Doctors investigate mystery brain disease in Canada

Post by eganp » Wed, May 05, 2021, 7:23 PM UTC

admash wrote: post #141

Compounding USDA's lax practices has been its refusal to allow beef processors to independently test cattle for mad cow disease. In 2004, Creekstone Farms, a Kansas processor of black Angus beef with a large Japanese clientele, asked for permission to test its 300,000 cattle for BSE using a $500,000 testing site it had built to USDA specifications. But the agency ruled that the BSE test was licensed only for "surveil…

Post by thehappypm » Wed, May 05, 2021, 7:27 PM UTC

throwaway316943 wrote: post #123

thehappypm wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prions cannot evolve, which is why they represent such a tiny space in diseases. They're really more a quirk of chemistry than biology.

They can’t evolve independently but biological systems that produce proteins can evolve new proteins and new ways of manipulating proteins. A nightmare scenario would be a bacterial or viral mutation that produced a deadly prion.

Post by s1artibartfast » Wed, May 05, 2021, 7:36 PM UTC

mannerheim wrote: post #201

admash wrote: post #141

Compounding USDA's lax practices has been its refusal to allow beef processors to independently test cattle for mad cow disease. In 2004, Creekstone Farms, a Kansas processor of black Angus beef with a large Japanese clientele, asked for permission to test its 300,000 cattle for BSE using a $500,000 testing site it had built to USDA specifications. But the agency ruled that the BSE test was licensed only for "surveil…

This is an incomplete description of the USDA's rationale. Although I agree that there shouldn't be a ban on private testing, the USDA's position is that BSE testing is ineffective at the time most cows are slaughtered, and would therefore provide an unwarranted impression of safety. > NOT A FOOD SAFETY TEST > BSE tests are not conducted on cuts of meat, but involve taking samples from the brain of a dead animal to s…

Post by s1artibartfast » Wed, May 05, 2021, 7:54 PM UTC

eganp wrote: post #221

admash wrote: post #141

Compounding USDA's lax practices has been its refusal to allow beef processors to independently test cattle for mad cow disease. In 2004, Creekstone Farms, a Kansas processor of black Angus beef with a large Japanese clientele, asked for permission to test its 300,000 cattle for BSE using a $500,000 testing site it had built to USDA specifications. But the agency ruled that the BSE test was licensed only for "surveil…

The risk of cow->human BSE transmission is infinitesimal. Species barriers in prions are surprisingly strong and, for practical purposes, nearly impermeable [0]. In fact, the Prion Protein (PrP) in humans causes multiple distinct diseases including CJD, Kuru, and FFI. Infectious prion confirmations are probably highly influenced by glycosylation [1,2]. Even if this testing wasn't god awfully slow, it's unclear one le…

Post by Sunspark » Wed, May 05, 2021, 8:02 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #25

withinboredom wrote: post #11

Since prions can be inhaled via aerosoles[1], I often wonder how long it will be until vaping causes prion diseases to rapidly spread. Or new prions to be introduced. [1]: https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/j...

Eh? Loads of bad stuff can be inhaled via aerosols so idk why you're mentioning prion diseases specifically. I mean not that long ago there was a lot of 'off the market' e-liquids that would cause popcorn lung.