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- LONDON (AFP) - Scientists
have uncovered evidence that the human form of "Mad Cow" disease
can be transmitted by people or animals who display none of the symptoms,
the Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday.
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- The worrying new evidence will force scientists to examine
whether the existing controls designed to curb the spread of the deadly
infection are tough enough, the newspaper said.
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- A team led by Professor John Collinge at the Imperial
College School of Medicine in London found that mice who had a strain of
the infection, variant CJD, injected into their brains lived to an old
age and showed no outward signs of the illness.
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- But when material from the brains of these animals was
injected into other mice, the disease killed them, the Guardian reported.
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- Prof Collinge's study also showed that variant CJD could
be transmitted from one species to another more easily than scientists
had previously believed.
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- It said the new research has raised fears that Mad Cow
disease, which until now has been confined to cattle, could spread to sheep
and pigs.
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- Prof Collinge said the government should start random
checks on outwardly healthy livestock to establish how far the disease
had spread.
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- "I don't want to raise alarms, but we could check
that quite easily so why don't we?" the newspaper quoted Prof Collinge
as saying. "We don't want to find this out later."
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- Since the disease first surfaced in humans in 1989, the
government has imposed stringent controls to prevent it spreading.
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- These have included restrictions on farmers and meat
producers and tighter checks on blood transfusions.
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- However,the incidence of variant CJD is growing at between
20 and 30 percent a year, the Guardian said.
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- In Britain, 70 people have died and a further 10 have
contracted the fatal condition, the newspaper said.
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