Dagdanova, one of the test's researchers at the U.S. prion surveillance centre, said from Cleveland.

Without solid data it's not possible to say if they are close to detecting BSE in urine, she said. "No one actually knows, but preliminary experiments show the possibility."

Arnold, a partner in Biotec, said Narang gave Biotec the patent rights in 2003 and it in turn gave BSE Prion the licence for the Americas and Europe.

"We've talked with patent attorneys in London and also in Newcastle. Everyone agrees that the documents and the transfer of ownership of the patents was done judiciously and was extremely well put together by the solicitors," said Arnold.

Edmonton company boasts cheap BSE test Duncan Thorne , CanWest News Service; Edmonton Journal Published: Friday, July 21, 2006 Narang, speaking from Newcastle, acknowledged signing papers, but said it was not clear what he was signing. He said he continues to pay the patent renewal fees.

Biotec has sunk more than $2 million into the research, but BSE Prion has not had to pay a licence fee, Arnold said. That's because the project is humanitarian, with plans to hand over any earnings for research purposes, in the form of grants and scholarships.

Narang, who holds shares in Biotec despite the ownership dispute, also said he also wants any profits to go into further research. Meanwhile, he said he's owed back pay and expenses for work he did over the past five years a claim Arnold rejects.

dthorne@thejournal.canwest.com

Edmonton Journal © CanWest News Service 2006


http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=e0300291-19dd-48a8-8e88-963a06087ce2&k=6995



http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=e0300291-19dd-48a8-8e88-963a06087ce2&k=6995&p=2



Experimental Biology and Medicine 230:343-349 (2005) © 2005 Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine


----------------------------------------------------------


ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE


Sensitive Detection of Prion Protein in Human Urine

Harash K. Narang*,2, Ayuna Dagdanova, Zhiliang Xie, Qiwei Yang and Shu G. Chen,1 * BioTech Global, 22-40 Brentwood Avenue, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE2 3DH, UK; and Institute of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, 2085 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 1To whom requests for reprints should be addressed at Institute of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, 2085 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, OH 44106. E-mail: shu.chen@case.edu


ABSTRACT


Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are a group of infectious diseases typically associated with the accumulation of a protease-resistant and ß-sheet-rich prion protein, PrPSc, in affected brains. PrPSc is an altered isoform derived from the host-encoded glycoprotein, PrPC. The expression of PrPC is the highest in brain tissue, but it can also be detected at low levels in peripheral tissue. However, it is unclear whether a significant amount of PrPC is released into body fluid and excreted into urine. We have developed a simple, rapid method for the reliable detection of PrPC in urine from normal subjects by Western blotting. Our method can easily and reliably detect PrPC in apparently healthy individuals using less than 1 ml of urine in which the amount of urinary PrPC is estimated to be in the range of low micrograms/liter.


http://www.ebmonline.org/cgi/content/full/230/5/343



FULL TEXT ;


http://madcowtesting.blogspot.com/2008/09/identification-of-disease-induced.html



Subject: CJD/BSE/SCRAPIE * Who will get the last laugh...Harash Narang???

Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 14:33:50 -0700

From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."

Reply-To: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy To: BSE-L@uni-karlsruhe.de

######### Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy #########

Greetings List Members, old article, but some interesting data, which 'some' of you, (not all), may find interesting.....TSS

THE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE

APPENDIX 22 237

Memorandum submitted by Dr H K Narang

SUMMARY 1. SAF are composed of PrP protein which is host derived.

2. Although PrP is incorporated into the SAF it is not the agent of scrapie.

3. There is no such thing as a self replicating protein--a biologically improbable notion.

4. Tubulofilamentous particles, which I described first in 1972, are specific and unique to spongiform encephalopathies and can be demonstrated by simple electron microscopic grid impression technique.

5. Simplified diagnostic procedures would be of great value for epidemiological purposes and surveillance, for BSE and CJD.

6. There are grounds, for postulating that humans might possibly acquire spongiform encephalopathy through ingestion of contaminated tissue. On the current evidence available the hypothesis that CJD in humans is caused by ingestion of infected animal tissue remains open, but it has to be stated that it would be unwise to add potentially contaminated foods into the human food chain.

7. All age groups would be at risk with spongiform encephalopathies.

BACKGROUND Having obtained PhD from Newcastle University in 1969 I joined Professor E J Field. Head of thc Demylinating Unit and developed an interest in spongiform encephalopathies. I worked at the Unit until 1977 on a number of central nervous system diseases. Following the restructuring of MRC Unit, I joined the Public Health Laborators, and have worked in Newcastle in the Virology Department to the present day. A part from my clinical work, I have maintained interest on several clinical diagnostic problems. However. I also have maintained an interest in slow virus infections and have continued to do research in this field in co-operation with Dr D C Gajdusek, National Institute of Health, USA. Dr Gajdusek was awarded The Nobel Prize in medicine for demonstrating that kuru in humans was due to slow virus: Dr R L Chandler, AFRC. Compton and Dr A G Dickinson, AFRC/MRC, Edinburgh. Over the years I have published a number of publications.

TUBULOFILAMENTOUS PARTICLES My first significant paper relating to slow viruses was published in Nature in 1972 in which I described for the first time tubulofilamentous particles in experimental scrapie-infected mice. Subsequently I have found these particles in all other animal species experimentally infected with scrapie, and also in naturally infected sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Tissue from bovine spongiform encephalopathy has not been made available to me for this study. Some workers in early 1981 did not consider these particles to be the infectious agent because they were unable to find these particles in brains of scrapie-infected hamsters However. during a visit to National Institute of Health in 1985 I found these tubulofilamentous particles when I had the opportunity to examine scrapie-infecled hamsters. These findings have since been independently confirmed. It is now well established that the tubulofilamentous particles in tissue can be used as a marker for spongiform encephalopathies.

To simplify the examination of experimentally infected animal tissues by electron microscopy, I developed a simple impression technique, This method was validated by experiments using a variety of known human and animal viruses. I applied this method to experimental scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseased brains. Tubulofilamentous particles were identified in all scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease inoculated animals.

DEVELOPMENT OF TOUCH IMPRESSION TECHNIQUE The method was also applied to tissue samples taken from hamsters at various stages of the incubational period of the disease and from uninfected tissues without the observer knowing which samples were from normal and which were from infected animals. The status of all tissue under test was correctly identified on the basis of the presence or absence of tubulofilamentmous particles. Furthermore, the samples taken more than 20 day post-inoculation, a quarter of the way through the incubation period were consistently positive, when histologically no spongiform changes were seen in the brains. It would seem reasonable to conclude from this that the technique could be applied for routine sample screening on suspected animals or those late in the incubation phase for diagnostic purposes.

RELATIOINSHIP OF TUBULOFILAMENTOUS PARTICLES TO SAF/PrP In a number of my recent studies I have demonstrated that scrapie associated fibrils/protease resistant protein (SAF/PrP) form the core of these tubulofilamentous particles the coat consists of single stranded DNA (ssDNA) and a protein, that is tubulofilamentous particles consists of an outer protein coat. middle ssDNA and inner most SAF/PrP, and particles are termed nermaridius (Nerma -- filamentous).

238

APPENDICES TO THE MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE

Examination of coded specimens: Subsequently I was invited to AFRC & MRC Neuropathogenesis Unit Edinburgh in September, 1987 to demonstrate the touch technique. Preparation and examination was carried out on six randomised scrapie and normal brains and correct results scored on all six specimens within two and half hours from start to finish. Preparation and examination can be accomplished within half a day.

My December, 1989 application to MAFF for grant to work on the test for BSE in collaboration with the Central Veterinary Laboratory was turned down in January, 1990. However in June 1990, I have been given £20,000 by a private individual to proceed with this work. Naturally necessary co-operation will now be required.

SIGNIFICANCE of SAF/PrP SAF are morphological structures composed of small protein molecules termed "PrP", which is a normal host derived protein. The molecules of this normal protein are more likely to be joined together by a regulatory system from the genome of the scrapie agent, which in turn wraps itself round the SAF. SAF/PrP were considered to be the infectious agent, but now we know through a number of studies that infectivity can be separated from the SAF/PrP.

The host gene for PrP protein is expressed at similar levels both in uninfected and in spongiform encephalopathies infected animals.

The sequence of this PrP gene is known and it is also known that it differs in different species and strains of animals. It is important to state that the primary structure of this gene does not differ between uninfected and infected animal of the same species and strain.

It has been suggested in the Tyrrell Report that by knowing the DNA sequence differences in the PrP gene, one might find a strain of cow which is more resistant to scrapie agent. This phenomenon does not work in other known species of animals where sequence differ in different strains. To find such a difference in cows which will be resistant to scrapie to me it appears wishful thinking and would not in any case provide a short-term solution and even in the tong term would be impractical.

Since scrapie has been established in (all animals inoculated) 23 species and in many different strains of animals by inoculation, it is unlikely that an unchallenged host will be resistant to scrapie agent and therefore humans are not likely to be totally resistant.

Most of the studies on PrP gene will only provide academic answers, and many of the questions asked in Tyrrell Report on molecular studies have already been answered by published studies for example SAF/PrP itself is not the agent.

Since purified PrP from infected animals or PrP synthesised in vitro even in its post-translation modified form has not transmitted disease, it is unlikely that detailed molecular studies on SAF/PrP suggested in Tyrrell Report would add much to the control or eradication of bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY It is commonly, accepted that the disease in cattle has been transmitted by feed, which contained the infectious agent, It would appear to me that at one stage cows have been fed with high protein supplement, prepared from sheep remains. Due to species cross over and because of long incubation periods there were no apparent clinical cases in cattle. At some stage, into the sheep remains cattle remains were also added (although at the time of killing, clinically cattle appeared healthy) the high protein contained scrapie agent from both sheep and cows. As a result of the passage from cow to cow (cannibalism) the incubation period has been reduced. This phenomenon has also been observed in scrapie experimental animals.

TITRATION INFECTIVITY STUDIES Passage from one species of animal to another can make the incubation period long or short. In mice inoculated from sheep cases the incubation period for primary transmission may extend from 600 days to lifespan while mice inoculated from cases of BSE have consistently shorter incubation periods after primary inoculation, usually extending to about 328 days. Sub-passage from mice inoculated with sheep the incubation period comes down to about 384 days and from mice sub-inoculated from BSE the incubation period is near 184 days. These results suggest that a marked change has occurred in the nature of the scrapie agent, or there is selection of shorter incubation strain of the scrapie agent in cows.

A number of studies have investigated the increased titre of scrapie agent in a variety of organs. infective titre means tissue weight by weight can be diluted with saline water to produce disease. (10 to 1st power = 1:10; 10 to 2ng power = 1: 10(l; l0 to 3 power = 1:1000 and so on) 0.01 gm of diluted material is required to inoculate a mouse or hamster.

THE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE

In experimental animals earliest titre is found to be associated with spleen, lymph nodes and salivary glands which build up a plateau Concentration of 10 to 3rd power-10 to 7th power (tissue can be diluted, 1:100,000 to 1:10,000,000) titre of infectivity within four weeks of infection which is quarter of the way through the incubation period. Most of the other tissues including muscles (meat) and whole blood from affected sheep and mice also occasionally produce cases of scrapie suggesting brief "viraemic" phase (virus in blood) during incubation period. Although titres may be low to begin with, once replication starts there are relatively minor differences in its maximum rate irrespective of which genetic make up of PrP is present in the host.

The effect of developmental maturity on susceptibility: Contrary to normal expectation, newborn mice are less, rather than more susceptible to scrapie infections by an intraperitoneal routes. 50-500-fold less dose is required for adult inoculation by the intraperitoneal route compared to intracerebral route of inoculation. Suggesting that peritoneal cavity of adult is a much more favourable environment for the scrapie agent compared to neonate, therefore both young and adults are at risk of developing Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Mice born of pregnant females inoculated during the gestation period but separated from their own dams at delivery do become infected prenatally or perinatally, all mice except the foster mother (not inoculated) develop the clinically recognisable disease and die following an incubation period not significantly different from that observed as occurring in their inoculated mothers. Affected ewes mated with affected rams produce offspring which nearly always become affected. If this were to be true of cattle, by keeping calves from sick animals, UK would never be free of spongiform encephalopathy.

NATURE OF THE SCRAPIE AGENT The precise nature of the infectious agent(s) responsible for these diseases has not yet been identified and the definitive diagnosis is based on the touch impression technique, histological examination or transmission of the disease to selected animal hosts.

Fears have been expressed that transmission of the disease to man might occur through the consumption of contaminated food. Although it is known that a considerable drop of titre occurs following incubation at 80°C-100*C for 30 minutes, but remarkably a subpopulation of about 10 to 3rd power, from original titre of l0 to 8th power/10th power, often survives even after exposure to 121°C for over one hour. This remaining titre would be enough to produce disease, but with increased length of the incubation period in the host.

It is important to point out that average life of humans is four to eight times the suggested incubation period of the scrapie agent and therefore it is my belief, that however small the amount of the scrapie infective agent is left it could establish itself in host. It has generally been accepted that the disease has a long incubation period and because of this very long incubation and that humans may not clinically develop the disease in their life time, it would be wrong to presume at this early stage that this would be true in all individuals and take it for granted that there is little or no risk to humans. Since the knowledge in the field is limited it would be potentially dangerous to think and predict categorically, that there is no danger of infection from handling or eating the cooked food. It should be remembered that we need only, one infective dose.

So far we have known the disease has always been experimentally established in all animal species which have been inoculated or fed with the infective agent. Once the animals are infected there is a period of incubation, at the end the fatal disease has always declared itself.

Once it was considered that to establish experimentally the disease because of the long incubation period the animals have to be inoculated during weaning. However subsequently it has been found that the incubation period is reduced with age of inoculation, that is the older the animals when infected the shorter the incubation period.

The mode of natural transmission of CJD remains unknown and incubation periods are difficult to estimate. Scrapie, BSE, kuru and CJD have been transmitted to mice, hamsters and squirrel monkeys that have been fed contaminated brain, kidney and spleen.

CATS AND SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY

It is important to point out that cats are very susceptible to the scrapie agent. While working with Prof E J Field, I considered that cats might act as an intermediate host for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and therefore through our contacts with vets we obtained 20 cat brains with possible underlying neurological disease. We did not find a single cat with spongiform encephalopathy.

In animal exposures where infection has been documented after high dozes of infected tissue feed, transmission was so irregular that the question arises as to whether the true portal was either the gastrointestinal tract itself, or through areas of mucosal abrasions. Ulcerations in the lips, gums and intestines may also play a role. Studying effect of gingival scarification on oral route of infection, demonstrated that 70 per cent of nonscarified compared with 100 per- cent of scarficated mice developed

240 APPENDICES TO THE MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE

the disease and with a significantly shorter incubation time. Single episodes of oral ingestion of the agent alone therefore may not transmit spongiform encephalopathies and is likely that other factors play an important role. including the dose of the agent and length of the incubation period.

In a case control study of dietary risk factors in CJD in the United States patients with CJD had an increased consumption of roast pork, ham, hot dogs, roast lamb, pork chops, liver and scrapple with excess consumption of under cooked meat: It has been reported clustering of CJD cases among Israeli Libyan Jews with average annual incidence of 31.3/million, possibly associated with a dietary, profile which included the consumption of sheep brain and eyes. A high incidence of CJD was also found among North African immigrants to France (4.53/million) who are known to eat sheep brain. These sheep brains are usually prepared by soaking in salt water, followed by gentle simmering in water. Since four patients from Tunisia were from a butcher's family, this might indicate that the transmission occurred via a common source rather than a familial pattern. Since all had common exposure to contaminated food, in this case possibly sheep brain infected with scrapie agent. This point is further solidified that disease can be experimentally transmitted from many of these familial CJD cases.

In a patient occupation analysis of 308 cases of CJD it has been observed that there were 18 cases from the health professions including neurosurgeons, dentists, physicians and nurses. Thirty two from agricultural/meat processing, 78 cooks/housewives/domestic servants. The remainder were from non-health, non-food processing occupations.

The diagnosis of CJD often presents problems because of the time taken to process tissue for histological examination and long incubation periods. This is made more difficult by the unusual format of the CJD amyotrophic form characterised by motor system disturbances without any spongiform changes in the brain. It has also been shown that occasionally CJD is associated with other underlying diseases tumors, brain abscess, Alzheimer's disease, stroke as demonstrated by transmission of the disease from these cases into animals. The problem of correct diagnosis, may explain the low incident of the disease and current known cases may represent only the tip of the iceberg and it is conceivable that large segments of the population are infected without any, or only trivial or subclinical signs or have other major underlying disease. This point is well illustrated by iatrogenic transmission, either corneal transplatafion contaminated electrode implantation and contaminated batches of growth hormone prepared from pool normal pituitary glands.

The problems of accurate diagnosis certainly adds all the difficulties of conducting epidemiological surveys. It is therefore important to use all the available diagnostic procedures, including the simple touch impression technique to confirm CJD cases.

SUGGESTED FUTURE WORK Bearing in mind the very long incubation period of spongiform encephalopathies it would be at this stage prudent to investigate case of CJD in order lo obtain an accurate prevalence rate so that significant increases in future, if any, can be observed.

ROUTINE DIAGNOSIS AND CONFIRMATION OF CJD CASES Since the incidence of CJD appears to be very low, I could provide the diagnosis and confirmation of CJD Cases on National basis by touch impression method.

COURSE OF RESEARCH A study should also be organised with a view to obtain pathological specimens from all suspected CJD cases for confirmation using the electron microscopic technique. Tissue from other neuropathies and normal cases should also be examined for control and clinically misdiagnosed cases. Parallel neuro-histopathological studies of these cases would be carried out. This relatively simple impression technique therefore will provide a means of rapid diagnosis of CJD with minimal tissue handling and reduced exposure risks.

Since we have transmitted CJD to hamsters from one of our two cases, those which will be positive for nemavirus/SAF by touch method, but will have atypical spongiform encephalopathy or are neuro-histopathologically normal should be confirmed by transmission study.

We would also like to purify specific single-stranded nucleic acid for molecular cloning and sequencing. Further information obtained would confirm the nature of the scrapie agent and also provide additional markers of the disease in the living animals and humans.

19 June 1990


***He just knew too damn much, that's why they 'banned him', locked his laboratory. we are now in the year 2000, and in my opinion, not much better off today, than we were on June 19, 1990 (10 years)???


Terry S. Singeltary, Bacliff, Texas


############ http://mailhost.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de/warc/bse-l.html ############



Wednesday, September 08, 2010


CWD PRION CONGRESS SEPTEMBER 8-11 2010


snip...


PPo3-19:

Detection of CWD Prions in Salivary and Urinary Tissues of Deer: Potential Mechanisms of Pathogenesis and Prion Shedding Nicholas J. Haley,1 Candace K. Mathiason,1 Glenn C. Telling2 and Edward A. Hoover1 1Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology; College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Colorado State University; Fort Collins, Colorado USA; 2Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics; University of Kentucky; Lexington, Kentucky USA


Key words: chronic wasting disease, transmission, PMCA, pathogenesis, excretion, urine, saliva, salivary gland, urinary bladder, kidney, blood


Saliva and urine are thought to play an important role in the transmission and pathogenesis of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in captive and free-ranging cervids. We have previously identified PrPCWD in a variety of excreta using serial PMCA (sPMCA) and bioassay; however the source of infectious prions in urine and saliva has yet to be identified. In the present study, we applied sPMCA to tissues associated with saliva and urine production and excretion in an effort to seek proximal sources of prion shedding. Oropharyngeal and urogenital tissues, along with blood and obex from CWD-exposed cervids (comprising over 300 individual samples) were analyzed blindly in duplicate and scored based on apparent CWD burden. PrPCWD was detected by three rounds of sPMCA in tissues associated with saliva and urine production and excretion, notably salivary gland and urinary bladder; whereas blood samples from the same animals and concurrent negative controls (n = 116 of 117) remained negative. Route of inoculation and CNS burden appeared to play an important role in terminal prion distribution, in that IV-inoculated animals and those with increasing CNS levels of PrPCWD had higher and more widely distributed accumulation in excretory tissues. PMCA identification of PrPCWD in oropharyngeal and urogenital tissues—in the absence of detection by conventional methods—may indicate the presence of protease- sensitive infectious prions in excretory tissues not revealed by assays employing PK digestion or other means to remove PrPC reactivity. Thus, evaluation of peripheral tissues via sPMCA may allow additional insights into prion transmission, trafficking and pathogenesis.


PPo3-26:

Identification of Renal Origin for CWD Urinary Prion Excretion in Deer

Davis M. Seelig,1 Nicholas J. Haley,1 Jan P. Langeveld and Edward A. Hoover1 1Colorado State University; Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology; Fort Collins, CO USA; 2Central Institute for Animal Disease Control (CIDC-Lelystad); Lelystad, The Netherlands

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an efficiently transmitted prion disease of cervids. Although bioassays have confirmed the presence of infectious prions in urine and other body fluids of infected deer, origin and mechanisms of prion transfer to and shedding in excreta remains unknown. To address these questions, we have developed enhanced immunohistochemistry (IHC) methods employing tyramide signal amplification (TSA) on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues of n = 20 CWD-infected white-tailed deer. Using these methods we have demonstrated PrPCWD present granular to clumped aggregates both within the cytoplasm of renal tubule cells and in the interstitium. Cytoplasmic PrPCWD aggregates were detected most commonly in proximal convoluted tubule epithelial cells. PrPCWD was not identified in the lower urinary tract (ureters or bladder) of any CWD-infected animal. In summary, we present evidence for PrPCWD accumulation within the renal tubule cells, which may identify a proximate tissue source and explain the manner by which infectious prions are excreted in the urine of infected deer, thereby leading to the high degree of direct and indirect horizontal transmission of chronic wasting disease.


snip...see more ;


http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2010/09/cwd-prion-2010.html



Sunday, December 06, 2009

Detection of Sub-Clinical CWD Infection in Conventional Test-Negative Deer Long after Oral Exposure to Urine and Feces from CWD+ Deer


http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/12/detection-of-sub-clinical-cwd-infection.html



Friday, May 14, 2010

Prion Strain Mutation Determined by Prion Protein Conformational Compatibility and Primary Structure

Published Online May 13, 2010 Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1187107 Science Express Index


http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2010/05/prion-strain-mutation-determined-by.html



Thursday, June 03, 2010

Prion Strain Mutation and Selection John Collinge MEDICINE


http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2010/06/prion-strain-mutation-and-selection.html



Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Detection of CWD Prions in Urine and Saliva of Deer by Transgenic Mouse Bioassay


http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/03/detection-of-cwd-prions-in-urine-and.html




Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Chronic Wasting Disease: Surveillance Update North America: February 2010

***


>>> In addition, we documented horizontal transmission of CWD from inoculated mice and to un-inoculated cohabitant cage-mates. <<<


http://ajp.amjpathol.org/cgi/content/abstract/ajpath.2010.090710v1


http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2010/02/chronic-wasting-disease-surveillance.html



NOT only muscle, but now fat of CWD infected deer holds infectivity of the TSE (prion) agent. ...TSS



Monday, July 06, 2009


Prion infectivity in fat of deer with Chronic Wasting Disease


http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/07/prion-infectivity-in-fat-of-deer-with.html


2002


Subject: MAD DEER/ELK DISEASE AND POTENTIAL SOURCES Date: Sat, 25 May 2002 18:41:46 -0700 From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."

Reply-To: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

To: BSE-L@uni-karlsruhe.de



now, what about those 'deer scents' of 100% urine', and the prion that is found in urine, why not just pass the prion with the urine to other deer...


Mrs. Doe Pee Doe in Estrus Model FDE1 Mrs. Doe Pee's Doe in Estrus is made from Estrus urine collected at the peak of the rut, blended with Fresh Doe Urine for an extremely effective buck enticer. Use pre-rut before the does come into heat. Use during full rut when bucks are most active. Use during post-rut when bucks are still actively looking for does. 1 oz. www.gamecalls.net/ ELK SCENT/SPRAY BOTTLE * Works anytime of the year * 100 % Cow Elk-in-Heat urine (2oz.) * Economical - mix with water in spray mist bottle * Use wind to your advantage Product Code WP-ESB $9.95 www.elkinc.com/Scent.asp prions in urine? [PDF] A


URINE TEST FOR THE IN-VIVO DIAGNOSIS OF PRION DISEASES

http://www.sigov.si/vurs/PDF/diagnoastika-bse-urin.pdf


http://p079.ezboard.com/fwolftracksproductionsfrm2.showMessage?topicID=54.topic


http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/012403/8004be07.html


tss



CWD/POTENTIAL SOURCE/URINE/HUNTERS ?


Mrs. Doe Pee Doe in Estrus Model FDE1 Mrs. Doe Pee's Doe in Estrus is made from Estrus urinecollected at the peak of the rut, blended with Fresh Doe Urine for anextremely effective buck enticer. Use pre-rut before the does come intoheat. Use during full rut when bucks are most active. Use duringpost-rut when bucks are still actively looking for does. 1 oz. http://www.gamecalls.net/huntingproducts/deerlures.html


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Mrs.+Doe+Pee+Doe+in+Estrus&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=



ELK SCENT/SPRAY BOTTLE Works anytime of the year* 100 % Cow Elk-in-Heat urine (2oz.)* Economical - mix with water in spray mist bottle* Use wind to your advantage Product Code WP-ESB $9.95 http://www.elkinc.com/Scent.asp prions in urine? [PDF]


A URINE TEST FOR THE IN-VIVO DIAGNOSIS OF PRION DISEASES

http://www.sigov.si/vurs/PDF/diagnoastika-bse-urin.pdf



TSS ########### http://mailhost.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de/warc/bse-l.html ############


http://www.michiganwalleye.com/forum/printthread.php?t=23313


http://www.wapiti.net/discussion/showPost.cfm?post=10918


http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/Dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/012403/8004be07.html



Subject: DOCKET-- 03D-0186 -- FDA Issues Draft Guidance on Use of Material From Deer and Elk in Animal Feed; Availability


Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 11:47:37 -0500


From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."


To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov


http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2008/07/docket-03d-0186-fda-issues-draft.html


http://www.buckmasters.com/bm/Community/Forums/tabid/60/forumid/14/postid/10141/view/topic/Default.aspx


Science 14 October 2005:Vol. 310. no. 5746, pp. 324 - 326DOI: 10.1126/science.1118829


Reports Coincident Scrapie Infection and Nephritis Lead to Urinary Prion Excretion


Harald Seeger,1* Mathias Heikenwalder,1* Nicolas Zeller,1 Jan Kranich,1 Petra Schwarz,1 Ariana Gaspert,2 Burkhardt Seifert,3 Gino Miele,1 Adriano Aguzzi1


Prion infectivity is typically restricted to the central nervous and lymphatic systems of infected hosts, but chronic inflammation can expand the distribution of prions. We tested whether chronic inflammatory kidney disorders would trigger excretion of prion infectivity into urine. Urinary proteins from scrapie-infected mice with lymphocytic nephritis induced scrapie upon inoculation into noninfected indicator mice. Prionuria was found in presymptomatic scrapie-infected and in sick mice, whereas neither prionuria nor urinary PrPSc was detectable in prion-infected wild-type or PrPC-overexpressing mice, or in nephritic mice inoculated with noninfectious brain. Thus, urine may provide a vector for horizontal prion transmission, and inflammation of excretory organs may influence prion spread.


snip... SEE FULL TEXT ;


http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2008/04/prion-disease-of-cervids-chronic.html


http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2008/08/excretion-of-transmissible-spongiform.html


CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE BLOG


http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/



Docket APHIS-2010-0056 National Veterinary Services Laboratories; Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Surveillance Program Documents COMMENT SUBMISSION Docket No. APHIS-2010-0056


http://madcowtesting.blogspot.com/2010/09/docket-aphis-2010-0056-national.html



Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting October 28 and 29, 2010 (COMMENT SUBMISSION)


http://tseac.blogspot.com/2010/09/transmissible-spongiform_14.html



Friday, September 24, 2010


USA Blood products, collected from a donor who was at risk for vCJD, were distributed SEPTEMBER 2010


http://vcjdtransfusion.blogspot.com/2010/09/usa-blood-products-collected-from-donor.html


Wednesday, September 08, 2010


Emerging Infectious Diseases: CJD, BSE, SCRAPIE, CWD, PRION, TSE Evaluation to Implementation for Transfusion and Transplantation September 2010


http://vcjdtransfusion.blogspot.com/2010/09/emerging-infectious-diseases-cjd-bse.html



Sunday, April 12, 2009


CWD UPDATE Infection Studies in Two Species of Non-Human Primates and one Environmental reservoir infectivity study and evidence of two strains


snip...


From: TSS (216-119-163-189.ipset45.wt.net)

Subject: CWD aka MAD DEER/ELK TO HUMANS ???

Date: September 30, 2002 at 7:06 am PST

From: "Belay, Ermias"

To:

Cc: "Race, Richard (NIH)" ; ; "Belay, Ermias"

Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 9:22 AM

Subject: RE: TO CDC AND NIH - PUB MED- 3 MORE DEATHS - CWD - YOUNG HUNTERS

Dear Sir/Madam,

In the Archives of Neurology you quoted (the abstract of which was attached to your email), we did not say CWD in humans will present like variant CJD. That assumption would be wrong. I encourage you to read the whole article and call me if you have questions or need more clarification (phone: 404-639-3091). Also, we do not claim that "no-one has ever been infected with prion disease from eating venison." Our conclusion stating that we found no strong evidence of CWD transmission to humans in the article you quoted or in any other forum is limited to the patients we investigated.


Ermias Belay, M.D. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention


-----Original Message-----

From:

Sent: Sunday, September 29, 2002 10:15 AM

To: [log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]

Subject: TO CDC AND NIH - PUB MED- 3 MORE DEATHS - CWD - YOUNG HUNTERS

Sunday, November 10, 2002 6:26 PM ......snip........end..............TSS

snip...

full text ;


http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/02/exotic-meats-usa-announces-urgent.html




Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Noah's Ark Holding, LLC, Dawson, MN RECALL Elk products contain meat derived from an elk confirmed to have CWD NV, CA, TX, CO, NY, UT, FL, OK RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: FOODS CLASS II


http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/03/noahs-ark-holding-llc-dawson-mn-recall.html




see full text ;

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/04/cwd-update-infection-studies-in-two.html





Monday, August 9, 2010

National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center Cases Examined (July 31, 2010)

(please watch and listen to the video and the scientist speaking about atypical BSE and sporadic CJD and listen to Professor Aguzzi)


http://prionunitusaupdate2008.blogspot.com/2010/08/national-prion-disease-pathology.html



URINE IS USED IN MANY PHARMACEUTICALS AND COSMETICS. Premarine is made from horse urine for instance. ...


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

Labels:

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Brisbane hospital workers feared mad cow

Brisbane hospital workers feared mad cow

Suellen Hinde From: The Sunday Mail (Qld) September 11, 2010 8:15PM

BRAIN BUG WORRY: Hospital staff feared exposure to Mad Cow Disease after a patient was admitted suffering the human form CJD.

Source: The Daily Telegraph

HEALTH workers at a Brisbane hospital feared being exposed to mad cow disease after a woman was admitted with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) earlier this month. There has never been a case of ''mad cow'' (or variant CJD) in Australia and it has been ruled out in this case because the woman is not showing typical symptoms.

However, CJD - of which there are three types and all are fatal - is also a notifiable disease, and Queensland Health was only advised of the case on Thursday after The Sunday Mail contacted the private hospital to inquire about the woman's condition.

The woman, in her early 60s, has been a patient at the Holy Spirit Hospital on Brisbane's northside for more than 10 days.

A Queensland Health spokesman said that correct infection protocol would be followed.

The woman returned after only a week holidaying in France with her husband when her condition deteriorated.

Mad cow disease may have killed Aussie Aussie pies in mad cow disease risk .End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. Her husband - a Brisbane solicitor - said he did not believe his wife had contracted the disease while in Europe, because she was showing signs of illness before they departed.

''All evidence is she had it before we left and started to deteriorate while overseas, so we came back,'' the distraught husband said.

CJD is a rare, degenerative disease of the brain. About 25 people die each year in Australia from the condition.

Variant CJD, which emerged in Britain in the 1990s and is known as ''mad cow'' because it has been linked to eating contaminated beef, is easily distinguishable because of its symptoms.

The husband said there had been some ''difficulty'' at the hospital with acquiring tests and information.

CJD is not contagious but some medical procedures performed on people with CJD have resulted in the disease being transmitted to other people.

Stronger federal health guidelines have been established for the use of organ transplants and for the sterilisation of surgical equipment to reduce the risk of CJD acquired through organ donation or through surgical equipment.

Suzanne Solvyns, from the CJD Support Network Group, visited the hospital last week to assist the family.

''I went to the hospital to help provide them with the correct information,'' she said. ''There is a lot of misinformation out there and medics don't know a lot about it.''

Ms Solvyns said CJD patients were often ''badly'' discriminated against.

''People assume that it is mad cow disease but there has never been a case (in Australia),'' she said.

''I did a presentation on CJD to staff - it had to be explained it was transmissible, not contagious.''

A spokeswoman from the Holy Spirit Hospital said the case was ''a private matter''. ''Be assured if any patients had the disease the hospital would take appropriate measures,'' she said.

The hospital declined to discuss the matter further.

hindes@qnp.newsltd.com.au

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/brisbane-hospital-workers-feared-mad-cow/story-e6freon6-1225918681274





REGARDLESS the source of this CJD/TSE in this case, the potential ramifications from this incident is real, and they are the same as if it was a case of nvCJD. Death from friendly fire and or the pass it forward mode of transmissions. There are many proven modes of transmission via iCJD, and all iCJD is, is sporadic CJD until route and source of the TSE agent has been established. The threat is the same. ...TSS



Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee The possible impacts and consequences for public health, trade and agriculture of the Government’s decision to relax import restrictions on beef Final report June 2010

2.65 At its hearing on 14 May 2010, the committee heard evidence from Dr Alan Fahey who has recently submitted a thesis on the clinical neuropsychiatric, epidemiological and diagnostic features of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.48 Dr Fahey told the committee of his concerns regarding the lengthy incubation period for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, the inadequacy of current tests and the limited nature of our current understanding of this group of diseases.49

2.66 Dr Fahey also told the committee that in the last two years a link has been established between forms of atypical CJD and atypical BSE. Dr Fahey said that: They now believe that those atypical BSEs overseas are in fact causing sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. They were not sure if it was due to mad sheep disease or a different form. If you look in the textbooks it looks like this is just arising by itself. But in my research I have a summary of a document which states that there has never been any proof that sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has arisen de novo—has arisen of itself. There is no proof of that. The recent research is that in fact it is due to atypical forms of mad cow disease which have been found across Europe, have been found in America and have been found in Asia. These atypical forms of mad cow disease typically have even longer incubation periods than the classical mad cow disease.50

http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/rrat_ctte/mad_cows/report/report.pdf



Tuesday, July 13, 2010

(SEE BEEF PRODUCTS EXPORTED TO AUSTRALIA FROM USA...TSS)

AUSTRALIAN QUESTIONNAIRE TO ASSESS BSE RISK (OIE) Terrestrial Animal Health Code, 2009 and USA export risk factor for BSE to Australia

http://usdameatexport.blogspot.com/2010/07/australian-questionnaire-to-assess-bse.html



Saturday, August 14, 2010

USA NON-SPECIES CODING SYSTEM (BEEF IMPORT EXPORT BSE RISK THERE FROM)

US denies it's illegally sending beef to Australia ?

Friday, 13/08/2010

http://usdameatexport.blogspot.com/2010/08/usa-non-species-coding-system-beef.html



Saturday, June 19, 2010

U.S. DENIED UPGRADED BSE STATUS FROM OIE

http://usdameatexport.blogspot.com/2010/06/us-denied-upgraded-bse-status-from-oie.html



Sunday, August 15, 2010

ATYPICAL BSE NOW LINKED TO CAUSING SPORADIC CJD OVERSEAS Commonwealth of Australia

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/08/atypical-bse-now-linked-to-causing.html





Surveillance of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Australia: 2010 update

Genevieve M Klug, Alison Boyd, Amelia McGlade, Christiane Stehmann, Colin L Masters, Steven J Collins

Abstract

Surveillance of all human prion diseases in Australia has been the responsibility of the Australian National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Registry (ANCJDR) on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing since the Registry’s inception in October 1993. The ANCJDR was established in response to the identification of 4 CJD deaths in recipients of human-derived pituitary hormone. The initial brief was to perform focused surveillance for any further iatrogenic cases of CJD; however the scope of surveillance was soon expanded to include all cases of CJD occurring in Australia both prospectively and retrospectively to 1970. The activities of the ANCJDR have evolved from: routine surveillance responsibilities to detailed epidemiological analysis at both national and international levels; expert advice in relation to, and management of, infection control issues; and the provision of a number of tests to aid the diagnosis and classification of CJD in suspect cases. In this brief report, surveillance outcomes are examined with the inclusion of figures from the reporting period of 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 and the diagnostic services offered by the ANCJDR are outlined to provide a greater insight into this aspect of the Registry. Commun Dis Intell 2010;34(2):96–101.

Keywords: Australian National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Registry, CJD, human-derived pituitary hormone treatment, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies

snip...

The majority of Australian CJD cases have been classified as sporadic CJD (90.4%), whilst the remainder are familial (8.3%) and iatrogenic (1.3%) cases. Since the last reporting period, 20 new sporadic cases have been classified (16 definite, 4 probable) and 2 definite, familial cases. No cases of vCJD or further cases of iatrogenic cases have been identified. The inclusion of the 22 newly classified cases has not markedly altered the median illness duration or age at death of the 3 CJD aetiologies compared with previous reports. The median age at death occurs at 67 years in sporadic cases (males 66 years, females 67 years), 59 years in familial cases (males 51 years, females 62 years) and 42 years in iatrogenic cases (males 46.5 years, females 39 years). The median duration of illness is 4 months in sporadic cases (males 3 months, females 4 months), 6 months for familial cases (males 4.5 months, females 8 months) and 6.5 months for iatrogenic cases (males 2.5 months, females 9.5 months). Only 8% of all definite and probable CJD deaths occur under the age of 50 years and a third of these are attributable to iatrogenic or genetic CJD. The remaining cases have been investigated closely for the possibility of all forms of CJD including vCJD and after detailed follow-up, have been classified as sporadic cases.

Table 3: Referrals to the Australian National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Registry for diagnostic testing 2000 to 31 March 2010*

Year Brain tissue for immunohistochemical analysis† Brain biopsy Tonsil biopsy Autopsy tissue‡ (Total annual CJD autopsies performed in Australia) Genetic testing§ CSF testing Total

2000 1 1 8 (34) 13 187 210

2001 4 3 19 (27) 27 209 262

2002 9 15 (26) 9 226 259

2003 2 1 14 (25) 6 237 260

2004 1 16 (22) 13 268 298

2005 1 1 21 (32) 22 276 321

2006 3 2 1 29 (36) 17 260 312

2007 1 1 2 28 (39) 13 349 394

2008 3 1 19 (39) 21 332 376

2009 1 1 28 (28) 14 335 379

2010 1 1 1 2 (8) 10 89 104

Total 24 12 7 199 (317) 165 2,768 3,175

* Referrals only. Numbers do not reflect the number of tested samples for the genetic and cerebrospinal fluid testing groups.

† Includes referrals of paraffin blocks and slide sets.

‡ Includes samples referred to the Australian National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Registry annually.

§ Includes all referrals for PRNP testing and/or Codon 129 testing.

snip...end...TSS



Thursday, August 05, 2010

Surveillance of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Australia: 2010 update

http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/08/surveillance-of-creutzfeldt-jakob.html


Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Emerging Infectious Diseases: CJD, BSE, SCRAPIE, CWD, PRION, TSE Evaluation to Implementation for Transfusion and Transplantation September 2010

http://vcjdtransfusion.blogspot.com/2010/09/emerging-infectious-diseases-cjd-bse.html



Friday, August 13, 2010

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) biannual update 13 August 2010 UK Iatrogenic CJD Incidents Report

http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/08/creutzfeldt-jakob-disease-cjd-biannual.html



Thursday, August 12, 2010

USA Blood products, collected from a donor who was at risk for vCJD, were distributed July-August 2010

http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/08/usa-blood-products-collected-from-donor.html



Saturday, July 17, 2010

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Ironside JW., Haemophilia. 2010 Jul;16 Suppl 5:175-80

REVIEW ARTICLE

http://vcjdtransfusion.blogspot.com/2010/07/variant-creutzfeldtjakob-disease.html



Thursday, July 08, 2010

Nosocomial transmission of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: results from a risk-based assessment of surgical interventions Public release date: 8-Jul-2010

http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/07/nosocomial-transmission-of-sporadic.html



Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Agents: Safe Working and the Prevention of Infection: Part 4 REVISED FEB. 2010

http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/03/transmissible-spongiform-encephalopathy.html



Thursday, January 28, 2010

Multiorgan Detection and Characterization of Protease-Resistant Prion Protein in a Case of Variant CJD Examined in the United States

http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/01/multiorgan-detection-and.html



Tuesday, March 16, 2010

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Hansard Import restrictions on beef FRIDAY, 5 FEBRUARY 2010 AUSTRALIA

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

Proof Committee Hansard

RRA&T 2 Senate Friday, 5 February 2010

RURAL AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS AND TRANSPORT

[9.03 am]

BELLINGER, Mr Brad, Chairman, Australian Beef Association

CARTER, Mr John Edward, Director, Australian Beef Association

CHAIR—Welcome. Would you like to make an opening statement?

Mr Bellinger—Thank you. The ABA stands by its submission, which we made on 14 December last year, that the decision made by the government to allow the importation of beef from BSE affected countries is politically based, not science based. During this hearing we will bring forward compelling new evidence to back up this statement. When I returned to my property after the December hearing I received a note from an American citizen. I will read a small excerpt from the mail he sent me in order to reinforce the dangers of allowing the importation of beef from BSE affected countries. I have done a number of press releases on this topic, and this fellow has obviously picked my details up from the internet. His name is Terry Singeltary and he is from Bacliff, Texas. He states, and rightfully so:

You should be worried. Please let me explain. I’ve kept up with the mad cow saga for 12 years today, on December 14th 1997, some four months post voluntary and partial mad cow feed ban in the USA, I lost my mother to the Heidenhain variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). I know this is just another phenotype of the infamous sporadic CJDs. Here in the USA, when USA sheep scrapie was transmitted to USA bovine, the agent was not UK BSE—it was a different strain. So why then would human TSE from USA cattle look like UK CJD from UK BSE? It would not. So this accentuates that the science is inconclusive still on this devastating disease. He goes on to state:

The OIE— the International Organisation of Epizootics, the arm of the WTO— is a failed global agent that in my opinion is bought off via bogus regulations for global trade and industry reps. I have done this all these years for nothing but the truth. I am a consumer, I eat meat, but I do not have to sit idly by and see the ignorance and greed of it all while countless numbers of humans and animals are being exposed to the TSE agents. All the USA is interested in is trade, nothing else matters.

Even Dr Stanley Prusiner, who incidentally won the Nobel Health Prize in 1997 for his work on the prion—he invented the word ‘prion’, or it came from him—states:

The BSC policy was set up for one purpose only, trade—the illegal trading of all strains of TSE globally throughout North America, which is home to CBSC, IBSC and HBSC, many scrapie strains and two strains of CJD to date. (please note typo error, those should have read cBSE, lBSE, and hBSE...tss)

I would also like, while I have the opportunity, to explain the beef-off-the-shelves myth. At the first Senate hearing on 14 December, it was explained that the reason why they allowed BSC beef into Australia was the beef-off-the-shelves policy, whereby if we found a case of BSC in Australia they would have to recall all—

Friday, 5 February 2010 Senate RRA&T 3

RURAL AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS AND TRANSPORT

Senator HEFFERNAN—Which of course is total BS.

Mr Bellinger—Correct. This is written in the FSANZ document—Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Why isn’t this same policy in New Zealand? It is not—it is only in Australia. We are the only country in the world to have this idiotic policy. So we again call for the tabling of the WTO obligations paperwork. We do not believe that exists.

snip...see full text 110 pages ;

http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/S12742.pdf


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.

http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1000156



http://www.plospathogens.org/article/fetchObjectAttachment.action?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1000156&representation=PDF



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)

http://prionpathy.blogspot.com/2010/08/bse-case-associated-with-prion-protein.html



Wednesday, July 28, 2010

re-Freedom of Information Act Project Number 3625-32000-086-05, Study of Atypical BSE UPDATE July 28, 2010

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/07/re-freedom-of-information-act-project.html



Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy: A new sporadic disease of the prion protein

http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/08/variably-protease-sensitive-prionopathy.html



Monday, August 9, 2010

Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy: A new sporadic disease of the prion protein or just more PRIONBALONEY ?

http://prionunitusaupdate2008.blogspot.com/2010/08/variably-protease-sensitive-prionopathy.html



Thursday, August 12, 2010

Seven main threats for the future linked to prions

http://prionpathy.blogspot.com/2010/08/seven-main-threats-for-future-linked-to.html


http://prionpathy.blogspot.com/


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

Labels: , , ,

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Agent strain variation in human prion disease: insights from a molecular and pathological review of the National Institutes of Health series of experi

Agent strain variation in human prion disease: insights from a molecular and pathological review of the National Institutes of Health series of experimentally transmitted disease

Piero Parchi1, Maura Cescatti1, Silvio Notari1, Walter J. Schulz-Schaeffer2, Sabina Capellari1, Armin Giese3, Wen-Quan Zou4, Hans Kretzschmar3, Bernardino Ghetti5 and Paul Brown6 + Author Affiliations 1 Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche, Università di Bologna, 40123 Bologna, Italy 2 Prion and Dementia Research Unit, Department of Neuropathology, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany 3 Zentrum für Neuropathologie und Prionforschung, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, D-81377 München, Germany 4 Institute of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 4410, USA 5 Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA 6 CEA/DSV/iMETI/SEPIA, 18, Route du Panorama, BP6, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France Piero Parchi, Department of Neurological Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Foscolo 7, 40123, Bologna, Italy E-mail: piero.parchi@unibo.it

Received March 30, 2010.

Revision received June 11, 2010.

Accepted June 23, 2010.

Summary

Six clinico-pathological phenotypes of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease have been characterized which correlate at the molecular level with the type (1 or 2) of the abnormal prion protein, PrPTSE, present in the brain and with the genotype of polymorphic (methionine or valine) codon 129 of the prion protein gene. However, to what extent these phenotypes with their corresponding molecular combinations (i.e. MM1, MM2, VV1 etc.) encipher distinct prion strains upon transmission remains uncertain. We studied the PrPTSE type and the prion protein gene in archival brain tissues from the National Institutes of Health series of transmitted Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease and kuru cases, and characterized the molecular and pathological phenotype in the affected non-human primates, including squirrel, spider, capuchin and African green monkeys. We found that the transmission properties of prions from the common sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease MM1 phenotype are homogeneous and significantly differ from those of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease VV2 or MV2 prions. Animals injected with iatrogenic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease MM1 and genetic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease MM1 linked to the E200K mutation showed the same phenotypic features as those infected with sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease MM1 prions, whereas kuru most closely resembled the sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease VV2 or MV2 prion signature and neuropathology. The findings indicate that two distinct prion strains are linked to the three most common Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease clinico-pathological and molecular subtypes and kuru, and suggest that kuru may have originated from cannibalistic transmission of a sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease of the VV2 or MV2 subtype.

Key words prion diseases neuropathology neurodegenerative disorders phenotype strain typing

Abbreviations CJD Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease NIH National Institutes of Health TSEs transmissible spongiform encephalopathies

© The Author (2010). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved.


For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org



http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/09/07/brain.awq234




PPo4-1:

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in the United States 2003–2007


Robert C. Holman,1 Ermias D. Belay,1 Ryan A. Maddox,1 Arianne M. Folkema,1 Arialdi M. Minino,2 Teresa A. Hammett,1 James J. Sejvar,1 Kenneth D. Kochanek2 and Lawrence B. Schonberger1 1National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Atlanta, GA; 2National Center for Health Statistics; CDC; Hyattsville, MD USA


Key words: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, United States, epidemiology, mortality


Background. Prion diseases are a family of rare progressive neurodegenerative disorders that affect humans and animals. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), the most common human prion disease, occurs worldwide at approximately 1 case per million persons.


Objectives. To describe the recent occurrence of CJD in the United States.


Results. During 2003 through 2007, an average of 297 deaths with CJD was reported annually in the United States, ranging from 282 in 2004 to 331 in 2007. The average annual age-adjusted incidence for CJD was 0.97 per million persons (95% CI = 0.92–1.0). The average annual incidence for persons <55>55 years of age was 0.2 and 3.8, respectively. The highest rate was among persons 70–79 years of age (5.6). The median age of death was 66 years. Three decedents were reported with variant CJD; evidence indicated that infections were acquired outside of the United States.


Conclusion. The annual CJD incidence rate remained at approximately 1 case per million persons during 2003 through 2007, with the rate much higher in older ages. The monitoring of the occurrence of CJD using the literal text on US death certificates is an important surveillance tool that aids in detecting occurrences of CJD and other novel prion diseases. Methods. Analysis of CJD-related death records for US residents during 2003 through 2007 identified through both multiple cause-of-death data and literal text death certificate searches, along with other surveillance mechanisms.




PPo4-7:


Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Among Blacks in the United States, 1994–2007


Ryan A. Maddox,1 Robert C. Holman,1 Arianne M. Folkema,1 Pierluigi Gambetti,2 Wen-Quan Zou,2 Arialdi M. Minino,3 Lawrence B. Schonberger1 and Ermias D. Belay1 1National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Atlanta, GA; 2Department of Pathology; National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center; Case western Reserve University; Cleveland, OH USA; 3National Center for Health Statistics; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Hyattsville, MD USA


Key words: CJD, epidemiology


Introduction. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) incidence is significantly lower in blacks compared to whites in the United States. The reason for this racial discrepancy is unknown. Investigation of CJD cases among black persons could provide insight into the occurrence of human prion diseases.


Results. During 1994–2007, 150 of 3,904 (3.8%) CJD decedents identified in the United States were classified as black; the average annual age-adjusted incidence for this population was 0.41 per million persons. Black males were not at significantly higher risk compared to females (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.7–1.4), in contrast with the risk of white males compared to females (RR 1.2, 95% CI 1.2–1.3). Although a higher percentage of black CJD decedents were <55 years of age compared to whites (19.3% vs. 12.7%, respectively), the relative risks of black and white CJD decedents being <55 years of age were similar. Clinical information was available for 13 of the 29 (45%) young black CJD cases; the median illness duration of these cases was 6 months (range 1–33 months), and most (76.9%) had neuropathologic confirmation.


Methods. Decedents with CJD were identified from the US national multiple cause-of-death data and other sources. When available, relevant portions of medical records and results from neuropathologic and genetic testing for black decedents <55 years of age were reviewed.

Conclusions. The differences between black and white CJD decedents warrant further investigation. Neuropathologic confirmation and genetic analyses of suspected CJD cases among black persons are especially important because of the rarity of the disease in this population.


SP1-4:


Evidence from Molecular Strain Typing


Gianluigi Zanusso Department of Neurological and Visual Sciences; Section of Clinical Neurology; University of Verona; Verona, Italy


Key words: molecular analysis, strain typing, atypical BSE, CJD


In 2001, active surveillance for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) led to the discovery of atypical BSE phenotypes in aged cattle distinct from classical BSE (C-type). These atypical BSE cases had been classified as low L-type (BASE) or high H-type BSE based on the molecular mass and the degree of glycosylation of of the pathological prion protein (PrPSc). Transmission studies in TgBov mice showed that H-type BSE, C-type BSE and BASE behave as distinct prion strains with different incubation periods, PrPSc molecular patterns and pathological phenotypes. A still unclear issue concerns the potential transmissibility and phenotypes of atypical BSEs in humans. We previously indicated that BASE was similar to a distinct subgroup of sporadic form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) MV2, based on molecular similarities and on neuropathological pattern of PrP deposition. To investigate a possible link between BASE and sCJD, Kong et al. and Comoy et al. experimentally inoculated TgHu mice (129MM) and a non-human primate respectively, showing in both models that BASE was more virulent compare to BSE. Further, non-human primate reproduced a clinical phenotype resembling to that of sCJD subtype MM2. Here, we presented a comparative analysis of the biochemical fingerprints of PrPSc between the different sCJD subtypes and animal TSEs and after experimental transmission to animals.



PPo5-26:


A Typical Neuropathological sCJD Phenotype with Abundant Cerebral Kuru-type Plaques Sparing the Cerebellar Cortex


Ellen Gelpi,1 Josep Ma Soler Insa,2 Elena Martínez- Saez,3 Jordi Yagüe,4 Carlos Nos,7 Raquel Sanchez-Valle4,5 and Isidro Ferrer6 1Neurological Tissue Bank; University of Barcelona; 2Neurology Department; Hospital St. Joan de Deu, Manresa; 3Vall d’Hebron Research Institute and Pathology Department; 4CJD-Unit; 5Alzheimer disease and other cognitive disorders Unit; Department of Neurology; Hospital Clínic; 6Institut de Neuropatologia; Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge; 7General Subdirectorate of Surveillance and Response to Emergencies in Public Health; Department of Public Health in Catalonia; Barcelona, Spain


We describe an atypical neuropatholgical phenotype of a sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) case. A 64-year-old man presented, 5 months before death, rapidly progressive behavioural disturbances, memory complaints, disorientation, and language alterations. No cerebellar signs were present. MRI showed diffuse atrophy and hyperintensities in parietal, occipital, temporal, and frontal cortices and left caudate nucleus in T2 and FLAIR. No periodic sharp wave complexes were observed in the EEG. A repeated 14-3-3 assay was positive after a first negative result performed 3 weeks before. Neuropathology showed classical CJD changes affecting all cerebral lobes and basal ganglia with small cortical foci of large confluent vacuoles. Cerebellar cortex was relatively well preserved. The most striking feature was the presence of abundant Kuru-type plaques in the cerebral cortex and white matter, and only isolated in cerebellar white matter sparing cerebellar cortex. Immunohistochemistry showed, in addition to unicentric plaques, diffuse synaptic and patchy perivacuolar, as well as plaque-like and periaxonal PrPres deposits. Western blot studies demonstrated PrPres type 2 in frontal cortex and very weak signal in cerebellum. No PRNP mutations were detected, and codon 129 showed methionine homozygosity. This case can not be classified according to the current sCJD classification (Parchi et al. 2009) as it shares histopathological features of both, the mixed MM1/2 and MV2K + 2C subtypes. In contrast, the patient presented clinically as classical MM1 sCJD. This case highlights the complexity of the phenotypic and isotype correlations. It would be of great interest to collect atypical cases to elucidate further mechanisms modulating phenotypic manifestations.



PPo5-29:


Neuropathological and Biochemical Characterization of Unusual Cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in Young, Prnp 129 mm Subjects


Fabio Moda,1 Giorgio Giaccone,1 Giuseppe Di Fede,1 Alessandro Terruzzi,2 Silvia Suardi1 and Fabrizio Tagliavini1 1Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta; Milano, Italy; 2Policlinico S. Marco; Bergamo, Italy


Key words: sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, immunohistochemistry, prion disease, prion protein, PRNP, PrP types


Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) is the most common prion disease of humans with the greatest incidence between 60 and 70 years of age. Different polymorphisms (Methionine/Valine) at codon 129 of PRNP gene and PrPSc type are associated with different disease phenotypes. Approximately 95% of the sporadic 129MM CJD patients have PrPSc type 1 (Parchi classification). Young patients with sCJD are extremely rare, and most of them are 129VV with type 1 PrPSc deposition in the brain. We observed two young patients with CJD (age at death 25 and 34 years) who had not the characteristics of variant CJD neither an history of risk factors for iatrogenic transmission. Both were MM at codon 129, without mutation of the PRNP gene. The clinical course was rather long (26 and 28 months), dominated by behavioral disturbances in the early stage and remarkable for the absence of hallmarks of CJD at CSF analysis, MRI and EEG. These two atypical CJD patients were subjected to biochemical and immunohistochemical analysis. Preliminary results evidenced: (i) presence of type 2A PrPSc with the immunohistochemical counterpart of diffuse, finely granular, synaptic pattern of staining, without any focal perivacuolar PrP deposition; (ii) sparing of basal ganglia and cerebellum; (iii) absence of reactivity with a monoclonal antibody (12B2) specific for type 1 PrPSc. These findings may contribute to clarify the relationship between type of PrPSc, patterns and entity of PrP deposition, distribution and severity of the neuropathological changes and their role in the pathogenesis of prion diseases.



http://www.prion2010.org/bilder/prion_2010_program_latest_w_posters_4_.pdf?139&PHPSESSID=a30a38202cfec579000b77af81be3099



Tuesday, August 03, 2010


Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy: A new sporadic disease of the prion protein


http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/08/variably-protease-sensitive-prionopathy.html



Monday, August 9, 2010


Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy: A new sporadic disease of the prion protein or just more PRIONBALONEY ?


http://prionunitusaupdate2008.blogspot.com/2010/08/variably-protease-sensitive-prionopathy.html



Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee The possible impacts and consequences for public health, trade and agriculture of the Government's decision to relax import restrictions on beef Final report June 2010


2.65 At its hearing on 14 May 2010, the committee heard evidence from Dr Alan Fahey who has recently submitted a thesis on the clinical neuropsychiatric, epidemiological and diagnostic features of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.48 Dr Fahey told the committee of his concerns regarding the lengthy incubation period for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, the inadequacy of current tests and the limited nature of our current understanding of this group of diseases.49


2.66 Dr Fahey also told the committee that in the last two years a link has been established between forms of atypical CJD and atypical BSE. Dr Fahey said that: They now believe that those atypical BSEs overseas are in fact causing sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. They were not sure if it was due to mad sheep disease or a different form. If you look in the textbooks it looks like this is just arising by itself. But in my research I have a summary of a document which states that there has never been any proof that sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has arisen de novo-has arisen of itself. There is no proof of that. The recent research is that in fact it is due to atypical forms of mad cow disease which have been found across Europe, have been found in America and have been found in Asia. These atypical forms of mad cow disease typically have even longer incubation periods than the classical mad cow disease.50


http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/rrat_ctte/mad_cows/report/report.pdf



U.S.A. HIDING MAD COW DISEASE VICTIMS AS SPORADIC CJD ? see video at bottom


http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2009/07/usa-hiding-mad-cow-disease-victims-as.html



Sunday, September 6, 2009


MAD COW USA 1997 SECRET VIDEO



http://madcowusda.blogspot.com/2009/09/mad-cow-usa-1997-video.html


Wednesday, June 16, 2010



Defining sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease strains and their transmission properties


http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/06/defining-sporadic-creutzfeldt-jakob.html



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.



http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1000156


http://www.plospathogens.org/article/fetchObjectAttachment.action?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1000156&representation=PDF



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)


http://prionpathy.blogspot.com/2010/08/bse-case-associated-with-prion-protein.html


g-h-BSE-alabama E211K mad cows USA how many potential mad cows would that be annually ???


if our ciphering is correct (?), that would be about 35 potential g-h-BSE-alabama E211K mad cows going into the food chain a year.

an incidence of less than 1 in 2000.

let's see, that's 500 such per million.

or 50,000 cows per 100 million (US herd size).

even at less than 1 in a million, with 35 million slaughtered, that's 35 infected cows going into the food chain each year.

hmmm, friendly fire there from ???



Wednesday, July 28, 2010

re-Freedom of Information Act Project Number 3625-32000-086-05, Study of Atypical BSE UPDATE July 28, 2010


http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/07/re-freedom-of-information-act-project.html




Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Heterozygosity at Polymorphic Codon 219 in Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Vol. 67 No. 8, August 2010


http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/08/heterozygosity-at-polymorphic-codon-219.html




Saturday, January 2, 2010

Human Prion Diseases in the United States January 1, 2010 ***FINAL***


http://prionunitusaupdate2008.blogspot.com/2010/01/human-prion-diseases-in-united-states.html




my comments to PLosone here ;

01 Jan 2010 at 18:11 GMT

re-Human Prion Diseases in the United States


http://www.plosone.org/annotation/listThread.action?inReplyTo=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fannotation%2F04ce2b24-613d-46e6-9802-4131e2bfa6fd&root=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fannotation%2F04ce2b24-613d-46e6-9802-4131e2bfa6fd




Title: HUMAN and ANIMAL TSE Classifications i.e. mad cow disease and the UKBSEnvCJD only theory


http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer?objectId=090000648027c28e&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf




http://cjdusa.blogspot.com/2009/06/monitoring-occurrence-of-emerging-forms.html





Saturday, June 13, 2009

Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United States 2003 revisited 2009


http://cjdusa.blogspot.com/2009/06/monitoring-occurrence-of-emerging-forms.html




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/Downloads/14th_ICID_ISE_Abstracts.pdf




Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Atypical BSE in Cattle


http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/03/atypical-bse-in-cattle-position-post.html




Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Incidence of CJD Deaths Reported by CJD-SS in Canada as of July 31, 2010


http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/08/incidence-of-cjd-deaths-reported-by-cjd.html




Monday, August 9, 2010

National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center Cases Examined (July 31, 2010)

(please watch and listen to the video and the scientist speaking about atypical BSE and sporadic CJD and listen to Professor Aguzzi)


http://prionunitusaupdate2008.blogspot.com/2010/08/national-prion-disease-pathology.html




Thursday, August 12, 2010

USA Blood products, collected from a donor who was at risk for vCJD, were distributed July-August 2010


http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/08/usa-blood-products-collected-from-donor.html




Thursday, July 08, 2010

GLOBAL CLUSTERS OF CREUTZFELDT JAKOB DISEASE - A REVIEW 2010


http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/07/global-clusters-of-creutzfeldt-jakob.html




Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Emerging Infectious Diseases: CJD, BSE, SCRAPIE, CWD, PRION, TSE Evaluation to Implementation for Transfusion and Transplantation September 2010


http://vcjdtransfusion.blogspot.com/2010/09/emerging-infectious-diseases-cjd-bse.html




NIH may destroy human brain collection

By Steve Mitchell Medical Correspondent

Washington, DC, Mar. 24 (UPI) -- The National Institutes of Health may discard part or all of a rare collection that includes hundreds of human brain samples from patients that suffered from a disorder similar to mad cow disease -- unless another researcher or institution takes them on, United Press International has learned.

Several scientists said the collection, which is held by the NIH's National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Md. -- and includes brains and other tissue samples from people afflicted with the brain-wasting illness Creutzfeldt Jakob disease -- is irreplaceable and could even provide insight into treatments for the fatal disorder. Currently, there is no cure for CJD and patients typically die within a year after symptoms begin.

However, NIH officials in control of the collection's fate told UPI the remaining samples are of little scientific value and may be disposed of if researchers outside the agency do not claim it. That position stands in sharp contrast with CJD experts who thought the collection should be preserved.

"It's invaluable," said Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director of the NIH's Laboratory for Central Nervous System Studies, whose expertise is in CJD and mad cow disease (also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE).

The collection is badly in need of organization and no one is certain how many brains or other tissue samples it contains, said Brown, who worked with the collection since its inception in the 1960's until his retirement last year. There could be brains, blood, spinal fluid and various other tissues from 1,000 people or more, he said. Some of the specimens would be of scientific use today, he said.

"This collection has the unique value of stretching back to the beginning of when these diseases were discovered," Brown told UPI, noting that the first samples were obtained in 1963. "It would be as though you had in your hands the possibility of finding out when AIDS started."

Bruce Johnson, a former technician at the CNSS lab who worked extensively with the collection before he retired in 2003, told UPI he was told "in two years they (NIH officials)are going to destroy it, if nobody wants it."

Eugene Major, acting director of the basic neuroscience program at the NIH, said no specific timeframe had been established.

"We have not set a firm deadline date," Major told UPI. "We are working very hard with investigators that we know in order to be able to make sure that whatever we deem is valuable is potentially kept here." Some samples already have been determined not to have any research value and have been "removed and disposed of," he said.

Others samples have been given out to Dr. David Asher at the Food and Drug Administration and Pierluigi Gambetti at the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Major maintained the remaining collection was not particularly valuable for research. "Whatever had been collected here that has not already been distributed to responsible investigators who could use them really has very little remaining value," he said.

Neither Asher nor Gambetti returned phone calls from UPI, but Brown said he thought Asher had received only a dozen or two samples at most and Gambetti had not received much at all.

Neil Cashman, a brain-disease researcher at the University of Toronto's Center for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases -- who has tried to obtain the collection from the NIH -- said it was priceless.

"It would be like destroying an art museum," Cashman told UPI. "There's all this information and insight that's locked up in these tissues and if it's destroyed it will be lost forever."

The Memorial Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases Inc., a non-profit organization consisting of more than 40 university and institute researchers from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and France, also thinks the brain collection is invaluable.

"It is the opinion of the Board of Directors ... of The MIND Inc., that the ... brain bank should not be broken up nor destroyed," said Harry E. Peery, MIND's executive director, in a letter to UPI. "We believe that this collection is of inestimable research value and should be kept intact."

The institute, at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, applied for possession of the collection in early 2004, but received a letter from the NINDS indicating the fate of the collection had not yet been determined.

"We have heard nothing further since that time" and continue to be interested in acquiring the complete collection, Peery said.

CJD belongs to a group of rare, brain-wasting disorders that are little understood, incurable and fatal. This includes mad cow disease in cows, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk. The most infamous of these illnesses in humans is variant CJD, which people can contract from eating beef products infected with the mad-cow pathogen.

Although vCJD has infected more than 154 people worldwide, only one case has ever been detected in the United States -- in a Florida woman who is thought to have contracted the disease while living in the United Kingdom. However, the NIH brain samples have never been screened for vCJD -- something Johnson thinks is critically important.

"No one has ever looked to see if any American (in the collection) in the past had variant CJD," Johnson said. "You think it would be required that they do that. You think it would be a Congressional mandate that they test these brains: 'Let's see if we've got this disease in our country.'"

Johnson noted at least one brain in the collection he personally had examined -- from a French woman collected in 1971 -- showed evidence of possible vCJD infection, but the sample needed further study to be sure.

Other samples in the collection include the brains of patients who were only 16 years old when they were diagnosed with CJD. This would be unusual for sporadic CJD, because generally it strikes those over age 60. Variant CJD, on the other hand, typically occurs in patients in their 20s or younger.

"I thought it was absolutely vital (to test these brains)," Johnson said. "Maybe there's a dozen cases in there of variant CJD."

Major disagreed. "There's really no reason to do that," he said. "The effort it would take to screen those samples ... would not give us any new insights into variant CJD beyond what it is we already know."

Johnson said he was frustrated with the NIH administration's lack of interest in preserving the collection or testing for vCJD. "They don't understand," he said, "they honest-to-god don't understand what it's all about."

Patient advocates also objected to the possible destruction of the brains.

Terry Singeltary, whose mother died of a type of CJD called Heidenhain variant in 1997, said he is outraged and families of other CJD victims probably will be, too.

"A lot of these families went through a lot of heartache and a lot of trouble to get these brain samples to the NIH," Singeltary told UPI. "Now they're just going to discard them because they're not of scientific use? That's just asinine. That stuff is valuable information."

Graham Steel, vice-chair of the Human BSE Foundation in the United Kingdom, told UPI, "The potential loss of such important tissue samples would be a massive blow for TSE (the group of diseases that includes CJD and BSE) research in the United States. This should not be allowed to happen."

Singeltary noted there currently is no cure for these diseases. "If you don't have any answers yet, why would you throw these specimens away?" he asked.

He added that more sensitive tests are just becoming available and could help determine the origin of some of the CJD cases. "We've all been sitting around waiting for more sensitive tests to get validated because we want answers," he said.

"You know, it must be an embarrassment," Johnson said. "Some Senator is going to eventually say 'What is NIH doing about mad cow disease?' And people are going to scratch their heads and say 'not much'." He added, "What's going to happen (is) one of these senators or their wife is going to develop spontaneous CJD one day and ... there's going to be hell raised and they're going to ask, 'Why isn't NIH working on this?'"

--



http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050323-053919-8481r.htm



http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-8492054_ITM




http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f?p=2400:1202:9557296506089968094::NO::F2400_P1202_CHECK_DISPLAY,F2400_P1202_PUB_MAIL_ID:X,28585





SCIENCE NEWS

Groups seek to save NIH brain collection

Published: April 1, 2005 at 4:48 PM By STEVE MITCHELL, Medical Correspondent

WASHINGTON, April 1 (UPI) -- Scientists, consumer groups and patient-advocates have embarked upon efforts -- including petitioning members of Congress and seeking storage space at a Canadian university -- to prevent the National Institutes of Health from destroying an irreplaceable collection of human brains from patients afflicted with a condition similar to mad cow disease.

As United Press International reported last week, the NIH has begun shopping for a new home for its collection of brains, spinal fluid and other tissues from hundreds of patients around the world who died from Creutzfeldt Jakob disease -- an incurable, fatal, brain-wasting illness. The collection dates back to 1963 and the consensus among scientists in this field is it is invaluable for research and could provide insights that might aid in developing diagnostic tests, treatments or cures for CJD.

NIH officials, however, maintain the remaining samples in the collection -- stored in some 30 freezers by the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Md. -- are of little value and may be disposed of if researchers or institutions do not come forward to claim them.

Families of patients who died of CJD have reacted with outrage, concerned that the effort mounted to collect the brains in the first place has been all for naught. Several have contacted their respective members of Congress and urged them to step in.

"The brains and brain tissue were sent to NIH in good faith for future research and destroying them is an outrage," Terry Singeltary, a patient advocate in Bacliff, Texas, wrote in a letter to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, and several other members of the state's congressional delegation. Singeltary's mother died of a type of CJD called Heidenhain variant in 1997.

Hutchinson's office did not return a call from UPI.

Eugene Major, who serves as acting director of the NINDS and is responsible for the fate of the brain collection, did not return a call from UPI.

"The patients these brains were taken from suffered greatly before they died of CJD," Heather Larson of Phoenix, whose mother succumbed to CJD last year at the age of 56, wrote in a letter to Arizona Republican Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, and Republican Rep. John Shadegg. "Their brains hold answers that can save human lives. Destroying the brains at Bethesda would greatly hinder the research being done to fight this disease and would cost many their lives."

The offices of McCain and Kyl did not return UPI's calls.

"The ravages of this disease, and the toll it takes not only on its victims but on family and loved ones, cannot easily be described to someone who has not witnessed it personally," Patty Cook of Kansas City, Kan., wrote in a letter to Kansas Republican Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts, and Democratic Rep. Dennis Moore.

"I urge you to do whatever you can to ensure these brains are not destroyed," added Cook, whose mother died of CJD in 1982.

Brownback's office did not return a call from UPI.

CJD belongs to a group of diseases -- called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or TSEs -- that includes mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, scrapie in sheep and several types of CJD in humans. There is no cure for CJD and it typically results in death within a year after the onset of symptoms.

Consumer groups also are concerned and are considering taking steps to ensure the brain collection will be preserved.

"This is outrageous," Michael Hansen, a biologist and senior research associate with Consumers Union in Yonkers, N.Y., told UPI. "Those brains are a critical resource for CJD science and they must be at a research facility."

Hansen added that his late friend, Joe Gibbs, the former chief of NINDS's Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies, told him the brain of famed choreographer George Balanchine, who died of CJD in 1983, resides in the collection.

"How can we claim to be a scientific country if we're going to be throwing away an irreplaceable repository of the first evidence of these diseases?" asked Felicia Nestor, who serves as a consultant to Public Citizen.

There may be hope yet for the collection, however.

Neil Cashman, an expert on TSEs at the University of Toronto's Center for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, told UPI he has been attempting to drum up support for acquiring the collection with his colleagues at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver -- where he plans to move this summer.

"I'm trying to organize support for an official letter from UBC to NIH to request the collection," Cashman said.

The letter will probably go out in about a month, he said.

"The goal would be to make it a resource for the world and make the tissues available to scientists who had a reasonable request," he added.

Singeltary said he has heard from at least one other prominent scientist in this field who said they planned to contact the NIH and urge it to reconsider the fate of the collection.

One brain in the collection, that of a French woman who died in 1971, may help provide clues about the origins of variant CJD -- a condition similar to CJD that humans can contract from eating beef products contaminated with the mad-cow pathogen. The first recognized case of vCJD occurred in 1995 in the United Kingdom, but an NIH scientist said he tested the French woman's brain in 2000 and found signs consistent with vCJD -- not CJD.

French researchers currently are re-examining specimens from the case to determine if the woman was indeed infected with vCJD. If she was, it would suggest the disease began infecting people more than 20 years earlier than previously thought.

Cashman said the case underscores the value of the NIH brain collection.

"There is information locked up in these freezers that will be lost forever if this collection is destroyed," he said.

--

E-mail: sciencemail@upi.com

© 2005 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2005/04/01/Groups-seek-to-save-NIH-brain-collection/UPI-72961112392131/




NIH sends mixed signals on CJD brains

By Steve Mitchell Medical Correspondent

Washington, DC, Apr. 7 (UPI) -- A National Institutes of Health official who told United Press International the agency might destroy its collection of brains from human patients afflicted with a condition similar to mad cow disease reportedly has told the head of a patient-advocate group the collection would be preserved.

The official, Eugene Major, acting director of the basic neuroscience program at the NIH, has not responded to e-mail or a phone call from UPI seeking clarification of his remarks, and the official status of the collection remains unknown.

As reported by UPI on March 24, the collection is stored in freezers by the NIH's National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Md. It contains brains and other tissue samples from hundreds of people who died from the brain-wasting illness Creutzfeldt Jakob disease, as well as tissues from an untold number of experimental animals.

The consensus of scientists in this field is the collection, which dates back to 1963, is invaluable for research and could even provide insight into treatments for the fatal disorder. Currently, there is no cure for CJD and patients typically die within a year after symptoms begin.

Florence Kranitz, president of the non-profit advocacy group CJD Foundation, told UPI she had "a very long conversation" with Major, in which he told her the remaining tissues in the collection would not be destroyed.

"He reassured me in no uncertain terms," Kranitz said, noting constituents of the foundation and other CJD advocacy groups had been expressing concerns to her the tissues would be destroyed.

Kranitz, who has personal reasons for wanting the collection preserved -- her husband died of CJD in 2000 -- said she plans to meet with Major at the end of April to discuss the issue further.

CJD belongs to a group of diseases collectively known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs, that includes mad cow disease in cows, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, and scrapie in sheep. All TSEs are incurable and fatal.

Major previously told UPI some samples already have been destroyed and others have been given to researchers at the Food and Drug Administration and the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center in Cleveland.

Major said the remaining collection "has very little remaining value" and could be destroyed if another entity does not claim them.

Bruce Johnson, a former NIH scientist who retired at the end of 2003, said he had been told the collection would be destroyed in two years if no one took the samples from the NIH.

In response to hearing that Major had failed to confirm to UPI the brain collection would not be destroyed, Patricia Ewanitz, who lives in Port Jefferson Station, N.Y., and is founder of the advocacy group CJD Voice, said, "The brain tissue might not be indispensable to the National Institutes of Health but it is absolutely necessary to the families who thought enough of science to donate the brains, brain tissue and blood in hopes of someday finding an answer to why their loved one died."

Ewanitz, whose husband died of CJD in 1997, added, "It now seems like such a joke."

Terry Singeltary, whose mother passed away from a type of CJD in 1997, said the NIH should use the samples for scientific research, not just store them in freezers.

Both Singeltary and Ewanitz said they would feel more reassured if Major verified in writing the collection will not be destroyed.

"I would go further and ask Major what he plans to do with them," Singeltary said. "If the samples are just going to sit up there and go bad, then they should give them out to researchers looking for cause and cure."

The revelation the NIH might destroy part or all of the collection sparked an outcry from patient advocates, consumer groups and scientists.

Advocates have been contacting their members of Congress, urging them to investigate and prevent the NIH from destroying the brains. Consumer groups also have gotten involved and scientists have taken steps to obtain the collection or have urged Major not to destroy the samples.

Felicia Nestor, who serves as a consultant to Public Citizen, told UPI she had contacted certain legislators and at least one was considering looking into the situation. Nestor asked the legislator's name be withheld.

Kranitz said Major also told her he plans "to advertise in professional neurological journals and by whatever means necessary to make it known" to researchers in the field the tissues are available.

Major previously said, however, that efforts to inform researchers of the availability of the collection were already underway and included informing NIH grantees. He added he had personally notified researchers at scientific meetings, but no TSE researcher contacted by UPI was aware of this.

"I was never informed," said Laura Manuelidis, an expert on these diseases and section chief of surgery in the neuropathology department at Yale University. She said the first she had heard of the situation was in UPI's March 24 report.

Manuelidis also said she contacted Major, expressing interest in the specimens, but so far has not received a response.

"I sent a letter to (Major) on (March 25) about our interest in these specimens, but he has not replied," she told UPI in an e-mail.

Neil Cashman, a TSE expert at the University of Toronto, who said he was not aware the samples might be destroyed, has lobbied colleagues at the University of British Columbia -- where Cashman is scheduled to move to this summer -- to help draft a letter requesting the collection.

The Memorial Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases Inc., a non-profit organization consisting of more than 40 university and institute researchers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and France, requested the collection in January, 2004. So far, the institute has not been informed of a decision by the NIH.

Asked if Major had told him whether the collection would be preserved, MIND Executive Director Harry Peery said, "We have heard nothing further from Eugene Major or anyone else at the NIH regarding the brain collection."

--


http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2005/04/07/NIH-sends-mixed-signals-on-CJD-brains/UPI-25701112902231/





-------- Original Message --------


Subject: NIH to destroy our loved ones brain tissues, WE NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 16:04:57 -0600 From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr."


To: senator@hutchison.senate.gov


CC: Judith.Zaffirini@senate.state.tx.us, Bob.Deuell@senate.state.tx.us, District98.Truitt@house.state.tx.us, District115.Jackson@house.state.tx.us, Jane.Nelson@senate.state.tx.us, District96.Zedler@house.state.tx.us, Jon.Lindsay@senate.state.tx.us, f-gilstrap@tamu.edu, ka-phillips@tamu.edu


References: <422ca640.3030108@wt.net>


Greetings again Honorable Senator Hutchison and other Honorable Members of Texas Office,


My name is Terry S. Singeltary Sr. I lost my Mother to hvCJD aka mad cow.THE Heidenhain Variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease. (there is more than one strain of mad cow disease and i will reference last)

I am once again writing to you on a matter of extreme importance. I would appreciate your assistance in writing to the National Institutes of Health requesting that the brain tissue collected over the years at NINDS from family members of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease victims be preserved and recorded and not discarded.

[See attached articles]

THE WASHINGTON TIMES UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

NIH may destroy human brain collection

By Steve Mitchell Medical CorrespondentWashington, DC, Mar. 24 (UPI) -- ...

SNIP...END...TSS

FINALLY ONE, and only one Senator, did reply to my concerns, and help us with preserving the brain tissue bank at NIH. I had sent a hard copy via US postal to the Honorable Senator John Cornyn (see below), but none of the (above) Senators and other officials ever bothered to reply.

See The Honorable John Cornyn Reply below ;

JOHN CORNYN TEXAS UNITED STATES SENATE WASHINGTON, DC 20510-4305 April 26,2005

Mr. Terry Singeltary

P.O. Box 42

Bacliff, Texas 77518

Dear Mr. Singeltary:

In response to your recent request for my assistance, I have contacted the National Institutes ofHealth. I will write you again as soon as I receive a reply. I appreciate having the opportunity to represent you in the United States Senate and to be ofservice in this matter.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN United States Senator JC:djl


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


JOHN CORNYN TEXAS UNITED STATES SENATE WASHINGTON, DC 20510-4305

May 18,2005

Mr. Terry Singeltary

P.O. Box 42

Bacliff, Texas 77518

Dear Mr. Singeltary:

Enclosed is the reply I received from the Department of Health and Human Services in response to my earlier inquiry on your behalf. I hope this will be useful to you. I appreciate having the opportunity to represent you in the United States Senate. Thank you for taking time to contact me. Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN United States Senate JC:djl Enclosure

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of HealthNational Institute of NeurologicalDisorders and Stroke NINDS Building 31, Room 8A52 31 Center Dr., MSC 2540 Bethesda, Maryland 20892-2540 Phone: 301-496-9746 Fax: 301-496-0296 Email: [log in to unmask]

May 10, 2005

The Honorable John CornynUnited States SenatorOccidental Tower5005 LBJ Freeway, Suite 1150Dallas, Texas 75244-6199

Dear Senator Cornyn:

Your letter to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) forwarding correspondence from Mr. Terry S. Singeltary, Sr., has been forwarded to me for reply. Mr. Singeltary is concerned about thepreservation of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) brain samples that have been maintained by theNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Intramural Research programfor many years. I am sorry to learn that Mr. Singeltary's mother died of CJD and can certainly understand hisdesire that any tissues that could help investigators unravel the puzzle of this deadly disease arepreserved. I hope he will be pleased to learn that all the brains and other tissues with potential tohelp scientists learn about CJD are, and will continue to be, conserved. (The tissues that arediscarded are those that have either decayed to an extent that renders them no longer appropriatefor research or those for which we do not have sufficient identification.) The purpose of gathering these brains and tissues is to help scientists learn about CJD. To that end, some of the NINDS-held samples are distributed to investigators who can demonstrate thatthey have a compelling research or public health need for such materials. For example, sampleshave been transferred to NIH grantee Dr. Pierluigi Gambetti, who heads the National PrionDiseases Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and workswith the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor all cases of CJD in the UnitedStates. Dr. Gambetti studies the tissues to learn about the formation, physical and chemicalproperties, and pathogenic mechanisms of prion proteins, which are believed to be involved inthe cause of CJD. Samples have also been transferred to Dr. David Asher, at the U.S. Food andDrug Administration, for use in assessing a potential diagnostic test for CJD.

Page 2 - The Honorable John Cornyn

in closing, we know that donating organs and tissue from loved ones is a very difficult andpersonal choice that must often be made at the most stressful of times. We at the NINDS aregrateful to those stalwart family members who make this choice in the selfless hope that it willhelp others afflicted with CJD. We also know the invaluable contribution such donations maketo the advancement of medical science, and we are dedicated to the preservation of all of thetissue samples that can help in our efforts to overcome CJD.

I hope this information is helpful to you in responding to Mr. Singeltary. Sincerely,

Story C. Landis, Ph.D. Director, National Institute ofNeurological Disorders and Stroke


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


NIH says it will preserve CJD brains

By STEVE MITCHELL

WASHINGTON, May 31 (UPI) -- The National Institutes of Health apparently has reversed its position on the fate of an invaluable collection of brains from people afflicted with a condition similar to mad cow disease, saying in a letter to a U.S. senator it will not destroy the collection.

An NIH official had told United Press International previously that the brain collection, which consists of samples from hundreds of people who died from the brain-wasting illness called Creutzfeldt Jakob disease, could be discarded if another entity does not claim them.

That sparked an outcry from patient-advocacy groups, consumer watchdogs and scientists, and the agency now appears to have backed away from that course.

"All the brains and other tissues with potential to help scientists learn about CJD are, and will continue to be, conserved," Story Landis, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which oversees the brain collection, wrote in a May 10 letter to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Cornyn had inquired about the status of the collection in April.

Last March, Eugene Major, acting director of the basic neuroscience program at the NIH, told UPI the useful portions of the collection had been doled out to scientists and the remaining samples had "very little remaining value" and could be destroyed.

Landis could not be reached for comment Tuesday. NINDS spokesman Paul Girolami told UPI he had been unable to locate her.

Scientists think the collection, which dates back to 1963, is invaluable for research on CJD and similar diseases and could even provide insight into treatments. There is no cure for CJD and patients typically die within a year after symptoms begin.

"Absolutely, the collection is worth keeping," Bruce Johnson, a former NIH scientist who said he had been told the collection would be destroyed in two years if no one took the samples from the agency, told UPI.

The Memorial Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases Inc., a non-profit organization consisting of more than 40 researchers from several countries, offered to take the collection off of NIH's hands more than a year ago and so far has not heard anything from the agency, Harry Peery, MIND's executive director, told UPI.

CJD belongs to a group of incurable and fatal diseases collectively known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs, that includes mad cow disease in cows, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, and scrapie in sheep.

Variant CJD, or vCJD, is a relatively new TSE, which people can contract from consuming beef products infected with the mad cow pathogen.

Despite Landis' assurance the collection will be preserved, some family members of the patients who donated their brains to the NIH are still skeptical. This is because the wording Landis used in the letter leaves open the possibility that some brain samples are being destroyed.

"The tissues that are discarded are those that have either decayed to an extent that renders them no longer appropriate for research or those for which we do not have sufficient identification," Landis wrote.

"Which ones" are being destroyed? asked Terry Singeltary, who is involved with several CJD patient groups.

"With a system like this, they could destroy whatever and whenever they wanted, for whatever reason they wanted," Singeltary, whose mother died of CJD in 1997, told UPI.

"It's a perfect excuse to discard some suspicious tissue resembling vCJD or some atypical TSE related to animal TSEs in the USA," he added.

Although the collection includes samples from CJD patients as young as 16 that could make them candidates for possible vCJD, the brains have never been screened for evidence of the disease. The only confirmed vCJD case in the United States occurred in a Florida woman who is thought to have contracted the disease in England.

Johnson said he along with renowned CJD expert Paul Brown were in the process of sorting through the samples to match them up with patient identification documents until they both retired. Some of the samples may prove impossible to identify, he said, but he and Brown are the only ones familiar enough with the collection to organize it and neither has been asked back by the agency to aid in the identification process.

Steve Mitchell is UPI's Medical Correspondent. E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.




http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2005/05/31/NIH-says-it-will-preserve-CJD-brains/UPI-67711117574761/





http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2009/08/cjdstraight-talk-withjames.html






TSS

Labels: