August 06, 2004

New research reveals that a HUGE number of people (currently showing no clinical symptoms) in the UK may be infected with a long-incubating human form of "mad cow disease" called vCJD.

The World Health Organization factsheet for the disease appears to require an update, now that a second case of transmission has been linked to a blood transfusion. In a related story a trial of treatments for vCJD is (finally) set to launch in the UK.

posted by mecurious 20 years ago
  • MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! God Damnit!
  • QUARANTINE THE ENGLISH! GYAAAAAAH!
  • LET"S ALL YELL IN THIS THREAD IT WILL BE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!! OMG I HAVE MAD COW!!!!!!!!NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!OMGOMGOMG...OMFG!
  • You know, I think this actualy explains quite a lo@ff# crzwyldigdditch flegn uppoppo knddyk harzatzfeldt twonsimaclife womp.
  • so THAT'S what it is.
  • So the person was infected with mad cow disease, but they died of other causes? Doesnt seem like there is a whole lot to worry about, welll in the US, anyway.
  • Doesnt seem like there is a whole lot to worry about, welll in the US, anyway. ha ha ha ha ha! Haa! ha ha ha ha!
  • *starts worrying if vegetarianism is the way to go while in UK*
  • Not all people believe vCJD is the human form of BSE. Not sure what to make of Purdey though.
  • Alnedra - it might be an idea. You could eat pork and chicken (which is what I eat most of the times anyways - beef is still expensive). But the truth is that Britain is probably safer now than anywhere else in the first world. They have banned a bunch of practices that continue in the US and Canada (like feeding sheeps brains to cattle, etc) that are just begging to spread diseases (and they have their own cases of BSE popping up now).
  • What's frightening about all of this is the degree to which the USDA sounds like the British government did during the early stages of the epidemic there. For example, "Cattle brains, skull, eyes, spinal column, small intestine and other parts suspected of harboring mad cow disease" were only banned from human consumption last December. Feeding those parts to cattle has been banned for some time, but is still not banned from being used as feed for other animals, such as swine and poultry. We already know that BSE crosses species, and is transmissible via ingestion, so isn't it reasonable to assume that there may be a chance of transmission to humans from animals fed these potentially infected parts? Sure, chances are slim that you'll be exposed, and not using those parts as animal feed results in a huge waste problem, but it would be nice to see us taking the cautious route with what goes into our food supply, for once. I've never been able to sustain a vegetarian diet, but I am now eating only organic meat. Cluck cluck.
  • Gosh, were I live the only thing I have to worry about is if what I bought labeled as beef is really beef.