Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that answer the question.
Query: Is Scrapie like Mad Cow Disease?
Scrapie is a fatal infectious disease of the neural system of sheep; one of a class of brain diseases that can affect cattle (BSE) and humans (Kuru, nCJD). Scrapie had been thought to be caused by a 'slow virus' – one that could take years to show as a change in behaviour or movement. By the mid 1960s, it was established that cells could only replicate via DNA. Radioactivity stops cell replication by 'killing' DNA. Alper found that radiation did not kill the infective agent in scrapie, suggesting that a virus was unlikely to be the infective agent. The infective agent had to be smaller and simpler than (viral) DNA. Alper also found that the agent remained active under ultraviolet light. DNA is inactive under UV light. Instead, the agent was killed by light at 237 nm, a wavelength specific to polysaccharide inactivation. Alper and colleagues reported these properties of the scrapie agent – a finding that was greeted with astonishment in many quarters, for it appeared to contravene the central dogma that holds that replication (and hence the growth of the disease and its infectious properties) can only proceed via DNA. However, once these empirical findings were accepted, several theories developed to accommodate the peculiar properties of the scrapie agent. The most widely accepted theory today is the prion theory, which posits a 'rogue' protein as the infectious source. However, Alper could not accept that a protein 'mutation' was the agent. Firstly, her UV radiation studies did not indicate a protein agent and, secondly, isolated prions did not induce scrapie. Her own theories concerning the agent were developed in the last years of her life and suggested a more dynamic and complex story.
Canine distemper is caused by a single-stranded RNA virus of the family "Paramyxoviridae" (the same family of the viruses that causes measles, mumps, and bronchiolitis in humans). The disease is highly contagious via inhalation. Morbidity and mortality may vary greatly among animal species, with up to 100% mortality in unvaccinated populations of ferrets. In domestic dogs, while the acute generalized form of distemper has a high mortality rate, disease duration and severity depends mainly on the animal's age and immune status and virulence of the infecting strain of the virus. Despite extensive vaccination in many regions, it remains a major disease of dogs, and was the leading cause of infectious disease death in dogs, prior to a vaccine becoming available.
"O. tsutsugamushi" causes a complex and dangerous infection scrub typhus. Infection starts when chiggers bite on the skin during their feeding. The bacteria are deposited at the site of feeding (inoculation), where they multiply. They cause progressive tissue damage (necrosis). Necrosis progresses to inflammation of the blood vessels called vasculitis. This in turn causes inflammation of the lymph nodes, called lymphadenopathy. Within a few days, vasculitis extends to various organs including liver, brain, kidney, meninges and the lung. The disease is responsible for nearly a quarter of all the febrile (high fever) illness in endemic areas. Mortality in severe case or due to improper treatment or misdiagnosis may be as high as 30-70%. About 6% of infected people die untreated, and 1.4% of the patients die even with medical treatment. Moreover, death rate can be as high as 13% where medical treatment is not properly handled. In cases of misdiagnosis and failure of treatment, systemic complications rapidly develop including acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute kidney failure, encephalitis, gastrointestinal bleeding, hepatitis, meningitis, myocarditis, pancreatitis, pneumonia, septic shock, sub-acute thyroiditis, and multi-organ dysfunctions. Harmful symptoms involving multiple organ failure and neurological impairment are difficult to treat, and can be lifelong debilitation or directly fatal. The central nervous system is often affected and result in various complications including cerebellitis, cranial nerve palsies, meningoencephalitis, plexopathy, transverse myelitis, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, and Guillan-Barré syndrome. Death rates due to complications can be up to 14% in brain infections, and 24% with multiple organ failure. It is the major cause of acute encephalitis syndrome in India, where viral infection Japanese encephalitis has been regarded as the main factor.
CD with "classic symptoms", which include gastrointestinal manifestations such as chronic diarrhea and bloating, malabsorption of certain vitamins and minerals, loss of appetite, impaired growth and even bone pain, is currently the least common presentation form of the disease and affects predominantly to small children generally younger than two years of age.
The causative pathogen was first identified by Naosuke Hayashi in 1920. Confident that the organism was a protozoan, Hayashi concluded, stating, "I have reached the conclusion that the virus of the disease is the species of "Piroplasma" [protozoan] in question... I consider the organism in Tsutsugamushi disease as a hitherto undescribed species, and at the suggestion of Dr. Henry B. Ward designate it as "Theileria tsutsugamushi"." Discovering the similarities with the bacterium "Rickettsia prowazekii", Mataro Nagayo and colleagues gave a new classification with the name "Rickettsia orientalis" in 1930. ("R. prowazekii" is a causative bacterium of epidemic typhus first discovered by American physicians Howard Taylor Ricketts and Russell M. Wilder in 1910; and described by a Brazilian physician Henrique da Rocha Lima in 1916.)
Left untreated, Wilson's disease tends to become progressively worse and is eventually fatal. With early detection and treatment, most of those affected can live relatively normal lives. Liver and neurologic damage that occurs prior to treatment may improve, but it is often permanent.
Ninety percent of cases of the disease are mild leptospirosis. The rest experience severe disease, which develops during the second stage or occurs as a single progressive illness. The classic form of severe leptospirosis is known as Weil's disease, which is characterized by liver damage (causing jaundice), kidney failure, and bleeding. Additionally, the heart and brain can be affected, meningitis of the outer layer of the brain, encephalitis of brain tissue with same signs and symptoms; and lung affected as the most serious and life-threatening of all leptospirosis complications. The infection is often incorrectly diagnosed due to the nonspecific symptoms.
A few strains from organisms genetically identified as other "Clostridium" species have caused human botulism: "C. butyricum" has produced type E toxin and "C. baratii" had produced type F toxin. The ability of "C. botulinum" to naturally transfer neurotoxin genes to other clostridia is concerning, especially in the food industry, where preservation systems are designed to destroy or inhibit only "C. botulinum" but not other "Clostridium" species.
Leptospirosis is a water contract disease caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospirabacterial. It is a disease that affects both humans and animals. The number of leptospirosis cases had steadily increased from 2011 (2,268 cases with 55 death) to 2015 (8,291 cases with 78 death) and 5,284 cases with 52 death in 2016. Leptospirosis can have important health impact and is a burden to the nation if not well controlled. Addressing leptospisoris includes maintain a clean environment and by not swimming or wading in water that might be contaminated with animal urine, or eliminating contact with potentially infected animals.
There are several classes of anthelminthic drugs, some effective against many kinds of parasite, others more specific; these can be used both preventatively and to treat infections. For example, Praziquantel is an effective treatment for tapeworm infection, and is preferred over the older niclosamide. Cestodes can also be treated with certain kinds of antibiotics. While accidental tapeworm infections in developed countries are quite rare, such infections are more likely to occur in countries with poor sanitation facilities or where food hygiene standards are low.
Many vaccines for infectious diseases are produced in fertile chicken eggs. The basis of this technology was the discovery in 1931 by Alice Miles Woodruff and Ernest William Goodpasture at Vanderbilt University that the rickettsia and viruses that cause a variety of diseases will grow in chicken embryos. This enabled the development of vaccines against influenza, chicken pox, smallpox, yellow fever, typhus, Rocky mountain spotted fever and other diseases.
In 2018, Mufasa, a three-year-old, was in the process of being sold in South Africa after he was taken from an owner illegally keeping him as a pet. An anonymous buyer wanted both Mufasa and a female lion named Soraya, intending to protect both. Over 280,000 signed a petition asking that Mufasa not be auctioned, fearing a buyer might just want the lion for hunting.
Horses affected with this condition rarely recover without surgical intervention, although there have been some instances where horses have recovered without treatment. The recovery time in affected horses can range from three months to three years. Horses may be affected so severely that euthanasia is necessary. It is unknown how long it takes for clinical signs to develop after the exposure to the cause of the condition.
Bis-choline tetrathiomolybdate (or tiomolibdate USAN, trade name Decuprate), is a salt of tetrathiomolybdate (TTM, MoS) and choline currently under investigation as a therapy against Wilson's disease, a rare and potentially fatal disease in which the body cannot regulate copper. Wilson's disease is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder that is manifested by serious hepatic, neurologic or psychiatric symptoms. The disease is fatal if left undiagnosed and untreated. It is estimated that approximately 1 individual in every 30,000 worldwide have Wilson's disease, corresponding to approximately 15,000 individuals in the European Union and approximately 11,000 in the United States.
In all cases, illness is caused by the botulinum toxin produced by the bacterium "C. botulinum" in anaerobic conditions and not by the bacterium itself. The pattern of damage occurs because the toxin affects nerves that fire (depolarize) at a higher frequency first.
Mosquitoes carrying such arboviruses stay healthy because their immune systems recognizes the virions as foreign particles and "chop off" the virus's genetic coding, rendering it inert. Human infection with a mosquito-borne virus occurs when a female mosquito bites someone while its immune system is still in the process of destroying the virus's harmful coding. It is not completely known how mosquitoes handle eukaryotic parasites to carry them without being harmed. Data has shown that the malaria parasite "Plasmodium falciparum" alters the mosquito vector's feeding behavior by increasing frequency of biting in infected mosquitoes, thus increasing the chance of transmitting the parasite.
Two categories of blood groups, human-type and simian-type, have been found in apes and monkeys, and can be tested by methods established for grouping human blood.
Interest in melioidosis has been expressed because it has the potential to be developed as a biological weapon. It is classed by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as a category B agent. "B. pseudomallei", like "B. mallei" which causes glanders, was studied by the US as a potential biological warfare agent, but never weaponized. The Soviet Union was reported to have also experimented with "B. pseudomallei" as a biological warfare agent.
An essential oil extracted from eucalyptus leaves contains compounds that are powerful natural disinfectants and can be toxic in large quantities. Several marsupial herbivores, notably koalas and some possums, are relatively tolerant of it. The close correlation of these oils with other more potent toxins called formylated phloroglucinol compounds (euglobals, macrocarpals and sideroxylonals) allows koalas and other marsupial species to make food choices based on the smell of the leaves. For koalas, these compounds are the most important factor in leaf choice.
Pigeon pox is a viral disease to which pigeons are susceptible. There is a live viral vaccine available (ATCvet code: ). Pigeon pox is caused by "Pigeonpox virus" that is spread by mosquitoes and dirty water but not in droppings.
The island has five land mammal species: pigs, deer, goats, cats, and rats. All these land mammals were introduced by humans. The Costa Rican government has vowed to control the populations of these animals, as they are harmful to the local ecosystems.
The prion gene that codes for the prion protein is highly conserved in most mammals, meaning the gene is similar and present in most species of mammals. Three locations on the prion protein gene have been identified as highly polymorphic and may have an effect on scrapie: codons 136, 154, and 171. Codon 154 has not shown any evidence of having a high effect on scrapie susceptibility, but is most likely having an effect on incubation time of the disease. Codons 136 and 171 are thought to control the incubation time as well as the susceptibility of the disease, and are the ones the USDA uses in its breeding standard. Codon 171 has been determined to be the major genetic factor in scrapie susceptibility.
After the first case of mad cow disease that was discovered, two more cases emerged. In 2005, the second instance was found in a cow in Texas, and the third was found in 2006 in a cow from Alabama. In 2012, this issue still remains a controversy. On April 24, 2012, the Department of Agriculture discovered a dairy cow in central California with mad cow disease. The USDA's chief veterinary officer, John Clifford, stated that the cow's meat did not enter the food supply. In addition to this, the carcass will be destroyed. The infected cow was found due to random sampling and is considered the fourth cow in the U.S. to be infected with BSE. This has caused the controversy to arise once again and speculation on whether the VSTA regulates testing for BSE in cows is still a hot topic to be discussed.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is a neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. Later in the course the cow becomes unable to move. The time between infection and onset of symptoms is generally four to five years. Time from onset of symptoms to death is generally weeks to months. Spread to humans is believed to result in variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD). As of 2018 a total of 231 cases of vCJD have been reported globally.
BSE is due to an infection by a misfolded protein, known as a prion. Cattle are believed to have been infected by being fed meat-and-bone meal (MBM) that contained the remains of other cattle who spontaneously developed the disease or scrapie-infected sheep products. The outbreak increased throughout the United Kingdom due to the practice of feeding meat-and-bone meal to young calves of dairy cows. Cases are suspected based on symptoms and confirmed by examination of the brain. Cases are classified as classic or atypical, with the latter divided into H- and L types.
Efforts to prevent the disease in the UK include not allowing any animal older than 30 months to enter either the human food or animal feed supply. In Europe all cattle over 30 month must be tested if they will become human food. In North America tissue of concern, known as specified risk material, may not be added to animal feed or pet food. About 4.4 million cows were killed during the eradication program in the UK.
Four cases were reported globally in 2017 and the condition has been deemed to be nearly eradicated. In the United Kingdom, from 1986 to 2015, more than 184,000 cattle were diagnosed with the peak of new cases occurring in 1993. A few thousand additional cases have been reported in other regions of the world. It is believed that a few million cattle with the condition likely entered the food supply during the outbreak.
Having worked with producer Michael Wearing on both Rainy Day Women and Ashenden, Pirie's 1992 conspiracy thriller Natural Lies (BBC) became something of a return to the form of the producer's acclaimed Edge of Darkness (BBC, 1985). At the centre of the plot was the then-current subject of BSE, or 'Mad Cow Disease', spreading to humans with lethal consequences. Like Edge of Darkness, with its subject matter of nuclear waste cover-up, Natural Lies took its alarming theme and cleverly enveloped it within a thriller; resulting in a suspenseful story capable of standing up to the Hitchcock comparisons that it occasionally invited.