The 4th U.S. Case of Mad Cow Disease: Should You Be Concerned?
April 25th, 2012 |
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On April 24, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported the fourth confirmed case of mad cow disease in the U.S., the first since 2006. In an official statement, the department’s chief veterinary officer John Clifford said that the animal (a dairy cow from central California), “was never presented for slaughter for human consumption, so at [...]
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Natural Born Prion Killers: Lichens Degrade “Mad Cow” Related Brain Pathogen
May 19th, 2011 |
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Remember mad cow disease? In the 1980s, cattle in the U.K. had begun contracting a fatal brain ailment triggered by an infectious protein called a prion. The pathogen could spread to humans who ate contaminated beef. Officials brought the bovine epidemic under control with major changes in agricultural practices. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said [...]
Keep reading »Bad prion breath: Mad cow disease agent can infect via the air
January 13th, 2011 |
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As if it weren’t bad enough that deadly prions can survive boiling and radiation, now comes word that aerosolized forms of the pathogen can enter the nose and find their way to the brain, with fatal consequences. Prions, you may recall, were the reason you avoided beef in Europe in the 1990s. They triggered [...]
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