Mad Cow Disease News and Research

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Mad Cow Disease or BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is a progressive neurological disorder of cattle that results from infection by an unusual transmissible agent called a prion. The nature of the transmissible agent is not well understood. Currently, the most accepted theory is that the agent is a modified form of a normal protein known as prion protein. For reasons that are not yet understood, the normal prion protein changes into a pathogenic (harmful) form that then damages the central nervous system of cattle.

Pall launches Leukotrap Affinity Plus Prion and Leukocyte Reduction Filter System

Pall Corporation, a global leader in filtration, separation and purification, today announced the launch of the Leukotrap® Affinity Plus Prion and Leukocyte Reduction Filter System. The new blood filter reduces prions and leukocytes in a single step.

From Pall Corporation 3 Feb 2010

Normal protein can be converted into prion that causes fatal brain diseases in humans

Scientists have determined how a normal protein can be converted into a prion, an infectious agent that causes fatal brain diseases in humans and mammals.

29 Jan 2010

Business leaders should continue to monitor H1N1 risk management to alleviate major impact on costs and revenues

The swine flu pandemic may be off the media’s radar screen, but business executives can ill afford to rest easy. Experts from the National Center for Critical Incident Analysis (NCCIA), who have studied how to respond to pandemics and bioterrorism attacks, warn that executives need to continue to monitor and manage unknown risk factors that might cause the flu to have a major impact upon costs and revenues.

8 Jan 2010

Research may point to more effective therapeutic targets for prion diseases

Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have determined for the first time that prions, bits of infectious protein devoid of DNA or RNA that can cause fatal neurodegenerative disease, are capable of Darwinian evolution.

4 Jan 2010

Food health and safety stories top the list of memorable food stories of 2009

When Americans were asked which were the most memorable food stories of 2009, food health and safety stories topped the list.

17 Dec 2009

Scientists anticipate new approaches in drug development to combat prion infection

The regulating protein Srebp2 drives cholesterol formation, which prions need for their propagation, in prion-infected neuronal cells. With these findings, published in the current issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum München and Technische Universität München anticipate new approaches in drug development to combat prion infection.

20 Nov 2009

University of Leeds scientists' discovery could lead to new treatment route for BSE and CJD

A new treatment route for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and its human form Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (CJD) could be a step closer thanks to a discovery by scientists at the University of Leeds.

20 Nov 2009

Study reveals large structural differences between natural prions and man-made synthetic analogs

A collaboration between scientists at Vanderbilt University and the University of California, San Francisco has led to the first direct information about the molecular structure of prions. In addition, the study has revealed surprisingly large structural differences between natural prions and the closest synthetic analogs that scientists have created in the lab.

7 Oct 2009

Study reveals information about molecular structure of prions

6 Oct 2009

Researchers uncover evolutionary ancestry of prion gene

A University of Toronto-led team has uncovered the evolutionary ancestry of the prion gene, which may reveal new understandings of how the prion protein causes diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as "mad cow disease."

30 Sep 2009

Report outlining global weaknesses in preventing deadly diseases

Significant weaknesses undermine the global community's abilities to prevent, detect early, and respond efficiently to potentially deadly species-crossing microbes, such as the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus sweeping the globe, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. The report provides a detailed plan for establishing and funding a comprehensive, globally coordinated system to identify novel zoonotic disease threats as early as possible wherever they arise so appropriate measures can be taken to prevent significant numbers of human illnesses and deaths, and livestock losses.

23 Sep 2009

Report on species-crossing microbes and H1N1

23 Sep 2009

Mutations associated with prion diseases are sufficient to cause transmissible neurodegenerative disease

For the first time, Whitehead Institute researchers have shown definitively that mutations associated with prion diseases are sufficient to cause a transmissible neurodegenerative disease.

26 Aug 2009

Prion found to be a biomarker for pancreatic cancer

Mad cow disease is caused by the accumulation of an abnormal protein, the prion, in the brain of an affected patient. Outside of the brain, very little is known about prions.

18 Aug 2009

Farmed fish and mad cow disease – researchers air new concerns

University of Louisville neurologist Robert P. Friedland, M.D., questions the safety of eating farmed fish in the June issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, adding a new worry to concerns about the nation's food supply.

16 Jun 2009

Researchers discover how prion protein damages brain cells

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have gained a major insight into how the rogue protein responsible for mad cow disease and related neurological illnesses destroys healthy brain tissue.

11 Jun 2009

New influenza A (H1N1) having powerful impact on us

The new influenza A (H1N1), known as the swine flu, demonstrates the power of people's perceptions of risk. Sales of face masks are breaking all records not only in Mexico but also in Sweden. Hotel guests are being isolated at a hotel in Hong Kong, and people with the sniffles are being isolated in airports around the world. But before the outbreak of the flu, this was a risk that extremely few Swedes perceived as a serious threat to themselves.

6 May 2009

Prion discovery gives clue to control of mass gene expression

The discovery in common brewer's yeast of a new, infectious, misfolded protein -- or prion -- by University of Illinois at Chicago molecular biologists raises new questions about the roles played by these curious molecules, often associated with degenerative brain diseases like "mad cow" and its human counterpart, Creutzfeldt-Jakob.

15 Mar 2009

Imbalance of iron homeostasis involved in prion disease-associated neuronal demise

Imbalance of iron homeostasis is a common feature of prion disease-affected human, mouse, and hamster brains, according to a new study by Dr. Neena Singh and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, alongside collaborators from Creighton University.