Mad Cow Disease
Did you know the real scientific name for Mad Cow Disease is:
BSE- Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
It is a protein malfunction disease, characterized by an accumulation of protein aggregates that have structural malconformations which spread to neighboring cells very quickly.
The scientific etymology is as follows:
bovine: cow
spongiform: sponge-like
encephalopathy: disease of the brain
The variant kind of disease that people contract is CJD: Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease and is believed to be contracted by eating beef products from BSE affected cattle. However, no infectivity has been detected from the milk but make sure you don't eat gelatin derived from these cows! I never liked JELLO that much anyway.
Comments
Posted by: Peggy Craven
Posted on: June 25, 2007 12:38 PM
Hello, My husband's aunt died 4/5/05 of hvCJD, age 69. At Palmetto Baptist Hospital, Columbia, SC. There was no brain biopsy done. Neuro surgeons refused due to the highly infectious prions that could infect their operating room and supplies. She grew up in Walterboro, SC and ate squirrel brains as a child. His mother, her sister had brain tumors and died at age 51. My husband now has neurological symptoms that the doctors haven't been able to diagnose. He is 48. We think it is Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). How does he get tested to see if his RNA/DNA carries the defected gene? That could be passed down to our 2 sons, 16 and 19.
There was a nother man that passed away shortly after his aunt that they said was hvCJD the papers wrote a story denying any cases in Walterboro.
I would be grateful for any information. I am an RN and have been researching for close to 2 years now. My husband's health keeps worsening, I am the only income for our family. We do have assets and have been liquidating them to keep our family afloat. We just want a diagnosis, no matter how grave it could be.
Thank you for your time,
Peggy Craven