Unfortuntately, even cattle too fastidious to eat carcases may still be exposed: “road-kill” deer and elk go rendering plants…which turn them into animal feed.

Yum, prions.

Nowadays it’s most commonly transmitted by human growth hormone (hGH) products, corneal grafts, dural grafts or electrode implants (acquired or iatrogenic form: iCJD). There is an inherited or familial form:(called fCJD). Sometimes it may appear for the first time in the patient (sporadic form: sCJD). In the hereditary form, a mutation occurs in the gene for PrP, PRNP. Acording to the CDC 10% to 15% of CJD cases are inherited.

The disease has also been shown to result from using hGH drawn from the pituitary glands of cadavers who died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, though the known incidence of this cause is (as of April 2004) quite small. The risk of infection through cadaveric hGH usage in the US only ceased when the medication was withdrawn in 1985. It may be that some recent illegal acquisition of foreign hGH has occurred with the desire of athletes to improve performance or growth.

Mrs DWDD is a MT/ASCP. She reported to me that she is aware of a patient dying of “Mad cow disease” in Western Michigan although there has never been any public acknowledgment of this fact. . . I wonder if this is true in other parts of the country?

I can’t speak to the issue of notifications about that patient’s death from “mad cow disease”.

On a more general level, mad cow disease (MCD) is one of a number of diseases knkown as TSE’s (transmissable spongiform encephalopathies). Transmissable is fancy for “spread by contagion”; spongiform is fancy for “looks like holes”; encephalopathy is fancy for “severe brain disease”.

So much of professional training is learning the fancy jargon for simple concepts – helps with beiing precise, but tends to obsccure the meaning. Sigh.

Anyway, WTF does this have to do with “mad cow disease” and Michigan?

Well – here’s teh takehome message: deer and elk have their own version of “mad cow disease”.

Yep – the infectious agents (proteins known as prions) that cause the TSE disease we know as “mad cow” cause TSE’s in deer and elk (both part of the group of critters known as cervids. The fancy anme for TSE in these critters is chronic wasting disease.

From what I can find in a cursory search, cervids with CWD haven’t been detected in Michigan, but have been detected in Wisconsin.

Soo …when hearing about “mad cow disease” in humans, it may be worth thinking about at least three possible causes:

(1) spontaneous mutation

(2) inherited (genetic)

(3) transmitted (infectious).

The foregoing (well, the latter) explain why some small meat producers will insist on controlling their herds in order to prevent introduction of TSE containing–creatures. Failure to do is suggested as one cause of spreading CWD among captive elk herds – and, of course, of spreadinng MCD among cattle.

The meat producers who control their herds to avoid TSE’s will speak of “closed herds”.

Hope this is of interest.

PS – What’s the plural of moose? mooses? meece?

PPS – More on TSE’s here. Good summary.

Go ahead…just try.

174 not voting including my beloved Issa.

American doesn’t like to see agitated black ministers rile up their congregations cause it reminds them that black people should be pissed. It is ok for the white ministers to do it because it isn’t scary to them

I think it has something to do with this…………..