tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2557675840435427710.post8591938720828997848..comments2008-11-13T09:09:53.065-08:00Terry S. Singeltary Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06986622967539963260noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2557675840435427710.post-61587373206293431882008-11-13T09:09:00.000-08:002008-11-13T09:09:00.000-08:00Biopsy on brain indicates man free of mad cow By Elaine Marsilio (Contact)<BR/><BR/>Originally published 10:15 a.m., November 12, 2008 Updated 11:43 p.m., November 12, 2008<BR/><BR/>CORPUS CHRISTI — Brain biopsy results on a Corpus Christi man who died in July and who officials thought may have had a form of mad cow disease determined he didn't have the illness, officials said Wednesday.<BR/><BR/>The Corpus Christi-Nueces County Health District announced that results confirmed the man had prion disease with characteristics of a fatal brain disorder. But in this case the man, who was older than 60, contracted a form of the disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease that isn't linked to mad cow disease, said Mike Hacker, health district acting assistant director.<BR/><BR/>Officials would not release the man's name, citing privacy laws.<BR/><BR/>Prion disease, a family of rare neurodegenerative disorders, affects both humans and animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site. Certain types of prion disease only occur in humans. The CDC defines Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease as a neurodegnerative disease that infects the brain with "sponge-like lesions" and typically results in death within a year of the disease's early stages.<BR/><BR/>A local physician who treated the man ordered a brain biopsy of the man to determine what disease he had, Hacker said, noting he didn't think the man's cause of death had been determined.<BR/><BR/>The Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation Inc. Web site defines the sporadic form of the disease as not having a definite cause. The disease tends to cause conditions like mental deterioration or blindness.<BR/><BR/>Hacker agreed the disease is rare, but always fatal once contracted.<BR/><BR/>"It's not like a disease you can catch from someone else," he said.<BR/><BR/>Contact Elaine Marsilio at 886-3794 or marsilioe@caller.com<BR/><BR/>http://www.caller.com/news/2008/nov/12/biopsy_results/<BR/><BR/><BR/>Tuesday, November 11, 2008<BR/><BR/>Transmission of atypical bovine prions to mice transgenic for human prion protein <BR/>DOI: 10.3201/eid1412.080941<BR/><BR/><BR/>http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2008/11/transmission-of-atypical-bovine-prions.html<BR/><BR/><BR/>TSSTerry S. Singeltary Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/06986622967539963260noreply@blogger.com