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- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
scientists are inching closer to developing a test to diagnose mad cow
and other diseases that can be deadly for animals and potentially infect
humans, the U.S. Agriculture Department said Thursday.
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- The scientists have developed a method to detect the
presence of abnormal proteins, called prions, in the blood of animals and
humans, the department said.
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- Prions are naturally occurring brain proteins that experts
say mutate into dangerous forms, resulting in a group of diseases called
transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.
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- The most well-known TSE is mad cow disease, scientifically
known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Mad cow caused widespread anxiety
in the United Kingdom and around the world after scientists discovered
a link between the disease and the human brain-wasting disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Disease (nvCJD).
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- Some 40 people have died from nvCJD so far, but scientists
say it is still too early to predict the final toll. U.K. producers have
killed millions of cattle since a worldwide export ban was imposed in March
1996 after the discovery.
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- There are no documented cases of mad cow in the United
States.
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- But another TSE disease, scrapie, has been discovered
in as many as 1,000 U.S. sheep and goat flocks. Scrapie is a degenerative
and eventually fatal disease that targets the central nervous systems of
the animals.
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- There is no cure for the disease, and producers who discover
a sheep or goat with scrapie often must destroy many animals in the flock
to stop the spread of the disease, since there is no way to test live animals
for scrapie.
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