BSE | “New Strain” Of BSE Doesn’t Affect U.S. Safety Measures | The Feb...

BSE

“New Strain” Of BSE Doesn’t Affect U.S. Safety Measures

The Feb. 17 issue of the scientific journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" featured a study by a team of researchers claiming to have discovered a “new” form of the BSE prion. For the study, scientists analyzed brain samples from eight BSE-positive Italian cows and found a variation in two of the samples. According to the scientists, the samples from these two cows were different in the accumulation of amyloid plaques they observed and the regions of the brain that were affected. Amyloid is a general term for protein fragments that the body produces normally. In a healthy brain, these protein fragments would be broken down and eliminated, but in brain degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, the fragments accumulate to form hard, insoluble plaques.

Scientific experts say that this is an interesting study but it will be important to see if other research groups can confirm it; confirmation is important to the credibility of the research.

A similar paper on an atypical BSE strain was published in the "Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases" in 2003 http://www.nih.go.jp/JJID/56/221.pdf.

Office International des Epizooties (OIE) experts conclude that the available evidence does not justify any changes in current surveillance methods, in disease control or in measures to protect human health. The risk to animals or humans has not changed and there is no reason for changes to international trade rules.

It also is important to remember that, just as the United States has firewalls to prevent BSE from spreading among cattle, there also are firewalls that protect human health even if BSE were present. The BSE agent has not been found in beef muscle cuts, it is primarily found in the brain and spinal cord. The parts of cattle that potentially could contain infectivity are required by U.S. federal law to be removed from cattle at risk for BSE and banned from the human food supply. In addition, in the U.S., any cattle showing possible neurological symptoms and all cattle that are unable to walk are banned from the human food supply.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that in the United Kingdom where there have been the most cases of BSE — 1,144 cases diagnosed in 2002 — the risk of contracting BSE from eating beef is 1 in 10 billion servings. In a minimal risk country such as the U.S., the risk is either non-existent or so low it can't be calculated.

BSE

“New Strain” Of BSE Doesn’t Affect U.S. Safety Measures

The Feb. 17 issue of the scientific journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" featured a study by a team of researchers claiming to have discovered a “new” form of the BSE prion. For the study, scientists analyzed brain samples from eight BSE-positive Italian cows and found a variation in two of the samples. According to the scientists, the samples from these two cows were different in the accumulation of amyloid plaques they observed and the regions of the brain that were affected. Amyloid is a general term for protein fragments that the body produces normally. In a healthy brain, these protein fragments would be broken down and eliminated, but in brain degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, the fragments accumulate to form hard, insoluble plaques.

Scientific experts say that this is an interesting study but it will be important to see if other research groups can confirm it; confirmation is important to the credibility of the research.

A similar paper on an atypical BSE strain was published in the "Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases" in 2003 http://www.nih.go.jp/JJID/56/221.pdf.

Office International des Epizooties (OIE) experts conclude that the available evidence does not justify any changes in current surveillance methods, in disease control or in measures to protect human health. The risk to animals or humans has not changed and there is no reason for changes to international trade rules.

It also is important to remember that, just as the United States has firewalls to prevent BSE from spreading among cattle, there also are firewalls that protect human health even if BSE were present. The BSE agent has not been found in beef muscle cuts, it is primarily found in the brain and spinal cord. The parts of cattle that potentially could contain infectivity are required by U.S. federal law to be removed from cattle at risk for BSE and banned from the human food supply. In addition, in the U.S., any cattle showing possible neurological symptoms and all cattle that are unable to walk are banned from the human food supply.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that in the United Kingdom where there have been the most cases of BSE — 1,144 cases diagnosed in 2002 — the risk of contracting BSE from eating beef is 1 in 10 billion servings. In a minimal risk country such as the U.S., the risk is either non-existent or so low it can't be calculated.