Sunday, November 21, 2010

Preclinical Deposition of Pathological Prion Protein in Muscle of Experimentally Infected Primates and potential Iatrogenic TSE there from

Preclinical Deposition of Pathological Prion Protein in Muscle of Experimentally Infected Primates

Abstract

Susanne Krasemann1, Melanie Neumann1, Markus Geissen1, Walter Bodemer2, Franz-Josef Kaup2, Walter Schulz-Schaeffer3, Nathalie Morel4, Adriano Aguzzi5#*, Markus Glatzel1#*

1 Institute of Neuropathology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany, 2 German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany, 3 Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, 4 CEA, IBitec-S, Service de Pharmacologie et dlmmunoanalyse, CEA/Saclay, Gif sur Yvette, France, 5 Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract Top

Prion diseases are transmissible fatal neurodegenerative disorders affecting humans and animals. A central step in disease progression is the accumulation of a misfolded form (PrPSc) of the host encoded prion protein (PrPC) in neuronal and non-neuronal tissues. The involvement of peripheral tissues in preclinical states increases the risk of accidental transmission. On the other hand, detection of PrPSc in non-neuronal easy-accessible compartments such as muscle may offer a novel diagnostic tool. Primate models have proven invaluable to investigate prion diseases. We have studied the deposition of PrPSc in muscle and central nervous system of rhesus monkeys challenged with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD), variant CJD (vCJD) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in preclinical and clinical stage using biochemical and morphological methods. Here, we show the preclinical presence of PrPSc in muscle and central nervous system of rhesus monkeys experimentally infected with vCJD.

snip...

In summary, we could show that (i) PrPSc builds up exponentially in the CNS of vCJD infected primates, (ii) PrPSc is detectable in both CNS and the muscular compartment preclinically in vCJD challenged rhesus monkeys, (iii) PrPSc distribution in muscle tissue of clinical and subclinically infected primates is inhomogeneous.

These data should be taken into consideration when devising appropriate measures against iatrogenic transmission of prion diseases or when employing muscle biopsy in diagnosing human prion disease [15], [21], [23], [26]

Citation: Krasemann S, Neumann M, Geissen M, Bodemer W, Kaup F-J, et al. (2010) Preclinical Deposition of Pathological Prion Protein in Muscle of Experimentally Infected Primates. PLoS ONE 5(11): e13906. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013906

Editor: Per Westermark, Uppsala University, Sweden

Received: March 18, 2010; Accepted: October 18, 2010; Published: November 11, 2010

Copyright: © 2010 Krasemann et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: This work was financed by the European Union grant EU BMH4 CT 98 7026, the Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft (DFG) grants KA 864/2-1 and FOR885. S.K. was supported by the Deutsches Primaten Zentrum Foerderpreis, M.N. was supported by DFG grant Gl 589/2-1. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

* E-mail: adriano.aguzzi@usz.ch (AA); m.glatzel@uke.de, (MG)

# These authors contributed equally to this work.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0013906



WHO Tables on Tissue Infectivity Distribution in Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Updated 2010

http://www.who.int/bloodproducts/tablestissueinfectivity.pdf



Monday, June 22, 2009

PrPTSE in muscle-associated lymphatic tissue during the preclinical stage of mice orally-infected with BSE

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2009/06/prptse-in-muscle-associated-lymphatic.html



Prions in Skeletal Muscles of Deer with Chronic Wasting Disease


Rachel C. Angers,1* Shawn R. Browning,1*? Tanya S. Seward,2 Christina J. Sigurdson,4? Michael W. Miller,5 Edward A. Hoover,4 Glenn C. Telling1,2,3

1Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, 2Sanders Brown Center on Aging, 3Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA. 4Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA. 5Colorado Division of Wildlife, Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA.

*These authors contributed equally to this work.

?Present address: Department of Infectology, Scripps Research Institute, 5353 Parkside Drive, RF-2, Jupiter, Florida, 33458, USA.

?Present address: Institute of Neuropathology, University of Zurich, Schmelzbergstrasse 12, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland.

To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: gtell2@uky.edu

Prions are transmissible proteinaceous agents of mammals that cause fatal neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). The presence of infectivity in skeletal muscle of experimentally infected mice raised the possibility that dietary exposure to prions might occur through meat consumption (1). Chronic wasting disease (CWD), an enigmatic and contagious prion disease of North American cervids, is of particular concern. The emergence of CWD in an increasingly wide geographic area and the interspecies transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) to humans as variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD) have raised concerns about zoonotic transmission of CWD.

To test whether skeletal muscle of diseased cervids contained prion infectivity, Tg(CerPrP)1536 mice (2) expressing cervid prion protein (CerPrP), were inoculated intracerebrally with extracts prepared from the semitendinosus/semimembranosus muscle group of CWD-affected mule deer or from CWD-negative deer. The availability of CNS materials also afforded direct comparisons of prion infectivity in skeletal muscle and brain. All skeletal muscle extracts from CWD-affected deer induced progressive neurological dysfunction in Tg(CerPrP)1536 mice with mean incubation times ranging between 360 and ~490 d, whereas the incubation times of prions from the CNS ranged from ~230 to 280 d (Table 1). For each inoculation group, the diagnosis of prion disease was confirmed by the presence of PrPSc in the brains of multiple infected Tg(CerPrP)1536 mice (see supporting online material for examples). In contrast, skeletal muscle and brain material from CWD-negative deer failed to induce disease in Tg(CerPrP)1536 mice (Table 1) and PrPSc was not detected in the brains of sacrificed asymptomatic mice as late as 523 d after inoculation (supporting online material).

Our results show that skeletal muscle as well as CNS tissue of deer with CWD contains infectious prions. Similar analyses of skeletal muscle BSE-affected cattle did not reveal high levels of prion infectivity (3). It will be important to assess the cellular location of PrPSc in muscle. Notably, while PrPSc has been detected in muscles of scrapie-affected sheep (4), previous studies failed to detect PrPSc by immunohistochemical analysis of skeletal muscle from deer with natural or experimental CWD (5, 6). Since the time of disease onset is inversely proportional to prion dose (7), the longer incubation times of prions from skeletal muscle extracts compared to matched brain samples indicated that prion titers were lower in muscle than in CNS where infectivity titers are known to reach high levels. Although possible effects of CWD strains or strain mixtures on these incubation times cannot be excluded, the variable 360 to ~490 d incubation times suggested a range of prion titers in skeletal muscles of CWD-affected deer. Muscle prion titers at the high end of the range produced the fastest incubation times that were ~30% longer than the incubation times of prions from the CNS of the same animal. Since all mice in each inoculation group developed disease, prion titers in muscle samples producing the longest incubation times were higher than the end point of the bioassay, defined as the infectious dose at which half the inoculated mice develop disease. Studies are in progress to accurately assess prion titers.

While the risk of exposure to CWD infectivity following consumption of prions in muscle is mitigated by relatively inefficient prion transmission via the oral route (8), these results show that semitendinosus/semimembranosus muscle, which is likely to be consumed by humans, is a significant source of prion infectivity. Humans consuming or handling meat from CWD-infected deer are therefore at risk to prion exposure.

References and Notes

1. P. J. Bosque et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99, 3812 (2002).

2. S. R. Browning et al., J. Virol. 78, 13345 (2004).

3. A. Buschmann, M. H. Groschup, J. Infect. Dis. 192, 934 (2005).

4. O. Andreoletti et al., Nat. Med. 10, 591 (2004).

5. T. R. Spraker et al., Vet. Pathol. 39, 110 (2002).

6. A. N. Hamir, J. M. Miller, R. C. Cutlip, Vet. Pathol. 41, 78 (2004).

7. S. B. Prusiner et al., Biochemistry 21, 4883 (1980).

8. M. Prinz et al., Am. J. Pathol. 162, 1103 (2003).

9. This work was supported by grants from the U.S. Public Health Service 2RO1 NS040334-04 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and N01-AI-25491 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Supporting Online Material

www.sciencemag.org/



Materials and Methods

Fig. S1

21 November 2005; accepted 13 January 2006 Published online 26 January 2006; 10.1126/science.1122864 Include this information when citing this paper.

Table 1. Incubation times following inoculation of Tg(CerPrP)1536 mice with prions from skeletal muscle and brain samples of CWD-affected deer.

Inocula Incubation time, mean d SEM (n/n0)*

Skeletal muscle Brain

CWD-affected deer

H92 360 2 d (6/6) 283 7 d (6/6)

33968 367 9 d (8/8) 278 11 d (6/6)

5941 427 18 d (7/7)

D10 483 8 d (8/8) 231 17 d (7/7)

D08 492 4 d (7/7)

Averages 426 d 264 d

Non-diseased deer

FPS 6.98 >523 d (0/6)

FPS 9.98 >454 d (0/7) >454 d (0/6)

None >490 d (0/6)

PBS >589 d (0/5)

*The number of mice developing prion disease divided by the original number of inoculated mice is shown in parentheses. Mice dying of intercurrent illnesses were excluded.



http://www.sciencemag.org/



www.sciencemag.org/



Supporting Online Material for

Prions in Skeletal Muscles of Deer with Chronic Wasting Disease

Rachel C. Angers, Shawn R. Browning, Tanya S. Seward, Christina J. Sigurdson,

Michael W. Miller, Edward A. Hoover, Glenn C. Telling

To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: gtell2@uky.edu

Published 26 January 2006 on Science Express

DOI: 10.1126/science.1122864

This PDF file includes:

Materials and Methods

Fig. S1

Supporting Online Materials

Materials and Methods

Homogenates of semitendinosus/semimembranosus muscle (10% w/v in phosphate

buffered saline) were prepared from five emaciated and somnolent mule deer, naturally

infected with CWD at the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Wildlife Research Center.

These deer were identified as D10, D08, 33968, H92, and 5941. CWD infection was

confirmed in all cases by the presence of histologic lesions in the brain including

spongiform degeneration of the perikaryon, the immunohistochemical detection of

disease-associated PrP in brain and tonsil, or by immunoblotting of protease-resistant,

disease associated PrP (CerPrPSc). Semitendinosus/semimembranosus muscle was also

obtained from two asymptomatic, mock inoculated deer, referred to as FPS 6.68 and 9.98,

that originated from a CWD non-endemic area and which were held indoors at Colorado

State University from ten days of age. These control deer were confirmed negative for

CWD by histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis of brain tissue at autopsy.

The utmost care was taken to avoid inclusion of obvious nervous tissue when muscle

biopsies were prepared and to ensure that contamination of skeletal muscle samples with

CNS tissue did not occur. Fresh, single-use instruments were used to collect each sample

biopsy and a central piece from each sample was prepared with fresh, disposable

instruments to further isolate muscle tissue for inoculum preparation. Brain samples for

transmission were prepared separately from muscle as additional insurance against cross

contamination.

1

Groups of anesthetized Tg(CerPrP)1536 mice were inoculated intracerebrally with 30 l

of 1 % skeletal muscle or brain extracts prepared in phosphate buffered saline (PBS).

Inoculated Tg(CerPrP) mice were diagnosed with prion disease following the progressive

development of at least three neurologic symptoms including truncal ataxia, 'plastic' tail,

loss of extensor reflex, difficultly righting, and slowed movement. The time from

inoculation to the onset of clinical signs is referred to as the incubation time.

For PrP analysis in brain extracts of Tg(CerPrP)1536 mice, 10 % homogenates prepared

in PBS were either untreated (-) or treated (+) with 40 g/ml proteinase K (PK) for one

hour at 37oC in the presence of 2% sarkosyl. Proteins were separated by sodium dodecyl

sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, analyzed by immunoblotting using anti PrP

monoclonal antibody 6H4 (Prionics AG, Switzerland), incubated with appropriate

secondary antibody, developed using ECL-plus detection (Amersham), and analyzed

using a FLA-5000 scanner (Fuji).

2

Fig. S1

PrP in brain extracts from representative Tg(CerPrP)1536 mice receiving muscle or CNS

tissue inocula from CWD-affected or CWD-negative deer. Extracts were either treated

(+) or untreated (-) with proteinase K (PK) as indicated. The positions of protein

molecular weight markers at 21.3, 28.7, 33.5 kDa (from bottom to top) are shown to the

left of the immunoblot.

3

http://www.sciencemag.org/



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




Wednesday, September 08, 2010


CWD PRION CONGRESS SEPTEMBER 8-11 2010


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




Prions in skeletal muscle


Patrick J. Bosque*,dagger ,Dagger , Chongsuk Ryou*, Glenn Telling*,§, David Peretz*,dagger , Giuseppe Legname*,dagger , Stephen J. DeArmond*,dagger ,¶, and Stanley B. Prusiner*,dagger ,,**

* Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases and Departments of dagger Neurology, ¶ Pathology, and Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143

Contributed by Stanley B. Prusiner, December 28, 2001

Considerable evidence argues that consumption of beef products from cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions causes new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. In an effort to prevent new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, certain "specified offals," including neural and lymphatic tissues, thought to contain high titers of prions have been excluded from foods destined for human consumption [Phillips, N. A., Bridgeman, J. & Ferguson-Smith, M. (2000) in The BSE Inquiry (Stationery Office, London), Vol. 6, pp. 413-451]. Here we report that mouse skeletal muscle can propagate prions and accumulate substantial titers of these pathogens. We found both high prion titers and the disease-causing isoform of the prion protein (PrPSc) in the skeletal muscle of wild-type mice inoculated with either the Me7 o Rocky Mountain Laboratory strain of murine prions. Particular muscles accumulated distinct levels of PrPSc, with the highest levels observed in muscle from the hind limb. To determine whether prions are produced or merely accumulate intramuscularly, we established transgenic mice expressing either mouse or Syrian hamster PrP exclusively in muscle. Inoculating these mice intramuscularly with prions resulted in the formation of high titers of nascent prions in muscle. In contrast, inoculating mice in which PrP expression was targeted to hepatocytes resulted in low prion titers. Our data demonstrate that factors in addition to the amount of PrP expressed determine the tropism of prions for certain tissues. That some muscles are intrinsically capable of accumulating substantial titers of prions is of particular concern. Because significant dietary exposure to prions might occur through the consumption of meat, even if it is largely free of neural and lymphatic tissue, a comprehensive effort to map the distribution of prions in the muscle of infected livestock is needed. Furthermore, muscle may provide a readily biopsied tissue from which to diagnose prion disease in asymptomatic animals and even humans. Dagger Present address: Department of Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, CO 80204.

§ Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536-0230.

** To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: vann@cgl.ucsf.edu.


http://www.pnas.org/




Extraneural Pathologic Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease



Markus Glatzel, M.D., Eugenio Abela, Manuela Maissen, M.S., and Adriano Aguzzi, M.D., Ph.D.


snip...


Conclusions


Using sensitive techniques, we identified extraneural deposition of PrPSc in spleen and muscle samples from approximately one third of patients who died with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Extraneural PrPSc appears to correlate with a long duration of disease.



http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/349/19/1812?query=TOC




Thursday, November 18, 2010


Increased susceptibility of human-PrP transgenic mice to bovine spongiform encephalopathy following passage in sheep


http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/11/increased-susceptibility-of-human-prp.html




Ppo3-17:


A Typical/Nor98 Scrapie Infectivity in Sheep Peripheral Tissues


Caroline Lacroux,1 Leonor Orge,2,* Sylvie L. Benestad,3 Vincent Beringue,4 Claire Litaise,1 Stéphanie Simon,5 Hugh Simmons,6 Séverine Lugan,1 Fabien Corbière,1 Pierrette Costes,1 Nathalie Morel,5 François Schelcher1 and Olivier Andréoletti1,*

1UMR INRA ENVT 1225; Interactions Hôte Agent Pathogène; Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse; Toulouse, France; 2Laboratório Nacional de Investigação Veterinária; Estrada de Benfica, Lisboa, Portugal; 3National Veterinary Institute; Postboks; Oslo, Norway; 4INRA UR892; Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires; INRA; Jouy-en-Josas; 5CEA; Service de Pharmacologie et d’Immunoanalyse; IBiTec-S; DSV; CEA/Saclay; Gif sur Yvette cedex, France; 6VLA Weybridge; ASU; New Haw; Addlestone, Surrey UK

Key words: atypical, scrapie, peripheral tissues infectivity

Atypical/Nor98 scrapie was first identified in 1998 in Norway. It is now considered as a world widespread disease of small ruminants and currently represents more than the half of the detected TSE cases in Europe. Atypical/Nor98 scrapie agent biology and pathogenesis in its natural host is still poorly understood. Conversely to BSE and other small ruminants TSE agents, the ARR PrP allele does not provide protection against the disease, making the genetic selection policy inefficient to eradicate it. Based on the absence of detectable abnormal PrPSc in peripheral tissues the human and animal exposure risk to this specific TSE agent has been considered as low.

In the present study we first demonstrated that infectivity can accumulate, even if no abnormal PrP is detectable, in lymphoid tissues, nerves and muscles from natural and experimental Atypical/Nor98 scrapie cases. We furthermore demonstrated that, in comparison to other TSE agents, samples containing massive amount of Atypical/Nor98 scrapie infectivity can remain PrPSc negative. This feature probably impacts our perception of Atypical/Nor98 scrapie prevalence and spreading in field population. We finally evaluated, in both Atypical/Nor98 and classical scrapie cases, the infectivity loads accumulating in peripheral tissues that currently enter unrestricted into the food chain. The obtained results indicate that dietary exposure risk to small ruminants TSE agents is much higher than commonly believed. This conclusion raises the question of the potential capacities such TSE agents to transmit in other species.


PRION 2010 Meeting Report International Prion Congress: From agent to disease; September 8–11, 2010; Salzburg, Austria Volume 4, Issue 3 July/August/September 2010


http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/prion/article/12764/




Suspect symptoms

What if you can catch old-fashioned CJD by eating meat from a sheep infected with scrapie?


28 Mar 01

Like lambs to the slaughter 31 March 2001 by Debora MacKenzie Magazine issue 2284. Subscribe and get 4 free issues. FOUR years ago, Terry Singeltary watched his mother die horribly from a degenerative brain disease. Doctors told him it was Alzheimer's, but Singeltary was suspicious. The diagnosis didn't fit her violent symptoms, and he demanded an autopsy. It showed she had died of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Most doctors believe that sCJD is caused by a prion protein deforming by chance into a killer. But Singeltary thinks otherwise. He is one of a number of campaigners who say that some sCJD, like the variant CJD related to BSE, is caused by eating meat from infected animals. Their suspicions have focused on sheep carrying scrapie, a BSE-like disease that is widespread in flocks across Europe and North America.

Now scientists in France have stumbled across new evidence that adds weight to the campaigners' fears. To their complete surprise, the researchers found that one strain of scrapie causes the same brain damage in mice as sCJD.

"This means we cannot rule out that at least some sCJD may be caused by some strains of scrapie," says team member Jean-Philippe Deslys of the French Atomic Energy Commission's medical research laboratory in Fontenay-aux-Roses, south-west of Paris. Hans Kretschmar of the University of Göttingen, who coordinates CJD surveillance in Germany, is so concerned by the findings that he now wants to trawl back through past sCJD cases to see if any might have been caused by eating infected mutton or lamb.

Scrapie has been around for centuries and until now there has been no evidence that it poses a risk to human health. But if the French finding means that scrapie can cause sCJD in people, countries around the world may have overlooked a CJD crisis to rival that caused by BSE.

Deslys and colleagues were originally studying vCJD, not sCJD. They injected the brains of macaque monkeys with brain from BSE cattle, and from French and British vCJD patients. The brain damage and clinical symptoms in the monkeys were the same for all three. Mice injected with the original sets of brain tissue or with infected monkey brain also developed the same symptoms.

As a control experiment, the team also injected mice with brain tissue from people and animals with other prion diseases: a French case of sCJD; a French patient who caught sCJD from human-derived growth hormone; sheep with a French strain of scrapie; and mice carrying a prion derived from an American scrapie strain. As expected, they all affected the brain in a different way from BSE and vCJD. But while the American strain of scrapie caused different damage from sCJD, the French strain produced exactly the same pathology.

"The main evidence that scrapie does not affect humans has been epidemiology," says Moira Bruce of the neuropathogenesis unit of the Institute for Animal Health in Edinburgh, who was a member of the same team as Deslys. "You see about the same incidence of the disease everywhere, whether or not there are many sheep, and in countries such as New Zealand with no scrapie." In the only previous comparisons of sCJD and scrapie in mice, Bruce found they were dissimilar.

But there are more than 20 strains of scrapie, and six of sCJD. "You would not necessarily see a relationship between the two with epidemiology if only some strains affect only some people," says Deslys. Bruce is cautious about the mouse results, but agrees they require further investigation. Other trials of scrapie and sCJD in mice, she says, are in progress.

People can have three different genetic variations of the human prion protein, and each type of protein can fold up two different ways. Kretschmar has found that these six combinations correspond to six clinical types of sCJD: each type of normal prion produces a particular pathology when it spontaneously deforms to produce sCJD.

But if these proteins deform because of infection with a disease-causing prion, the relationship between pathology and prion type should be different, as it is in vCJD. "If we look at brain samples from sporadic CJD cases and find some that do not fit the pattern," says Kretschmar, "that could mean they were caused by infection."

There are 250 deaths per year from sCJD in the US, and a similar incidence elsewhere. Singeltary and other US activists think that some of these people died after eating contaminated meat or "nutritional" pills containing dried animal brain. Governments will have a hard time facing activists like Singeltary if it turns out that some sCJD isn't as spontaneous as doctors have insisted.

Deslys's work on macaques also provides further proof that the human disease vCJD is caused by BSE. And the experiments showed that vCJD is much more virulent to primates than BSE, even when injected into the bloodstream rather than the brain. This, says Deslys, means that there is an even bigger risk than we thought that vCJD can be passed from one patient to another through contaminated blood transfusions and surgical instruments.


http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16922840.300-like-lambs-to-the-slaughter.html



EMBO reports AOP Published online: 11 April 2003


Widespread PrPSc accumulation in muscles of hamsters orally infected with scrapie


Achim Thomzig, Christine Kratzel, Gudrun Lenz, Dominique Kr'¼ger & Michael Beekes Robert Koch-Institut, P26, Nordufer 20, D-13353 Berlin, Germany

Received 13 February 2003; Accepted 13 March 2003; Published online 11 April 2003.

Abstract :

Scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy and chronic wasting disease are orally communicable, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). As zoonotic transmissions of TSE agents may pose a risk to human health, the identification of reservoirs for infectivity in animal tissues and their exclusion from human consumption has become a matter of great importance for consumer protection. In this study, a variety of muscles from hamsters that were orally challenged with scrapie was screened for the presence of a molecular marker for TSE infection, PrPSc (the pathological isoform of the prion protein PrP). Sensitive western blotting revealed consistent PrPSc accumulation in skeletal muscles from forelimb and hindlimb, head, back and shoulder, and in tongue. Previously, our animal model has provided substantial baseline information about the peripheral routing of infection in naturally occurring and orally acquired ruminant TSEs. Therefore, the findings described here highlight further the necessity to investigate thoroughly whether muscles of TSE-infected sheep, cattle, elk and deer contain infectious agents.


http://www.emboreports.org/



Detection of Prion Infectivity in Fat Tissues of Scrapie-Infected Mice


Brent Race1#, Kimberly Meade-White1#, Michael B. A. Oldstone2, Richard Race1, Bruce Chesebro1*

1 Laboratory of Persistent Virus Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States of America, 2 Department of Immunology and Microbial Science, The Scripps Research Institute, LaJolla, California, United States of America


Abstract

Distribution of prion infectivity in organs and tissues is important in understanding prion disease pathogenesis and designing strategies to prevent prion infection in animals and humans. Transmission of prion disease from cattle to humans resulted in banning human consumption of ruminant nervous system and certain other tissues. In the present study, we surveyed tissue distribution of prion infectivity in mice with prion disease. We show for the first time detection of infectivity in white and brown fat. Since high amounts of ruminant fat are consumed by humans and also incorporated into animal feed, fat-containing tissues may pose a previously unappreciated hazard for spread of prion infection.

Author Summary

Prion diseases, also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, are infectious progressive fatal neurodegenerative diseases which affect humans as well as wild and domestic animals. Distribution of prion infectivity in organs and tissues is important in understanding prion disease pathogenesis and designing strategies to prevent prion infection in animals and humans. We show for the first time the presence of prion infectivity in white fat and brown fat tissues of mice with prion disease. Our results suggest that fat tissues of domestic or wild animals infected with prions may pose an unappreciated hazard for spread of infection to humans or domestic animals. The presence of prion infectivity in fat suggests that additional consideration may be required to eliminate from the food chain any fat from ruminants suspected of exposure to or infection with prions. Thus, this finding has implications for public health, food safety, and prion disease prevention strategies.

Citation: Race B, Meade-White K, Oldstone MBA, Race R, Chesebro B (2008) Detection of Prion Infectivity in Fat Tissues of Scrapie-Infected Mice. PLoS Pathog 4(12): e1000232. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1000232

Editor: Neil Mabbott, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Received: August 12, 2008; Accepted: November 5, 2008; Published: December 5, 2008

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration which stipulates that, once placed in the public domain, this work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose.

Funding: This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, NIAID. MBAO was funded through NIA grant AG04032.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

* E-mail: bchesebro@nih.gov

# These authors contributed equally to this work.

Introduction

snip...

Discussion The present results indicate that white fat and brown fat are possible tissue sources of prion infectivity which might play a role in transmission of prion disease. In vivo brown fat has a limited distribution, usually found in young animals in the intrascapular region and around various organs such as heart and kidney. In adult ruminants brown fat is minimal. Therefore, brown fat from infected animals is unlikely to be consumed by humans in large amounts. In contrast, humans often consume large amounts of ruminant white fat. In premium cuts of meat containing mostly skeletal muscle, white fat is often intertwined with muscle cells, and it is impossible to separate the two cell types. However, white fat, free of muscle, is found in subcutaneous, retroperitoneal, intraperitoneal, perirenal and other regions. Such fat is used in many processed meat products such as sausages and canned meats, and is also used in animal feeds. Our present data show clearly that fat in the absence of muscle has significant infectivity titers, which are similar to titers in muscle containing fat (Table 1). Since our skeletal muscle samples are unavoidably contaminated by white fat, it is possible that fat might be a contributor to the infectivity found in muscle. In support of this possibility we found PrPres detectable by IHC at high levels in white fat associated with skeletal muscle in some tg44 mice (Figure 4). In contrast, other groups did not mention seeing PrPres in muscle-associated fat tissue in animals where myocytes themselves were seen to be positive by IHC [13]-[20].

snip...

It is unclear why there is accumulation of PrPres and infectivity in adipose tissues. One possibility might be the high level of innervation by the autonomic nervous system in both brown and white fat. In WT mice, nerves should express cell membrane anchored PrPC (PrPsen). Sympathetic nerves have been previously implicated in transfer of scrapie infectivity from spleen to brain in mice [29], and they might also play a role in infection of fat in WT mice. In tg44 mice the mechanism of fat infection is likely to be different as there is no anchored PrPsen on the nerves. We currently postulate a role for connective tissue structures in this process.

Infectivity in fat might also contribute to environmental contamination following the death of prion infected animals. Although infectivity titers are lower in fat and muscle than in CNS, the large mass of fat and muscle makes the total infectivity from these sources similar. Furthermore, fat and muscle are readily accessible to the environment after death, whereas the CNS is highly confined in skull and vertebral column. These factors might increase the importance of fat and muscle as sources of spread of prion disease among animals.

The low or negative plasma titers found in tg44 and WT mice indicate that residual plasma cannot account for the high infectivity levels seen in fat and other tissues (Table 1). However, low levels of plasma or blood-borne infectivity might still be a mechanism for spread of infectivity among tissues in tg44 mice and possibly also WT mice. Similarly transmission of low level blood prion infectivity has been documented by blood transfusion in BSE-infected sheep [30], and also accounts for some rare cases of human variant CJD [31],[32].

In this study extraneural infection was much higher in tg44 mice expressing anchorless PrP than in WT mice. The explanation of this finding is unclear. Possibly soluble anchorless PrP facilitates spread of infection from CNS to extraneural sites by blood, lymph or nerve-mediated transport. Alternatively, the long asymptomatic survival time of tg44 mice might also contribute to high level extraneural infection. This could also be a factor in many animal prion diseases where the time course is long, i.e. 2-5 years or more, and might allow higher extraneural infectivity in fat tissues [7], [33]-[35].

The present data using a mouse model shows the proof of principle that brown and white fat tissues can be important sites of prion agent deposition. It will be important to extend these studies in the future to prion infected large animals such as cattle, sheep and cervids where there may be greater potential for contamination of human or domestic animal food chains. We are currently doing this experiment with fat from CWD deer; however, it will require an additional year to gather this data, and this result is therefore beyond the scope of the present paper. Such studies may be difficult because of the lower titers seen in these large animals compared to rodent scrapie models. For example, we often detect titers of 9-10 logID50/gram of mouse brain, whereas in brain from BSE cattle [8], and scrapie sheep [4] titers reported are 7-8 logID50/gram. We are finding similar low titers in CWD cervid brain in our deer PrP transgenic mice (unpublished data). These results could indicate either that the amount of prion agent present in ruminant brain is lower than in mice and hamsters or that the cattle, sheep and deer PrP transgenic mice used for infectivity assays are less sensitive than the WT mice or hamster PrP transgenic mice used for rodent scrapie. In either case this might affect ability to detect infectivity in fat of these important large animal models.

Materials and Methods


snip...full text ;


http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1000232




Wednesday, November 17, 2010


CWD Update 98 November 10, 2010


http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2010/11/cwd-update-98-november-10-2010.html




Research Project: Study of Atypical Bse Location: Virus and Prion Diseases of Livestock

Project Number: 3625-32000-086-05 Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 15, 2004 End Date: Sep 14, 2009

Objective: The objective of this cooperative research project with Dr. Maria Caramelli from the Italian BSE Reference Laboratory in Turin, Italy, is to conduct comparative studies with the U.S. bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) isolate and the atypical BSE isolates identified in Italy. The studies will cover the following areas: 1. Evaluation of present diagnostics tools used in the U.S. for the detection of atypical BSE cases. 2. Molecular comparison of the U.S. BSE isolate and other typical BSE isolates with atypical BSE cases. 3. Studies on transmissibility and tissue distribution of atypical BSE isolates in cattle and other species.

Approach: This project will be done as a Specific Cooperative Agreement with the Italian BSE Reference Laboratory, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, in Turin, Italy. It is essential for the U.S. BSE surveillance program to analyze the effectiveness of the U.S diagnostic tools for detection of atypical cases of BSE. Molecular comparisons of the U.S. BSE isolate with atypical BSE isolates will provide further characterization of the U.S. BSE isolate. Transmission studies are already underway using brain homogenates from atypical BSE cases into mice, cattle and sheep. It will be critical to see whether the atypical BSE isolates behave similarly to typical BSE isolates in terms of transmissibility and disease pathogenesis. If transmission occurs, tissue distribution comparisons will be made between cattle infected with the atypical BSE isolate and the U.S. BSE isolate. Differences in tissue distribution could require new regulations regarding specific risk material (SRM) removal.


http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?accn_no=408490



BANNED MAD COW FEED IN COMMERCE IN ALABAMA

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

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

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

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

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

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

REASON

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

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 477.72 tons

DISTRIBUTION AL

______________________________


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


PRODUCT Bulk custom dairy pre-mixes,

Recall # V-120-6 CODE None RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER Ware Milling Inc., Houston, MS, by telephone on June 23, 2006. Firm initiated recall is complete. REASON Possible contamination of dairy animal feeds with ruminant derived meat and bone meal.

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 350 tons

DISTRIBUTION AL and MS


______________________________


PRODUCT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CODE All products manufactured from 02/01/2005 until 06/20/2006 RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER Recalling Firm: Tucker Milling LLC, Guntersville, AL, by telephone and visit on June 20, 2006, and by letter on June 23, 2006. Manufacturer: H. J. Baker and Brothers Inc., Stamford, CT. Firm initiated recall is ongoing.

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

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

DISTRIBUTION AL, GA, MS, and TN

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR AUGUST 9, 2006

###


http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ENFORCE/2006/ENF00964.html



Subject: MAD COW FEED RECALL AL AND FL VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 125 TONS Products manufactured from 02/01/2005 until 06/06/2006

Date: August 6, 2006 at 6:16 pm PST PRODUCT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 125 tons

DISTRIBUTION AL and FL

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR AUGUST 2, 2006

###

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



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

RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: VETERINARY MEDICINE -- CLASS II

______________________________


PRODUCT

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

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

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

d) Feather Meal, Recall # V-082-6 CODE

a) Bulk

b) None

c) Bulk

d) Bulk

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

REASON

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

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE 10,878.06 tons

DISTRIBUTION Nationwide

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR July 12, 2006

###

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



10,000,000+ LBS. of PROHIBITED BANNED MAD COW FEED I.E. BLOOD LACED MBM IN COMMERCE USA 2007

Date: March 21, 2007 at 2:27 pm PST

RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: VETERINARY MEDICINES -- CLASS II

___________________________________


PRODUCT

Bulk cattle feed made with recalled Darling's 85% Blood Meal, Flash Dried, Recall # V-024-2007

CODE

Cattle feed delivered between 01/12/2007 and 01/26/2007

RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER

Pfeiffer, Arno, Inc, Greenbush, WI. by conversation on February 5, 2007.

Firm initiated recall is ongoing.

REASON

Blood meal used to make cattle feed was recalled because it was cross- contaminated with prohibited bovine meat and bone meal that had been manufactured on common equipment and labeling did not bear cautionary BSE statement.

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE

42,090 lbs.

DISTRIBUTION

WI

___________________________________


PRODUCT

Custom dairy premix products: MNM ALL PURPOSE Pellet, HILLSIDE/CDL Prot- Buffer Meal, LEE, M.-CLOSE UP PX Pellet, HIGH DESERT/ GHC LACT Meal, TATARKA, M CUST PROT Meal, SUNRIDGE/CDL PROTEIN Blend, LOURENZO, K PVM DAIRY Meal, DOUBLE B DAIRY/GHC LAC Mineral, WEST PIONT/GHC CLOSEUP Mineral, WEST POINT/GHC LACT Meal, JENKS, J/COMPASS PROTEIN Meal, COPPINI - 8# SPECIAL DAIRY Mix, GULICK, L-LACT Meal (Bulk), TRIPLE J - PROTEIN/LACTATION, ROCK CREEK/GHC MILK Mineral, BETTENCOURT/GHC S.SIDE MK-MN, BETTENCOURT #1/GHC MILK MINR, V&C DAIRY/GHC LACT Meal, VEENSTRA, F/GHC LACT Meal, SMUTNY, A- BYPASS ML W/SMARTA, Recall # V-025-2007

CODE

The firm does not utilize a code - only shipping documentation with commodity and weights identified.

RECALLING FIRM/MANUFACTURER

Rangen, Inc, Buhl, ID, by letters on February 13 and 14, 2007. Firm initiated recall is complete.

REASON

Products manufactured from bulk feed containing blood meal that was cross contaminated with prohibited meat and bone meal and the labeling did not bear cautionary BSE statement.

VOLUME OF PRODUCT IN COMMERCE


9,997,976 lbs.


DISTRIBUTION

ID and NV

END OF ENFORCEMENT REPORT FOR MARCH 21, 2007


http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/EnforcementReports/2007/ucm120446.htm



Saturday, November 6, 2010

TAFS1 Position Paper on Position Paper on Relaxation of the Feed Ban in the EU Berne, 2010 TAFS

INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR TRANSMISSIBLE ANIMAL DISEASES AND FOOD SAFETY a non-profit Swiss Foundation


http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2010/11/tafs1-position-paper-on-position-paper.html



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

"Löcher wie in einem Schweizer Käse" hat auch Terry Singeltary im Regelwerk der FDA ausgemacht. Der Texaner kam auf einem tragischen Umweg zu dem Thema: Nachdem seine Mutter 1997 binnen weniger Wochen an der Creutzfeldt-Jakob-Krankheit gestorben war, versuchte er, die Ursachen der Infektion aufzuspüren. Er klagte auf die Herausgabe von Regierungsdokumenten und arbeitete sich durch Fachliteratur; heute ist er überzeugt, dass seine Mutter durch die stetige Einnahme von angeblich kräftigenden Mitteln erkrankte, in denen - völlig legal - Anteile aus Rinderprodukten enthalten sind.

Von der Fachwelt wurde Singeltary lange als versponnener Außenseiter belächelt. Doch mittlerweile sorgen sich auch Experten, dass ausgerechnet diese verschreibungsfreien Wundercocktails zur Stärkung von Intelligenz, Immunsystem oder Libido von den Importbeschränkungen ausgenommen sind. Dabei enthalten die Pillen und Ampullen, die in Supermärkten verkauft werden, exotische Mixturen aus Rinderaugen; dazu Extrakte von Hypophyse oder Kälberföten, Prostata, Lymphknoten und gefriergetrocknetem Schweinemagen. In die USA hereingelassen werden auch Blut, Fett, Gelatine und Samen. Diese Stoffe tauchen noch immer in US-Produkten auf, inklusive Medizin und Kosmetika. Selbst in Impfstoffen waren möglicherweise gefährliche Rinderprodukte enthalten. Zwar fordert die FDA schon seit acht Jahren die US-Pharmaindustrie auf, keine Stoffe aus Ländern zu benutzen, in denen die Gefahr einer BSE-Infizierung besteht. Aber erst kürzlich verpflichteten sich fünf Unternehmen, darunter Branchenführer wie GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis und American Home Products, ihre Seren nur noch aus unverdächtigem Material herzustellen.


"Its as full of holes as Swiss Cheese" says Terry Singeltary of the FDA regulations. ...


http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-18578755.html



http://wissen.spiegel.de/wissen/image/show.html?did=18578755&aref=image024/E0108/SCSP200100901440145.pdf&thumb=false



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




P.9.21


Molecular characterization of BSE in Canada


Jianmin Yang1, Sandor Dudas2, Catherine Graham2, Markus Czub3, Tim McAllister1, Stefanie Czub1 1Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Centre, Canada; 2National and OIE BSE Reference Laboratory, Canada; 3University of Calgary, Canada

Background: Three BSE types (classical and two atypical) have been identified on the basis of molecular characteristics of the misfolded protein associated with the disease. To date, each of these three types have been detected in Canadian cattle.

Objectives: This study was conducted to further characterize the 16 Canadian BSE cases based on the biochemical properties of there associated PrPres. Methods: Immuno-reactivity, molecular weight, glycoform profiles and relative proteinase K sensitivity of the PrPres from each of the 16 confirmed Canadian BSE cases was determined using modified Western blot analysis.

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

Discussion: The C, L and H type BSE cases in Canada exhibit molecular characteristics similar to those described for classical and atypical BSE cases from Europe and Japan. This supports the theory that the importation of BSE contaminated feedstuff is the source of C-type BSE in Canada. It also suggests a similar cause or source for atypical BSE in these countries.


http://www.prion2009.com/sites/default/files/Prion2009_Book_of_Abstracts.pdf




REVIEW ARTICLES

Atypical transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in ruminants: a challenge for disease surveillance and control

Torsten Seuberlich1, Dagmar Heim and Andreas Zurbriggen Correspondence: 1Corresponding Author: Torsten Seuberlich, NeuroCentre, National and OIE Reference Laboratories for BSE and Scrapie, DCR-VPH, Bremgartenstrasse 109a, CH-3001 Berne, Switzerland. torsten.seuberlich@itn.unibe.ch

Since 1987, when bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) emerged as a novel disease in cattle, enormous efforts were undertaken to monitor and control the disease in ruminants worldwide. The driving force was its high economic impact, which resulted from trade restrictions and the loss of consumer confidence in beef products, the latter because BSE turned out to be a fatal zoonosis, causing variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in human beings. The ban on meat and bone meal in livestock feed and the removal of specified risk materials from the food chain were the main measures to successfully prevent infection in cattle and to protect human beings from BSE exposure. However, although BSE is now under control, previously unknown, so-called atypical transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in cattle and small ruminants have been identified by enhanced disease surveillance. This report briefly reviews and summarizes the current level of knowledge on the spectrum of TSEs in cattle and small ruminants and addresses the question of the extent to which such atypical TSEs have an effect on disease surveillance and control strategies.

Key Words: Atypical • bovine spongiform encephalopathy • cattle • disease control • prion • ruminants • scrapie • transmissible spongiform encephalopathies


http://jvdi.org/cgi/content/abstract/22/6/823?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=prion&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&volume=22&issue=6&resourcetype=HWCIT



Sunday, April 18, 2010

SCRAPIE AND ATYPICAL SCRAPIE TRANSMISSION STUDIES A REVIEW 2010


http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2010/04/scrapie-and-atypical-scrapie.html



Friday, August 27, 2010

NEW ATYPICAL NOR-98 SCRAPIE CASE DETECTED IDAHO NOW 5 CASES DOCUMENTED 2010


http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-atypical-nor-98-scrapie-case.html



Sunday, October 3, 2010

Scrapie, Nor-98 atypical Scrapie, and BSE in sheep and goats North America, who's looking ?


http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2010/10/scrapie-nor-98-atypical-scrapie-and-bse.html





UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VS GALEN J. NIEHUES


FAKED MAD COW FEED TEST ON 92 BSE INSPECTION REPORTS FOR APPROXIMATELY 100 CATTLE OPERATIONS


UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VS GALEN J. NIEHUES FAKED MAD COW FEED TEST ON 92 BSE INSPECTION REPORTS FOR APPROXIMATELY 100 CATTLE OPERATIONS

4:10-cr-03119-RGK -CRZ Doc # 1 Filed: 11/16/10 Page 1 of 4 - Page ID #1

FILED

U.S. DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA

10 NOV 16 PM 4:16

OFFICE OF THE CLERK

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff,

vs.

GALEN J. NIEHUES,

Defendant.

INDICTMENT

18 U.S.C. § 1001

18 U.S.C. § 1341

The Grand Jury charges that:

INTRODUCTION

At all times material to this Indictment: Thursday, November 18, 2010


snip...end...please see full text ;



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VS GALEN J. NIEHUES FAKED MAD COW FEED TEST ON 92 BSE INSPECTION REPORTS FOR APPROXIMATELY 100 CATTLE OPERATIONS


http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/11/united-states-of-america-vs-galen-j.html




Wednesday, November 17, 2010


MAD COW TESTING FAKED IN USA BY Nebraska INSPECTOR Senator Mike Johanns STATE


http://madcowtesting.blogspot.com/2010/11/mad-cow-testing-faked-in-usa-by.html




Tuesday, November 02, 2010


IN CONFIDENCE


The information contained herein should not be disseminated further except on the basis of "NEED TO KNOW"


BSE - ATYPICAL LESION DISTRIBUTION (RBSE 92-21367) statutory (obex only) diagnostic criteria CVL 1992


http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2010/11/bse-atypical-lesion-distribution-rbse.html




Seven main threats for the future linked to prions


The NeuroPrion network has identified seven main threats for the future linked to prions.

First threat

The TSE road map defining the evolution of European policy for protection against prion diseases is based on a certain numbers of hypotheses some of which may turn out to be erroneous. In particular, a form of BSE (called atypical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), recently identified by systematic testing in aged cattle without clinical signs, may be the origin of classical BSE and thus potentially constitute a reservoir, which may be impossible to eradicate if a sporadic origin is confirmed.

*** Also, a link is suspected between atypical BSE and some apparently sporadic cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. These atypical BSE cases constitute an unforeseen first threat that could sharply modify the European approach to prion diseases...


http://www.neuroprion.org/en/np-neuroprion.html



http://prionpathy.blogspot.com/



http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/




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




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




Monday, May 19, 2008


SPORADIC CJD IN FARMERS, FARMERS WIVES, FROM FARMS WITH BSE HERD AND ABATTOIRS


http://bseinquiry.blogspot.com/2008/05/sporadic-cjd-in-farmers-farmers-wives.html





PLEASE SEE the dramatic increase in sporadic CJD cases in documented BSE countries, then think, BSE can propagate as nvCJD and sporadic CJD in the lab ;



TOTAL CASES OF SPORADIC CJD (DEATHS) DEFINITE AND PROBABLE CASES


Australia Austria Canada France Germany Italy Netherlands Slovakia Spain Switzerland UK


http://www.eurocjd.ed.ac.uk/sporadic.htm




USA


5 Includes 16 cases in which the diagnosis is pending, and 18 inconclusive cases;

6 Includes 21 (19 from 2010) cases with type determination pending in which the diagnosis of vCJD has been excluded.


2010


PLEASE NOTE REFERENCE LINES 5. AND 6.

Monday, August 9, 2010

National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center Cases Examined (July 31, 2010) Year Total Referrals2 Prion Disease Sporadic Familial Iatrogenic vCJD

1996 & earlier 51 33 28 5 0 0

1997 114 68 59 9 0 0

1998 88 52 44 7 1 0

1999 120 72 64 8 0 0

2000 146 103 89 14 0 0

2001 209 119 109 10 0 0

2002 248 149 125 22 2 0

2003 274 176 137 39 0 0

2004 325 186 164 21 0 1(3)

2005 344 194 157 36 1 0

2006 383 197 166 29 0 2(4)

2007 377 214 187 27 0 0

2008 394 231 204 25 0 0

2009 425 259 216 43 0 0

2010 204 124 85 20 0 0

TOTAL 3702(5) 2177(6) 1834 315 4 3

1 Listed based on the year of death or, if not available, on year of referral;

2 Cases with suspected prion disease for which brain tissue and/or blood (in familial cases) were submitted;

3 Disease acquired in the United Kingdom;

4 Disease was acquired in the United Kingdom in one case and in Saudi Arabia in the other case;

5 Includes 16 cases in which the diagnosis is pending, and 18 inconclusive cases;

6 Includes 21 (19 from 2010) cases with type determination pending in which the diagnosis of vCJD has been excluded.


http://www.cjdsurveillance.com/pdf/case-table.pdf




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




Atypical BSE in Cattle

BSE has been linked to the human disease variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD). The known exposure pathways for humans contracting vCJD are through the consumption of beef and beef products contaminated by the BSE agent and through blood transfusions. However, recent scientific evidence suggests that the BSE agent may play a role in the development of other forms of human prion diseases as well. These studies suggest that classical type of BSE may cause type 2 sporadic CJD and that H-type atypical BSE is connected with a familial form of CJD.

To date the OIE/WAHO assumes that the human and animal health standards set out in the BSE chapter for classical BSE (C-Type) applies to all forms of BSE which include the H-type and L-type atypical forms. This assumption is scientifically not completely justified and accumulating evidence suggests that this may in fact not be the case. Molecular characterization and the spatial distribution pattern of histopathologic lesions and immunohistochemistry (IHC) signals are used to identify and characterize atypical BSE. Both the L-type and H-type atypical cases display significant differences in the conformation and spatial accumulation of the disease associated prion protein (PrPSc) in brains of afflicted cattle. Transmission studies in bovine transgenic and wild type mouse models support that the atypical BSE types might be unique strains because they have different incubation times and lesion profiles when compared to C-type BSE. When L-type BSE was inoculated into ovine transgenic mice and Syrian hamster the resulting molecular fingerprint had changed, either in the first or a subsequent passage, from L-type into C-type BSE. In addition, non-human primates are specifically susceptible for atypical BSE as demonstrated by an approximately 50% shortened incubation time for L-type BSE as compared to C-type. Considering the current scientific information available, it cannot be assumed that these different BSE types pose the same human health risks as C-type BSE or that these risks are mitigated by the same protective measures.

snip...see full text ;


http://www.prionetcanada.ca/detail.aspx?menu=5&dt=293380&app=93&cat1=387&tp=20&lk=no&cat2



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.

page 114 ;


http://ww2.isid.org/Downloads/14th_ICID_ISE_Abstracts.pdf




The EMBO Journal (2002) 21, 6358 - 6366 doi:10.1093/emboj/cdf653

BSE prions propagate as either variant CJD-like or sporadic CJD-like prion strains in transgenic mice expressing human prion protein

Emmanuel A. Asante1, Jacqueline M. Linehan1, Melanie Desbruslais1, Susan Joiner1, Ian Gowland1, Andrew L. Wood1, Julie Welch1, Andrew F. Hill1, Sarah E. Lloyd1, Jonathan D.F. Wadsworth1 and John Collinge1

1.MRC Prion Unit and Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK Correspondence to:

John Collinge, E-mail: j.collinge@prion.ucl.ac.uk

Received 1 August 2002; Accepted 17 October 2002; Revised 24 September 2002


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


Abstract

Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) has been recognized to date only in individuals homozygous for methionine at PRNP codon 129. Here we show that transgenic mice expressing human PrP methionine 129, inoculated with either bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or variant CJD prions, may develop the neuropathological and molecular phenotype of vCJD, consistent with these diseases being caused by the same prion strain. Surprisingly, however, BSE transmission to these transgenic mice, in addition to producing a vCJD-like phenotype, can also result in a distinct molecular phenotype that is indistinguishable from that of sporadic CJD with PrPSc type 2. These data suggest that more than one BSE-derived prion strain might infect humans; it is therefore possible that some patients with a phenotype consistent with sporadic CJD may have a disease arising from BSE exposure.

Keywords:BSE, Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, prion, transgenic

http://www.nature.com/emboj/journal/v21/n23/abs/7594869a.html




BSE prions propagate as either variant CJD-like or sporadic CJD-like prion strains in transgenic mice expressing human prion protein


Emmanuel A. Asante, Jacqueline M. Linehan, Melanie Desbruslais, Susan Joiner, Ian Gowland, Andrew L. Wood, Julie Welch, Andrew F. Hill, Sarah E. Lloyd, Jonathan D.F. Wadsworth, and John Collinge1 MRC Prion Unit and Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, University College, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK 1Corresponding author e-mail: j.collinge@prion.ucl.ac.ukReceived August 1, 2002; Revised September 24, 2002; Accepted October 17, 2002.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC136957/?tool=pubmed




5 Includes 28 cases in which the diagnosis is pending, and 17 inconclusive cases;

6 Includes 28 (24 from 2010) cases with type determination pending in which the diagnosis of vCJD has been excluded


http://www.cjdsurveillance.com/pdf/case-table.pdf




CJD TEXAS 38 YEAR OLD FEMALE WORKED SLAUGHTERING CATTLE EXPOSED TO BRAIN AND SPINAL CORD MATTER

" Up until about 6 years ago, the pt worked at Tyson foods where she worked on the assembly line, slaughtering cattle and preparing them for packaging. She was exposed to brain and spinal cord matter when she would euthanize the cattle. "


http://www.recordandoalinda.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19:cjd-english-info&catid=9:cjd-ingles&Itemid=8




According to the World Health Organisation, the future public health threat of vCJD in the UK and Europe and potentially the rest of the world is of concern and currently unquantifiable. However, the possibility of a significant and geographically diverse vCJD epidemic occurring over the next few decades cannot be dismissed.

The key word here is diverse. What does diverse mean?

If USA scrapie transmitted to USA bovine does not produce pathology as the UK c-BSE, then why would CJD from there look like UK vCJD?"

SEE FULL TEXT ;



http://www.promedmail.org/pls/apex/f?p=2400:1001:568933508083034::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,82101



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




Saturday, January 16, 2010

Evidence For CJD TSE Transmission Via Endoscopes 1-24-3

re-Singeltary to Bramble et al Evidence For CJD/TSE Transmission Via Endoscopes

From Terry S. Singletary, Sr flounder@wt.net 1-24-3


http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2010/01/evidence-for-cjd-tse-transmission-via.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



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



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



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



Friday, February 05, 2010


New Variant Creutzfelt Jakob Disease case reports United States 2010 A Review


http://vcjd.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-variant-creutzfelt-jakob-disease.html



Manuscript Draft Manuscript Number: Title: HUMAN and ANIMAL TSE Classifications i.e. mad cow disease and the UKBSEnvCJD only theory Article Type: Personal View Corresponding Author: Mr. Terry S. Singeltary, Corresponding Author's Institution: na First Author: Terry S Singeltary, none Order of Authors: Terry S Singeltary, none; Terry S. Singeltary

Abstract: TSEs have been rampant in the USA for decades in many species, and they all have been rendered and fed back to animals for human/animal consumption. 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 2007.


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



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



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 ;


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




BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL

BMJ 1999;319:1312 (Published 13 November 1999)

Re: vCJD in the USA * BSE in U.S. 15 November 1999

Terry S Singeltary

snip...

It's their move, it's CHECK, but once CHECKMATE has been called, how many thousands or millions, will be at risk or infected or even dead. You can't play around with these TSE's. I cannot stress that enough. They are only looking at body bags, and the fact the count is so low. But, then you have to look at the fact it is not a reportable disease in most states, mis-diagnosis, no autopsies performed. The fact that their one-in-a- million theory is a crude survey done about 5 years ago, that's a joke, under the above circumstances. A bad joke indeed........

snip...


http://www.bmj.com/content/319/7220/1312.3.extract/reply#bmj_el_5406




BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL

BMJ 2000;320:8 doi:10.1136/bmj.320.7226.8/b (Published 1 January 2000)

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

2 January 2000

Terry S Singeltary

In reading your short article about 'Scientist warn of CJD epidemic' news in brief Jan. 1, 2000. I find the findings in the PNAS old news, made famous again. Why is the U.S. still sitting on their butts, ignoring the facts? We have the beginning of a CJD epidemic in the U.S., and the U.S. Gov. is doing everything in it's power to conceal it.

The exact same recipe for B.S.E. existed in the U.S. for years and years. In reading over the Qualitative Analysis of BSE Risk Factors-1, this is a 25 page report by the USDA:APHIS:VS. It could have been done in one page. The first page, fourth paragraph says it all;

"Similarities exist in the two countries usage of continuous rendering technology and the lack of usage of solvents, however, large differences still remain with other risk factors which greatly reduce the potential risk at the national level."

Then, the next 24 pages tries to down-play the high risks of B.S.E. in the U.S., with nothing more than the cattle to sheep ratio count, and the geographical locations of herds and flocks. That's all the evidence they can come up with, in the next 24 pages.

Something else I find odd, page 16;

"In the United Kingdom there is much concern for a specific continuous rendering technology which uses lower temperatures and accounts for 25 percent of total output. This technology was _originally_ designed and imported from the United States. However, the specific application in the production process is _believed_ to be different in the two countries."

A few more factors to consider, page 15;

snip...see full text ;


http://www.bmj.com/content/320/7226/8.3.extract/reply#bmj_el_6117




Vol. 285 No. 6, February 14, 2001

Letters

Diagnosis and Reporting of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

To the Editor: In their Research Letter, Dr Gibbons and colleagues1 reported that the annual US death rate due to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has been stable since 1985. These estimates, however, are based only on reported cases, and do not include misdiagnosed or preclinical cases. It seems to me that misdiagnosis alone would drastically change these figures. An unknown number of persons with a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease in fact may have CJD, although only a small number of these patients receive the postmortem examination necessary to make this diagnosis. Furthermore, only a few states have made CJD reportable. Human and animal transmissible spongiform encephalopathies should be reportable nationwide and internationally.

Terry S. Singeltary, Sr Bacliff, Tex


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




JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY

doi: 10.1212/01.WNL.0000036913.87823.D6 Neurology January 28, 2003 vol. 60 no. 2 176-181

MARCH 26, 2003

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

Email Terry S. Singeltary:

[log in to unmask]

I lost my mother to hvCJD (Heidenhain Variant CJD). I would like to comment on the CDC's attempts to monitor the occurrence of emerging forms of CJD. Asante, Collinge et al [1] have reported that BSE transmission to the 129-methionine genotype can lead to an alternate phenotype that is indistinguishable from type 2 PrPSc, the commonest sporadic CJD. However, CJD and all human TSEs are not reportable nationally. CJD and all human TSEs must be made reportable in every state and internationally. I hope that the CDC does not continue to expect us to still believe that the 85%+ of all CJD cases which are sporadic are all spontaneous, without route/source. We have many TSEs in the USA in both animal and man. CWD in deer/elk is spreading rapidly and CWD does transmit to mink, ferret, cattle, and squirrel monkey by intracerebral inoculation. With the known incubation periods in other TSEs, oral transmission studies of CWD may take much longer. Every victim/family of CJD/TSEs should be asked about route and source of this agent. To prolong this will only spread the agent and needlessly expose others. In light of the findings of Asante and Collinge et al, there should be drastic measures to safeguard the medical and surgical arena from sporadic CJDs and all human TSEs. I only ponder how many sporadic CJDs in the USA are type 2 PrPSc?


http://www.neurology.org/content/60/2/176.abstract/reply#neurology_el_535




Newsdesk

The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Volume 3, Issue 8, Page 463, August 2003

doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(03)00715-1Cite or Link Using DOI

Tracking spongiform encephalopathies in North America

Xavier Bosch

"My name is Terry S Singeltary Sr, and I live in Bacliff, Texas. I lost my mom to hvCJD (Heidenhain variant CJD) and have been searching for answers ever since. What I have found is that we have not been told the truth. CWD in deer and elk is a small portion of a much bigger problem." 49-year-old Singeltary is one of a number of people who have remained largely unsatisfied after being told that a close relative died from a rapidly progressive dementia compatible with spontaneous Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). So he decided to gather hundreds of documents on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) and realised that if Britons could get variant CJD from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), Americans might get a similar disorder from chronic wasting disease (CWD)-the relative of mad cow disease seen among deer and elk in the USA. Although his feverish.


http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1473309903007151



http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(03)00715-1/fulltext



http://www.mdconsult.com/das/article/body/180784492-2/jorg=journal&source=&sp=13979213&sid=0/N/368742/1.html?issn=14733099




THE PATHOLOGICAL PROTEIN

BY Philip Yam

Yam Philip Yam News Editor Scientific American www.sciam.com

Answering critics like Terry Singeltary, who feels that the U.S. under- counts CJD, Schonberger conceded that the current surveillance system has errors but stated that most of the errors will be confined to the older population.

CHAPTER 14

Laying Odds

Are prion diseases more prevalent than we thought?

Researchers and government officials badly underestimated the threat that mad cow disease posed when it first appeared in Britain. They didn't think bovine spongiform encephalopathy was a zoonosis-an animal disease that can sicken people. The 1996 news that BSE could infect humans with a new form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease stunned the world. It also got some biomedical researchers wondering whether sporadic CJD may really be a manifestation of a zoonotic sickness. Might it be caused by the ingestion of prions, as variant CJD is?

Revisiting Sporadic CJD

It's not hard to get Terry Singeltary going. "I have my conspiracy theories," admitted the 49-year-old Texan.1 Singeltary is probably the nation's most relentless consumer advocate when it comes to issues in prion diseases. He has helped families learn about the sickness and coordinated efforts with support groups such as CJD Voice and the CJD Foundation. He has also connected with others who are critical of the American way of handling the threat of prion diseases. Such critics include Consumers Union's Michael Hansen, journalist John Stauber, and Thomas Pringle, who used to run the voluminous www.madcow. org Web site. These three lend their expertise to newspaper and magazine stories about prion diseases, and they usually argue that prions represent more of a threat than people realize, and that the government has responded poorly to the dangers because it is more concerned about protecting the beef industry than people's health.

Singeltary has similar inclinations. ...


http://books.google.com/books?id=ePbrQNFrHtoC&pg=PA223&lpg=PA223&dq=the+pathological+protein+laying+odds+It%E2%80%99s+not+hard+to+get+Terry+Singeltary+going&source=bl&ots=um0PFAZSZD&sig=JWaGR7M7-1WeAr2qAXq8D6J_jak&hl=en&ei=MhtjS8jMJM2ztgeFoa2iBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false



http://www.springerlink.com/content/r2k2622661473336/fulltext.pdf?page=1



http://www.thepathologicalprotein.com/




USA ???


Friday, November 30, 2007

CJD QUESTIONNAIRE USA CWRU AND CJD FOUNDATION


http://cjdquestionnaire.blogspot.com/2007/11/cjd-questionnaire.html




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

Labels: , , , , , ,

Friday, August 20, 2010

Heidenhain Variant of Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease With the Co-Occurrence of Two Different Types of Prion Protein

88 Heidenhain Variant of Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease With the Co-Occurrence of Two Different Types of Prion Protein

Ignazio Cali1, Gianfranco Puoti1, Janis Blevins1, Adeela Alizai2, Pierluigi Gambetti1. 1Case Western Reserve University; 2Temple University Hospital

Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (sCJD) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder classified into five distinct phenotypes based on i) the polymorphic methionine (M)/valine (V) genotype at codon 129, and ii) detection of either type 1 or type 2 of the protease-resistant prion protein (PrPres) (Parchi et al., Ann Neurol 1999; Gambetti et al., Br Med Bull 2003). Sporadic CJDMM1, the most common CJD subtype, is the only CJD subtype that includes the Heidenhain variant (HsCJD), a condition characterized by early and prominent visual deficits associated with the preferential involvement of the occipital cortex (Kropp et al., Arch Neurol 1999). The histopathological phenotype of HsCJD is indistinguishable from that of sCJDMM1. Recently, we described a group of sCJD cases identified as sCJDMM1-2 in which both PrPres types were found to co-exist in the same brain (Cali et al., Brain 2009). In the present study, we investigated whether the Heidenhain clinical phenotype is present in sCJDMM1-2. To date, the screening of clinical histories from 59 sCJDMM1-2 patients that were received at the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center between 1998 and 2009 has led to the identification of 8 (14%) HsCJDMM1-2 subjects. The detailed study of two HsCJDMM1-2 cases shows that the immunohistopathological features as well as PrPres type determined in different brain locations are consistent with the features of the sCJDMM1-2 subtype (Cali et al., Brain 2009). The visual cortex is severely affected in both cases and is found to carry both PrPres types (Kropp et al., Arch Neurol 1999). To our knowledge, this is the first finding of HsCJD in sCJDMM1-2 and indicates that the presence of even relatively large amounts of PrPres type 2 does not impede the expression of HsCJD.

(Supported by, NIH AG-14359, CDC UR8/CCU515004 and Charles S. Britton Foundation; the CDC Foundation).

http://journals.lww.com/jneuropath/Fulltext/2010/05000/American_Association_of_Neuropathologists,_Inc__.9.aspx




Monday, December 14, 2009


Similarities between Forms of Sheep Scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Are Encoded by Distinct Prion Types



(hmmm, this is getting interesting now...TSS)



> Sporadic CJD type 1 and atypical/ Nor98 scrapie are characterized by fine (reticular) deposits,


see also ;


> All of the Heidenhain variants were of the methionine/ methionine type 1 molecular subtype.


http://cjdusa.blogspot.com/2009/09/co-existence-of-scrapie-prion-protein.html



see full text ;


Monday, December 14, 2009

Similarities between Forms of Sheep Scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Are Encoded by Distinct Prion Types


http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2009/12/similarities-between-forms-of-sheep.html




Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Nor98-like Scrapie in the United States of America


http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2009/04/nor98-like-scrapie-in-united-states-of.html




Wednesday, March 3, 2010

NOR-98 ATYPICAL SCRAPIE USA 4 CASES DETECTED JANUARY 2010


http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2010/03/nor-98-atypical-scrapie-usa-4-cases.html




P03.141

Aspects of the Cerebellar Neuropathology in Nor98

Gavier-Widén, D1; Benestad, SL2; Ottander, L1; Westergren, E1 1National Veterinary Insitute, Sweden; 2National Veterinary Institute,

Norway Nor98 is a prion disease of old sheep and goats. This atypical form of scrapie was first described in Norway in 1998. Several features of Nor98 were shown to be different from classical scrapie including the distribution of disease associated prion protein (PrPd) accumulation in the brain. The cerebellum is generally the most affected brain area in Nor98. The study here presented aimed at adding information on the neuropathology in the cerebellum of Nor98 naturally affected sheep of various genotypes in Sweden and Norway. A panel of histochemical and immunohistochemical (IHC) stainings such as IHC for PrPd, synaptophysin, glial fibrillary acidic protein, amyloid, and cell markers for phagocytic cells were conducted. The type of histological lesions and tissue reactions were evaluated. The types of PrPd deposition were characterized. The cerebellar cortex was regularly affected, even though there was a variation in the severity of the lesions from case to case. Neuropil vacuolation was more marked in the molecular layer, but affected also the granular cell layer. There was a loss of granule cells. Punctate deposition of PrPd was characteristic. It was morphologically and in distribution identical with that of synaptophysin, suggesting that PrPd accumulates in the synaptic structures. PrPd was also observed in the granule cell layer and in the white matter. The pathology features of Nor98 in the cerebellum of the affected sheep showed similarities with those of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

***The pathology features of Nor98 in the cerebellum of the affected sheep showed similarities with those of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

http://www.prion2007.com/pdf/Prion%20Book%20of%20Abstracts.pdf



PR-26

NOR98 SHOWS MOLECULAR FEATURES REMINISCENT OF GSS

R. Nonno1, E. Esposito1, G. Vaccari1, E. Bandino2, M. Conte1, B. Chiappini1, S. Marcon1, M. Di Bari1, S.L. Benestad3, U. Agrimi1 1 Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Public Health, Rome, Italy (romolo.nonno@iss.it); 2 Istituto Zooprofilattico della Sardegna, Sassari, Italy; 3 National Veterinary Institute, Department of Pathology, Oslo, Norway

Molecular variants of PrPSc are being increasingly investigated in sheep scrapie and are generally referred to as "atypical" scrapie, as opposed to "classical scrapie". Among the atypical group, Nor98 seems to be the best identified. We studied the molecular properties of Italian and Norwegian Nor98 samples by WB analysis of brain homogenates, either untreated, digested with different concentrations of proteinase K, or subjected to enzymatic deglycosylation. The identity of PrP fragments was inferred by means of antibodies spanning the full PrP sequence. We found that undigested brain homogenates contain a Nor98-specific PrP fragment migrating at 11 kDa (PrP11), truncated at both the C-terminus and the N-terminus, and not N-glycosylated. After mild PK digestion, Nor98 displayed full-length PrP (FL-PrP) and N-glycosylated C-terminal fragments (CTF), along with increased levels of PrP11. Proteinase K digestion curves (0,006-6,4 mg/ml) showed that FL-PrP and CTF are mainly digested above 0,01 mg/ml, while PrP11 is not entirely digested even at the highest concentrations, similarly to PrP27-30 associated with classical scrapie. Above 0,2 mg/ml PK, most Nor98 samples showed only PrP11 and a fragment of 17 kDa with the same properties of PrP11, that was tentatively identified as a dimer of PrP11. Detergent solubility studies showed that PrP11 is insoluble in 2% sodium laurylsorcosine and is mainly produced from detergentsoluble, full-length PrPSc. Furthermore, among Italian scrapie isolates, we found that a sample with molecular and pathological properties consistent with Nor98 showed plaque-like deposits of PrPSc in the thalamus when the brain was analysed by PrPSc immunohistochemistry. Taken together, our results show that the distinctive pathological feature of Nor98 is a PrP fragment spanning amino acids ~ 90-155. This fragment is produced by successive N-terminal and C-terminal cleavages from a full-length and largely detergent-soluble PrPSc, is produced in vivo and is extremely resistant to PK digestion.

*** Intriguingly, these conclusions suggest that some pathological features of Nor98 are reminiscent of Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease.

119

http://www.neuroprion.com/pdf_docs/conferences/prion2006/abstract_book.pdf



A newly identified type of scrapie agent can naturally infect sheep with resistant PrP genotypes

Annick Le Dur*,?, Vincent Béringue*,?, Olivier Andréoletti?, Fabienne Reine*, Thanh Lan Laï*, Thierry Baron§, Bjørn Bratberg¶, Jean-Luc Vilotte?, Pierre Sarradin**, Sylvie L. Benestad¶, and Hubert Laude*,?? +Author Affiliations

*Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires and ?Génétique Biochimique et Cytogénétique, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France; ?Unité Mixte de Recherche, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique-Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, Interactions Hôte Agent Pathogène, 31066 Toulouse, France; §Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments, Unité Agents Transmissibles Non Conventionnels, 69364 Lyon, France; **Pathologie Infectieuse et Immunologie, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 37380 Nouzilly, France; and ¶Department of Pathology, National Veterinary Institute, 0033 Oslo, Norway

***Edited by Stanley B. Prusiner, University of California, San Francisco, CA (received for review March 21, 2005)

Abstract Scrapie in small ruminants belongs to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), or prion diseases, a family of fatal neurodegenerative disorders that affect humans and animals and can transmit within and between species by ingestion or inoculation. Conversion of the host-encoded prion protein (PrP), normal cellular PrP (PrPc), into a misfolded form, abnormal PrP (PrPSc), plays a key role in TSE transmission and pathogenesis. The intensified surveillance of scrapie in the European Union, together with the improvement of PrPSc detection techniques, has led to the discovery of a growing number of so-called atypical scrapie cases. These include clinical Nor98 cases first identified in Norwegian sheep on the basis of unusual pathological and PrPSc molecular features and "cases" that produced discordant responses in the rapid tests currently applied to the large-scale random screening of slaughtered or fallen animals. Worryingly, a substantial proportion of such cases involved sheep with PrP genotypes known until now to confer natural resistance to conventional scrapie. Here we report that both Nor98 and discordant cases, including three sheep homozygous for the resistant PrPARR allele (A136R154R171), efficiently transmitted the disease to transgenic mice expressing ovine PrP, and that they shared unique biological and biochemical features upon propagation in mice. *** These observations support the view that a truly infectious TSE agent, unrecognized until recently, infects sheep and goat flocks and may have important implications in terms of scrapie control and public health.

http://www.pnas.org/content/102/44/16031.abstract



Monday, December 1, 2008

When Atypical Scrapie cross species barriers

Authors

Andreoletti O., Herva M. H., Cassard H., Espinosa J. C., Lacroux C., Simon S., Padilla D., Benestad S. L., Lantier F., Schelcher F., Grassi J., Torres, J. M., UMR INRA ENVT 1225, Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Toulouse.France; ICISA-INlA, Madrid, Spain; CEA, IBiTec-5, DSV, CEA/Saclay, Gif sur Yvette cedex, France; National Veterinary Institute, Postboks 750 Sentrum, 0106 Oslo, Norway, INRA IASP, Centre INRA de Tours, 3738O Nouzilly, France.

Content

Atypical scrapie is a TSE occurring in small ruminants and harbouring peculiar clinical, epidemiological and biochemical properties. Currently this form of disease is identified in a large number of countries. In this study we report the transmission of an atypical scrapie isolate through different species barriers as modeled by transgenic mice (Tg) expressing different species PRP sequence.

The donor isolate was collected in 1995 in a French commercial sheep flock. inoculation into AHQ/AHQ sheep induced a disease which had all neuro-pathological and biochemical characteristics of atypical scrapie. Transmitted into Transgenic mice expressing either ovine or PrPc, the isolate retained all the described characteristics of atypical scrapie.

Surprisingly the TSE agent characteristics were dramatically different v/hen passaged into Tg bovine mice. The recovered TSE agent had biological and biochemical characteristics similar to those of atypical BSE L in the same mouse model. Moreover, whereas no other TSE agent than BSE were shown to transmit into Tg porcine mice, atypical scrapie was able to develop into this model, albeit with low attack rate on first passage.

Furthermore, after adaptation in the porcine mouse model this prion showed similar biological and biochemical characteristics than BSE adapted to this porcine mouse model. Altogether these data indicate.

(i) the unsuspected potential abilities of atypical scrapie to cross species barriers

(ii) the possible capacity of this agent to acquire new characteristics when crossing species barrier

These findings raise some interrogation on the concept of TSE strain and on the origin of the diversity of the TSE agents and could have consequences on field TSE control measures.

http://www.neuroprion.org/resources/pdf_docs/conferences/prion2008/abstract-book-prion2008.pdf



Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Nor98-like Scrapie in the United States of America


http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2009/04/nor98-like-scrapie-in-united-states-of.html



Heidenhain Variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease autopsy case report 'MOM'

DIVISION OF NEUROPATHOLOGY University of Texas Medical Branch 114 McCullough Bldg. Galveston, Texas 77555-0785

FAX COVER SHEET

DATE: 4-23-98

TO: Mr. Terry Singeltary @ -------

FROM: Gerald Campbell

FAX: (409) 772-5315 PHONE: (409) 772-2881

Number of Pages (including cover sheet):

Message:

*CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE*

This document accompanying this transmission contains confidential information belonging to the sender that is legally privileged. This information is intended only for the use of the individual or entry names above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying distribution, or the taking of any action in reliances on the contents of this telefaxed information is strictly prohibited. If you received this telefax in error, please notify us by telephone immediately to arrange for return of the original documents. -------------------------- Patient Account: 90000014-518 Med. Rec. No.: (0160)118511Q Patient Name: POULTER, BARBARA Age: 63 YRS DOB: 10/17/34 Sex: F Admitting Race: C

Attending Dr.: Date / Time Admitted : 12/14/97 1228 Copies to:

UTMB University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston, Texas 77555-0543 (409) 772-1238 Fax (409) 772-5683 Pathology Report

FINAL AUTOPSY DIAGNOSIS Autopsy' Office (409)772-2858

Autopsy NO.: AU-97-00435

AUTOPSY INFORMATION: Occupation: Unknown Birthplace: Unknown Residence: Crystal Beach Date/Time of Death: 12/14/97 13:30 Date/Time of Autopsy: 12/15/97 15:00 Pathologist/Resident: Pencil/Fernandez Service: Private Restriction: Brain only

FINAL AUTOPSY DIAGNOSIS

I. Brain: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Heidenhain variant.


http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2008/07/heidenhain-variant-creutzfeldt-jakob.html




Thursday, August 19, 2010

SCRAPIE CANADA UPDATE Current as of 2010-07-31 The following table lists sheep flocks and/or goat herds confirmed to be infected with scrapie in Canada in 2010.

Current as of: 2010-07-31

http://nor-98.blogspot.com/2010/08/scrapie-canada-update-current-as-of.html



Sunday, April 18, 2010

SCRAPIE AND ATYPICAL SCRAPIE TRANSMISSION STUDIES A REVIEW 2010

http://scrapie-usa.blogspot.com/2010/04/scrapie-and-atypical-scrapie.html




Scrapie USA

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



Like lambs to the slaughter 31 March 2001 by Debora MacKenzie Magazine issue 2284

FOUR years ago, Terry Singeltary watched his mother die horribly from a degenerative brain disease. Doctors told him it was Alzheimer's, but Singeltary was suspicious. The diagnosis didn't fit her violent symptoms, and he demanded an autopsy. It showed she had died of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Most doctors believe that sCJD is caused by a prion protein deforming by chance into a killer. But Singeltary thinks otherwise. He is one of a number of campaigners who say that some sCJD, like the variant CJD related to BSE, is caused by eating meat from infected animals. Their suspicions have focused on sheep carrying scrapie, a BSE-like disease that is widespread in flocks across Europe and North America.

Now scientists in France have stumbled across new evidence that adds weight to the campaigners' fears. To their complete surprise, the researchers found that one strain of scrapie causes the same brain damage in ...


http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16922840.300-like-lambs-to-the-slaughter.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




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 would that be annually ???


if our ciphering is correct (?), that would be about 35 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



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/




TSS

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