Sunday, December 2, 2012

CANADA 19 cases of mad cow disease SCENARIO 4: ‘WE HAD OUR CHANCE AND WE BLEW IT’

CANADA 19 cases of mad cow disease SCENARIO 4: ‘WE HAD OUR CHANCE AND WE BLEW IT’
 
 
 
 
 
 
10/31/2012




Managing Future Risks from BSE and other Emerging Issues




Summary Report of a Foresight Exercise




Background Canada’s cattle industry experienced a severe shock with the finding of several cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in native-born cattle starting in 2003. The first case in a Canadian-born animal was reported in May 2003. Since then, a total of 19 cases of BSE have been found in Canadian cattle, with the latest case detected in February 2011 in a dairy cow born in 2004.



Lucrative export markets proved fragile resulting in very significant economic losses despite the industry’s success maintaining reasonable stability in domestic markets. The cost of market closures and the subsequent actions taken to sustain the Canadian cattle and beef industries has been variously estimated to exceed $10 billion.



Seventeen of Canada’s BSE cases (10 dairy, three beef-cross and four beef) were of the “classical” type of BSE (c-BSE), the form responsible for the vast majority of cases in most BSE-affected countries. The other two (both beef animals) were “atypical” cases as they occurred in significantly older animals, but had slightly different biochemical characteristics from the classic form. Observations in other BSE-affected countries and ongoing research indicate that that atypical cases might represent spontaneous forms of BSE. Uncertainties remain regarding the implications of these atypical cases for both the human food supply and the animal feed chain.



While the situation has improved significantly, Canada faces ongoing challenges to the design and costs of its BSE prevention programs and to international recognition of its BSE status:



1. Two major beef exporting countries (Mexico and the USA) that now share Canada’s “controlled risk” status for BSE might advance to “negligible risk” status some years before Canada, thereby gaining trade advantages. Brazil, the world`s largest beef exporting country, recently was reclassified by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) from ``controlled risk`` to ``negligible risk`` status for BSE.



2. There are unresolved conflicts between pressures on the one hand to harmonize feed control standards with the USA in order to stay cost-competitive and, on the other hand, to accelerate measures to gain international recognition of Canada’s BSE status as ``negligible risk``:



a. Canada’s regime to safely dispose of specified risk materials (SRM) is more demanding and costly than that of the USA, but it is still less stringent than those of the most demanding countries (EU, Japan).



b. Canada’s feed control regime is less rigorous than some others (EU, Japan) and has been criticized by the OIE for its lack of a testing program and for limited stringency of rendering practices.



3. BSE surveillance in Canada has declined from 55,000 animals tested in 2007 to about 35,000 animals per year more recently. Is this level sufficiently robust to support the case that will need to be made for recognition of Canada as a “negligible risk” country?



4. There remain uncertainties about other prion diseases that are known to occur in Canada: chronic wasting disease (CWD) and scrapie. In the case of CWD, uncertainties about the potential host range combined with the ongoing spread of the CWD agent in the environment of Western Canada may provide arguments for trading partners who might wish to maintain or raise protective barriers.





The Foresight Exercise To assist in planning for the management of these and future risks to the industries of similar magnitude, two Workshops were convened to explore possible future scenarios using a Foresight process. Participants were drawn from the cattle and beef industries, academia and governments, including regulatory agencies. Further information on these Workshops is provided in Appendices 1 to 4.





snip...




Appendix 4: Scenario Stories




The following is a summary of the scenarios developed by Workshop 1 participants.





SCENARIO 1: ‘BLUE SKIES’


Sustainable Production and Robust Markets


Canada


Science


- Affirmed the health benefits of beef in balanced diets.


- Produced a cost-effective test for BSE and other diseases that is widely used, providing input for a nation-wide data system. The system enables comprehensive surveillance of the health of Canada’s herd, increasing consumer confidence.


- Developed and validated more cost-effective methods to safely manage SRM


- Government and private investment from industries, led to significant breakthroughs in TSE (transmissible spongiform encephalopathy) science and genetic research in feed grains, forage and cattle.




SCENARIO 2: ‘BOVINE SITUATION EXTREME’


Unsustainable Production and Fragile Markets


Canada


Science


- Financial support has weakened due to financial problems of Government and the industries, leading to sharp curtailments of research.


- Work on a vaccine for the variant TSE continues feverishly.


- No major scientific breakthroughs related to the prevention and cure of prion diseases occurred.





SCENARIO 3: ‘THE THIN STEMMED GLASS’


Sustainable Production and Fragile Markets


Canada


Science


- BSE is not linked to classical CJD, but a TSE is found that is linked to Alzheimer’s disease.


- Science breakthroughs in neurodegenerative diseases.


- New product development continues.





SCENARIO 4: ‘WE HAD OUR CHANCE AND WE BLEW IT’


Unsustainable Production and Robust Markets


Canada


Science


- Experimental evidence indicates that abnormal prions may persist for undetermined periods of time in buried materials.


- A new prion disease has occurred in cattle, possibly originated from CWD. Research funds are not available to investigate its nature and origin.


- The origin, transmission and prevalence of atypical BSE remain unclear.


- L-type atypical BSE has been demonstrated to be transmissible to humans.


- New testing procedures indicate the presence of sub-clinical carriers in the cattle population.


- New scientific knowledge provides no evidence that CWD is transmissible from Cervids to humans.









Tuesday, November 6, 2012


Transmission of New Bovine Prion to Mice, Atypical Scrapie, BSE, and Sporadic CJD, November-December 2012 update








SUMMARY REPORT CALIFORNIA BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY CASE INVESTIGATION JULY 2012


Summary Report BSE 2012


Executive Summary







Saturday, August 4, 2012


Final Feed Investigation Summary - California BSE Case - July 2012







Saturday, August 4, 2012


Update from APHIS Regarding Release of the Final Report on the BSE Epidemiological Investigation








Tuesday, November 02, 2010


BSE - ATYPICAL LESION DISTRIBUTION (RBSE 92-21367) statutory (obex only) diagnostic criteria CVL 1992








Thursday, June 14, 2012



R-CALF USA Calls USDA Dishonest and Corrupt; Submits Fourth Request for Extension



R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America








Monday, June 18, 2012 R-CALF


Submits Incomplete Comments Under Protest in Bizarre Rulemaking “Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy; Importation of Bovines and Bovine Products”







CENSORSHIP IS A TERRIBLE THING $$$





Canada has had a COVER-UP policy of mad cow disease since about the 17th case OR 18th case of mad cow disease. AFTER THAT, all FOIA request were ignored $$$



THIS proves there is indeed an epidemic of mad cow disease in North America, and it has been covered up for years and years, if not for decades, and it’s getting worse $$$








Thursday, February 10, 2011


TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY REPORT UPDATE CANADA FEBRUARY 2011 and how to hide mad cow disease in Canada Current as of: 2011-01-31







Wednesday, August 11, 2010


REPORT ON THE INVESTIGATION OF THE SIXTEENTH CASE OF BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY (BSE) IN CANADA







Thursday, August 19, 2010


REPORT ON THE INVESTIGATION OF THE SEVENTEENTH CASE OF BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY (BSE) IN CANADA







Friday, March 4, 2011


Alberta dairy cow found with mad cow disease








Tuesday, June 26, 2012


Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease Human TSE report update North America, Canada, Mexico, and USDA PRION UNIT as of May 18, 2012


type determination pending Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (tdpCJD), is on the rise in Canada and the USA







Wednesday, June 13, 2012


MEXICO IS UNDER or MIS DIAGNOSING CREUTZFELDT JAKOB DISEASE AND OTHER PRION DISEASE SOME WITH POSSIBLE nvCJD







Wednesday, April 4, 2012


Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy; Importation of Bovines and Bovine Products APHIS-2008-0010-0008 RIN:0579-AC68






Thursday, February 16, 2012


Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy BSE


31 USA SENATORS ASK PRESIDENT OBAMA TO HELP SPREAD MAD COW DISEASE 2012







Wednesday, February 16, 2011


IN CONFIDENCE


SCRAPIE TRANSMISSION TO CHIMPANZEES


IN CONFIDENCE







Sunday, April 18, 2010


SCRAPIE AND ATYPICAL SCRAPIE TRANSMISSION STUDIES A REVIEW 2010







Thursday, March 29, 2012


atypical Nor-98 Scrapie has spread from coast to coast in the USA 2012


NIAA Annual Conference April 11-14, 2011San Antonio, Texas






Thursday, February 23, 2012


Atypical Scrapie NOR-98 confirmed Alberta Canada sheep January 2012







Wednesday, April 4, 2012


20120402 - Breach of quarantine/Violation de la mise en quarantaine of an ongoing Scrapie investigation







Monday, June 11, 2012


another atypical Nor-98 Scrapie case documented in Canada for 2012







Monday, April 25, 2011


Experimental Oral Transmission of Atypical Scrapie to Sheep


Volume 17, Number 5-May 2011 However, work with transgenic mice has demonstrated the potential susceptibility of pigs, with the disturbing finding that the biochemical properties of the resulting PrPSc have changed on transmission (40).







***The pathology features of Nor98 in the cerebellum of the affected sheep showed similarities with those of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.







*** Intriguingly, these conclusions suggest that some pathological features of Nor98 are reminiscent of Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease.


119








*** These observations support the view that a truly infectious TSE agent, unrecognized until recently, infects sheep and goat flocks and may have important implications in terms of scrapie control and public health.







Surprisingly the TSE agent characteristics were dramatically different v/hen passaged into Tg bovine mice. The recovered TSE agent had biological and biochemical characteristics similar to those of atypical BSE L in the same mouse model. Moreover, whereas no other TSE agent than BSE were shown to transmit into Tg porcine mice, atypical scrapie was able to develop into this model, albeit with low attack rate on first passage.


Furthermore, after adaptation in the porcine mouse model this prion showed similar biological and biochemical characteristics than BSE adapted to this porcine mouse model. Altogether these data indicate.


(i) the unsuspected potential abilities of atypical scrapie to cross species barriers


(ii) the possible capacity of this agent to acquire new characteristics when crossing species barrier


These findings raise some interrogation on the concept of TSE strain and on the origin of the diversity of the TSE agents and could have consequences on field TSE control measures.







Friday, February 11, 2011


Atypical/Nor98 Scrapie Infectivity in Sheep Peripheral Tissues







Monday, November 30, 2009


USDA AND OIE COLLABORATE TO EXCLUDE ATYPICAL SCRAPIE NOR-98 ANIMAL HEALTH CODE




I strenuously urge the USDA and the OIE et al to revoke the exemption of the legal global trading of atypical Nor-98 scrapie TSE. ...TSS





Thursday, November 29, 2012


Chronic wasting disease on the Canadian prairies








Tuesday, November 13, 2012



PENNSYLVANIA 2012 THE GREAT ESCAPE OF CWD









Wednesday, November 14, 2012


PENNSYLVANIA 2012 THE GREAT ESCAPE OF CWD INVESTIGATION MOVES INTO LOUISIANA and INDIANA








Friday, November 09, 2012


Chronic Wasting Disease CWD in cervidae and transmission to other species











OR-10: Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy is transmissible in bank voles


Romolo Nonno,1 Michele Di Bari,1 Laura Pirisinu,1 Claudia D’Agostino,1 Stefano Marcon,1 Geraldina Riccardi,1 Gabriele Vaccari,1 Piero Parchi,2 Wenquan Zou,3 Pierluigi Gambetti,3 Umberto Agrimi1 1Istituto Superiore di Sanità; Rome, Italy; 2Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche, Università di Bologna; Bologna, Italy; 3Case Western Reserve University; Cleveland, OH USA



Background. Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy (VPSPr) is a recently described “sporadic”neurodegenerative disease involving prion protein aggregation, which has clinical similarities with non-Alzheimer dementias, such as fronto-temporal dementia. Currently, 30 cases of VPSPr have been reported in Europe and USA, of which 19 cases were homozygous for valine at codon 129 of the prion protein (VV), 8 were MV and 3 were MM. A distinctive feature of VPSPr is the electrophoretic pattern of PrPSc after digestion with proteinase K (PK). After PK-treatment, PrP from VPSPr forms a ladder-like electrophoretic pattern similar to that described in GSS cases. The clinical and pathological features of VPSPr raised the question of the correct classification of VPSPr among prion diseases or other forms of neurodegenerative disorders. Here we report preliminary data on the transmissibility and pathological features of VPSPr cases in bank voles.



Materials and Methods. Seven VPSPr cases were inoculated in two genetic lines of bank voles, carrying either methionine or isoleucine at codon 109 of the prion protein (named BvM109 and BvI109, respectively). Among the VPSPr cases selected, 2 were VV at PrP codon 129, 3 were MV and 2 were MM. Clinical diagnosis in voles was confirmed by brain pathological assessment and western blot for PK-resistant PrPSc (PrPres) with mAbs SAF32, SAF84, 12B2 and 9A2.



Results. To date, 2 VPSPr cases (1 MV and 1 MM) gave positive transmission in BvM109. Overall, 3 voles were positive with survival time between 290 and 588 d post inoculation (d.p.i.). All positive voles accumulated PrPres in the form of the typical PrP27–30, which was indistinguishable to that previously observed in BvM109 inoculated with sCJDMM1 cases.


In BvI109, 3 VPSPr cases (2 VV and 1 MM) showed positive transmission until now. Overall, 5 voles were positive with survival time between 281 and 596 d.p.i.. In contrast to what observed in BvM109, all BvI109 showed a GSS-like PrPSc electrophoretic pattern, characterized by low molecular weight PrPres. These PrPres fragments were positive with mAb 9A2 and 12B2, while being negative with SAF32 and SAF84, suggesting that they are cleaved at both the C-terminus and the N-terminus. Second passages are in progress from these first successful transmissions.



Conclusions. Preliminary results from transmission studies in bank voles strongly support the notion that VPSPr is a transmissible prion disease. Interestingly, VPSPr undergoes divergent evolution in the two genetic lines of voles, with sCJD-like features in BvM109 and GSS-like properties in BvI109.


The discovery of previously unrecognized prion diseases in both humans and animals (i.e., Nor98 in small ruminants) demonstrates that the range of prion diseases might be wider than expected and raises crucial questions about the epidemiology and strain properties of these new forms. We are investigating this latter issue by molecular and biological comparison of VPSPr, GSS and Nor98.








Wednesday, March 28, 2012


VARIABLY PROTEASE-SENSITVE PRIONOPATHY IS TRANSMISSIBLE, price of prion poker goes up again $








*** The discovery of previously unrecognized prion diseases in both humans and animals (i.e., Nor98 in small ruminants) demonstrates that the range of prion diseases might be wider than expected and raises crucial questions about the epidemiology and strain properties of these new forms. We are investigating this latter issue by molecular and biological comparison of VPSPr, GSS and Nor98.





AS OF AUGUST 2012 ;


CJD UPDATE USA


1 Listed based on the year of death or, if not available, on year of referral; 2 Cases with suspected prion disease for which brain tissue and/or blood (in familial cases) were submitted; 3 Disease acquired in the United Kingdom; 4 Disease was acquired in the United Kingdom in one case and in Saudi Arabia in the other case; *** 5 Includes 8 cases in which the diagnosis is pending, and 18 inconclusive cases; *** 6 Includes 10 (9 from 2012) cases with type determination pending in which the diagnosis of vCJD has been excluded. *** The Sporadic cases include 16 cases of sporadic Fatal Insomnia (sFI) and 42 cases of Variably Protease-Sensitive Prionopathy (VPSPr) and 2224 cases of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD).








Tuesday, November 6, 2012


Transmission of New Bovine Prion to Mice, Atypical Scrapie, BSE, and Sporadic CJD, November-December 2012 update








Friday, November 23, 2012


sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease update As at 5th November 2012 UK, USA, AND CANADA


snip...


Greetings BSE-L members et al, and others,


Confucius is confused again on the infamous ‘classification pending sporadic creutzfeldt jakob disease’ cpsCJD, (because nvCJD has been ruled out).


Confucius is confused about why the increase of these cpsCJD cases in the USA and Canada which we have been seeing, but I saw no reports in the UK surveillance reports of the infamous North American Classification Pending Sporadic Creutzfeldt Jakob disease cases.


if truly a supposedly sporadic spontaneous disease, would you not see these cpsCJD cases popping up all over the world in random ???


or, could these cpsCJD cases be of a North American zoonotic or iatrogenic from North American zoonoses sub-clinical source ???


or both ???


with so many documented Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy TSE prion disease in so many different species here in North America, and consumption there from, I believe that this should be at the forefront of research. ...



Confused Confucius...flounder



snip...see full text ;





Friday, November 23, 2012



sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease update As at 5th November 2012 UK, USA, AND CANADA







Saturday, October 6, 2012


TRANSMISSION, DIFFERENTIATION, AND PATHOBIOLOGY OF TRANSMISSIBLE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHIES 2011 Annual Report







Wednesday, May 16, 2012


Alzheimer’s disease and Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy prion disease, Iatrogenic, what if ?


Proposal ID: 29403






see the Duke, Pa, Yale, and Mexican study here, showing the misdiagnosis of CJD TSE prion disease as Alzheimers ;







Monday, August 20, 2012



CASE REPORTS CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE: AN UNDER-RECOGNIZED CAUSE OF DEMENTIA









Thursday, August 02, 2012


CJD case in Saint John prompts letter to patients


Canada CJD case in Saint John prompts letter to patients







layperson




TSS