NEWS: Mad Cow Like Disease Claims Third Victim In Idaho

A rare brain illness similiar to mad cow disease has claimed it's third victim this year with a 53 year old Idaho woman dying early this month. Authorities believe the disease is responsible in another four suspect cases of a natural occuring form of the disease. It is an unusual for such a large number of cases centered in the Idaho state, with a population of 1.4 million it has far exceeded the normal 1 case in 1 million rate found per year. Officials are pleading with people not to panic and say they haven't found anything as yet to cause any alarm.



This is a strange occurance to have such a concentrated patch of these cases and all victims over the age of 50. There may be another environmental cause of the disease outbreak that is common in all cases but this has not been identified as yet.

Don't be alarmed??? Are you kidding me, what is up with these officials, 3 victims in the same state in the same year should be raising alarms all over the place. Even if it is occurring "naturally", some sort of serious investigation should be going on with American media actually picking up on it. Where's Fox and the others on this story?? I can't believe I have to hear this from from an Australian source. Thanks Mayet.

If you really want to meet some frightening mad cows I could introduce you to my half-sisters ....other than them, the human form occurs spontaneously in about 1 in a million but be that as it may like Mayet said thats an extremely large number for such a small population. If the Bush administration is saying there is no cause for alarm....I am becoming a vegetarian.

Originally posted by Mayet
It is an unusual for such a large number of cases centered in the Idaho state, with a population of 1.4 million it has far exceeded the normal 1 case in 1 million rate found per year.

I love how they state that four cases is LARGE. I also like "far exceeded".

Idaho is growing with a ridiculous amount of retirees, mainly from California. The most popular place is in the northern panhandle(Coure D'Laine area). So four cases in the 50+ population is not as bad as they make it out to be. It's just another scare tactic I'm afraid

If it mutates and become a human to human form of disease, it will be disastrous. So the government should be doing something!

I was watching a special on Madcow, I think it aired on PBS. You shouldn't be alarmed at the amounts of people that are showing infection. You should be alarmed however, that Mad Cow and Creutzfeldt-Jakob have about a 10-20 year dormancy period before signs of infection are known.
CNN.com

"The good news about the 1997 infected beef crisis in Great Britain is that it only killed 130 people, Stauber said. The bad news is that people have been dying from meat they ate 10 years ago."
organic consumers.org

It's funny because some cannibalistic tribes actually contract this disease, it comes from eating infected brain tissue.
Kuru: A Story of Friends and Cannibals

It causes cysts inside of our grey matter, and causes large lesions. Chickens contract it as well because their feed is mixed with bone meal, which comes from the parts of chickens not going for human consumption. IE heads, lips, beaks, anything.

"an easy path of transmission, according to the Madison author, would have been through the dried raw cattle blood protein that's not only legal to include in animal feed in the United States, but is commonly used as a protein source in certain calf supplements"

Dr. Clarence Gibbs, Acting Chief of the Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies at the National Institutes of Health, testified before Congress January 29, 1997, saying that bone meal derived from infected rendered animals has been fed to chickens. "Poultry would be expected to shed massive quantities of the infectious amyloid [prion protein] in their feces. Chicken manure is widely used as fertilizer on vegetable crops. This means that vegetarians might be at risk," Dr. Gibbs testified.[1]
Environmental Research Home

And yes, I do believe that only after some people tested positive for Madcow, did they decide to start regulating and testing for it.

"The European Commission stressed the assessment related only to whether BSE might be present in live cattle, not to any risk to humans through food consumption."
CNN.com


I say keep eating beef, If youre going to get it chances are you already have it, but havent started exhibiting signs. Besides, the test to find out if something is positive requires a certain portion of the brain, and if it isnt done correctly, it winds up testing negative anyways.

[edit on 9/28/2005 by denial28]

Originally posted by Vitchilo
If it mutates and become a human to human form of disease, it will be disastrous. So the government should be doing something!

Its not something that is easily caught as such and is not known to be an airborne contaminent.

www.organicconsumers.org...
www.fda.gov...
www.microbe.org...

Originally posted by grover
If the Bush administration is saying there is no cause for alarm....I am becoming a vegetarian.

Agreed...

Well, there were three cases reported last year in an area of upsate NY. There is an ATS thread about that. It also discussed some cases in New Jersey that had appearred I believe.

Little by little the news leaks out and then disappears.......

But it's been going on a LONG time.

Originally posted by Mayet
This is a strange occurance to have such a concentrated patch of these cases and all victims over the age of 50.

Not as strange as you may think. They had a similar event on the East coast several years ago and there were 37 individuals that were suspect at that time.

www.cdc.gov...

On my venture to West Virginia, I read a copy of the locl newspaper called the Morgan messenger. Apparently deer are testing positive for their own strain of this.Chronic Wasting Disease

It says that there is no correlation between it being passed from deer, and elk to humans, however, it does act in the same way as Mad cow... Being that they have only been studying it since 2002, isn't it a little rash for them to assume the results, being the length of dormancy for madcow is usually well into 10 years?

Originally posted by denial28
On my venture to West Virginia, I read a copy of the locl newspaper called the Morgan messenger. Apparently deer are testing positive for their own strain of this.Chronic Wasting Disease

I might end up helping the Michigan DNR biologists at a checkpoint checking and gathering tick samples at the start of gun season. If my schedule pans out and I'm able to go I might see what all they know of it, though right now I still have to see if I can get one of my labs resceduled to do so.

Edit: just thought I'd mention from that site, there was nothing on Michigan deer contracting it as of yet

[edit on 24-10-2005 by silentlonewolf]

I actually just sent them an email, regarding their findings, asking them if it may be a little premature for them to state that there is no correlation. The problem from what I have heard is being that it only tests positive in a certain portion of the brain in cattle, how can they be certain, that in fact they are testing correctly at all. The tick samples may not give an accurate read either, see if its possible to test the actual brain matter of your elk, and deer. See if hunters would be willing to allow you to test their game. You ma be able to accurately test without unnecessary shooting.
Good luck When I receive a response, I will post their reply.

Well after 3 days later, I finally received a response from CWD, Here is the email I received in it's entirety.


Thank you for your email and your interest in CWD. The CWD Alliance
does
not study CWD. We are an information source only. WE began in 2002,
but
CWD has been studied since it was discovered in the late 1960s.

Human susceptibility is being studied and has been since the 1970s.
The
World Health Organization has reviewed available scientific information
and
concluded that currently there is no evidence that CWD can be
transmitted to
humans. During the period 1997-1998, three cases of sporadic
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) occurred in the U.S. in young adults.
These
individuals had consumed venison. This led to speculation about
possible
transmission of CWD from deer or elk to humans. However, review of the
clinical records and pathological studies of all three cases by the
Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, did not find a
causal link to CWD.

More recently, a study done on transgenic mice expressing the human
protein
failed to come down with the disease. This strongly suggests a species
barrier. www.jneurosci.org...

Until more is known about this disease, it is always a good idea to
limit
exposure. Please let me know if you have more questions.

Tia Kropf-Beringer
CWD Alliance
P.O. Box 368
Park Falls, WI 54552
[email protected]
www.cwd-info.org...

I really don't know how I feel about this, other than the fact it was cool that I received a response.


PS It can be transmitted from human to human contact, but it must involve eating infected brain matter, as in the case of cannibalism. This is how Creutzfeldt-Jakob is transmitted between tribes. Don't eat people, and you should be fine.
Also in the organic consumers link, it is stated that due to fertilizers, it is possible for vegetarians to contract it as well. Noone is safe.

[edit on 10/27/2005 by denial28]

[edit on 10/27/2005 by denial28]