Fecal transmission of AA amyloidosis in the cheetah contributes to high incidence of disease

Fecal transmission of AA amyloidosis in the cheetah contributes to high incidence of disease

Beiru Zhang*†, Yumi Une‡, Xiaoying Fu*, Jingmin Yan*, FengXia Ge*, Junjie Yao*§, Jinko Sawashita*, Masayuki Mori*, Hiroshi Tomozawa¶, Fuyuki Kametani
, and Keiichi Higuchi*‡** *Department of Aging Biology, Institute on Aging and Adaptation, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, and ¶Division of Laboratory Animal Research, Research Center for Human and Environmental Science, Shinshu University, 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan; †Department of Nephrology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, China; ‡Laboratory of Veterinary Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, 1-17-71 Fuchinobe, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8501, Japan; §The Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Tokyo 183-8508, Japan; and
Tokyo Institute of Psychiatry, Tokyo Metropolitan Organization for Medical Research, Tokyo 156-8585, Japan Edited by Reed B. Wickner, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, and approved April 1, 2008 (received for review January 16, 2008)

AA amyloidosis is one of the principal causes of morbidity and mortality in captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), which are in danger of extinction, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Given the transmissible characteristics of AA amyloidosis, transmission between captive cheetahs may be a possible mechanism involved in the high incidence of AA amyloidosis. In this study of animals with AA amyloidosis, we found that cheetah feces contained AA amyloid fibrils that were different from those of the liver with regard to molecular weight and shape and had greater transmissibility. The infectious activity of fecal AA amyloid fibrils was reduced or abolished by the protein denaturants 6 M guanidine
HCl and formic acid or by AA immunodepletion. Thus, we propose that feces are a vehicle of transmission that may accelerate AA amyloidosis in captive cheetah populations. These results provide a pathogenesis for AA amyloidosis and suggest possible measures for rescuing cheetahs from extinction. feces  transmissibility

The amyloidoses are a group of protein misfolding disorders characterized by the accumulation of amyloid fibrils formed from a variety of proteins that, under normal physiological conditions, are harmless and soluble. Currently,
25 amyloid diseases have been identified, such as the prion diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, and various systematic amyloidoses (1). Although the various proteins that can polymerize into amyloid fibrils have unrelated sequences, they can all form fibrils with a similar ultrastructural appearance. Among them, prion diseases such as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), including scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and chronic wasting disease (CWD) of deer and elk, are highly infectious (2). In these diseases, prion (PrPSc), an abnormal form of the host cellular prion protein (PrPC), induces the conformational change of PrPC to the PrPSc and causes a detectable phenotype or disease in the affected individual. AA amyloidosis, known as reactive or secondary amyloidosis, is generally recognized as the predominant form of systemic amyloidosis that occurs in domestic animals and the animal kingdom (3). This disease is characterized by the systemic deposition of extracellular fibrils composed of amyloid A protein, primarily in the spleen; liver; and, to a lesser extent, in other organs. In most species, AA amyloidosis occurs sporadically and is typically secondary to chronic inflammation, infection, or neoplasia. Intriguing recent data suggest that AA amyloidosis could be transmitted by a prion-like infectious process through a seeding-nucleation mechanism (4–7). Thus, the fibrillar nuclei formed by the aggregation of misfolded protein monomers (rich in
-sheet structures) act as seeds to induce and stabilize conversion of the native monomeric protein (8–9). This mechanism provides a plausible explanation for the transmissible nature of AA amyloidosis. AA amyloidosis can be easily induced when mice are given an extract from AA amyloid-laden tissue (10, 11) or synthetic amyloid-like fibrils (12, 13), providing further evidence for transmissibility. The cheetah species (Acinonyx jubatus) is in danger of extinction and is included on The World Conservation Union list of vulnerable species. Although efforts have been made in wildlife sanctuary parks and zoos worldwide to prevent extinction, a steady increase in the size of the cheetah population is hampered by the high prevalence of certain diseases in captive cheetahs. In particular, systemic AA amyloidosis is regarded as an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality in captive cheetahs as prevalence increased from 20% in pre-1990 reported necropsies to an unusual 70% of necropsied cheetahs in 1995 (14). Despite much effort, the pathogenesis for AA amyloidosis in cheetahs is still only partially understood. Inflammatory diseases, especially chronic lymphoplasmacytic gastritis, found in 100% of cheetahs with AA amyloidosis (14), and genetic homogeneity have been considered as causes for the increased incidence of AA amyloidosis (15). However, environmental epidemiological studies indicate that breeding conditions have a prominent effect on the incidence of AA amyloidosis. A high rearing density is always associated with early age of onset, and with the high incidence and severity of AA amyloidosis, findings similar to sheep scrapie and cervid CWD. Thus, sustained epidemics of sheep scrapie and cervid CWD appear to be principally due to horizontal (animal to animal) transmission, although the routes of natural transmission remain to be clarified (16, 17). The propagation of AA amyloidosis among captive cheetah populations may also depend on a horizontal transmission pathway. Identification of the mode of transmission is a prerequisite for disease control. In this study, we show that the feces from a cheetah with AA amyloidosis can act as a possible transmission origin to accelerate the transmission of AA amyloidosis.

Results

snip...

Discussion It is currently accepted that systemic AA amyloidosis is an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality in captive cheetah populations (14). For conservation of this species, therefore, it is critical to elucidate the etiology of AA amyloidosis. As with sheep scrapie and cervid CWD, the routes of transmission are among the most debated and intriguing issues. InfectiousCWDprions in saliva have been identified to be involved in transmission in high-density captive situations (19, 20). Recently, available evidence indicates that an environmental reservoir of infectivity contributes to the continuation of these diseases in affected populations. These infectious agents can be transmitted by flesh flies (21) or hay mites (22) and can directly enter the environment from decomposing carcasses of infected animals (23). Environmental contamination by excreta from infected cervids has also seemed the most plausible explanation for the dissemination of CWD (24). Scrapie-infected hamsters and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) patients were reported to excrete urinary protease-resistant PrP isoform (25), indicating that urinary excretion from infected animals may provide a vector for horizontal transmission. However, there are studies that are not consistent with these findings (26, 27). Perhaps unrecognized nephritic conditions may underlie these discrepant observations, because it has been reported that urinary prion excretion is found only in scrapie-infected mice with lymphocytic nephritis (28). In this study, we observed several bands with high molecular weights that reacted with anti-cheetah AA antiserum in the whole urine sample, but not in the urine pellet in whichAAamyloid fibrils should be recovered. We thought that the possibility for a transmission pathway through urine might be low, but it could not be ruled out. In addition to urine, the alimentary shedding route has been considered as a possible transmission pathway (29). Abnormal prion protein is present in gut-associated lymphoid tissues of mule deer infected with CWD, consistent with an alimentary shedding route (30). In this study, we showed that the fecal fraction from a cheetah with amyloidosis had AA amyloid fibrils and possessed high transmissibility. In mouse AApoAII amyloidosis, regarded recently as another transmissible amyloidosis (5–7), we also demonstrated that the feces could serve as an agent to induce amyloidosis in recipient mice (31). These results shed new light on the etiology involved in the high incidence of AA amyloidosis in cheetahs. In this study, we unexpectedly found that the amyloid fibril fraction from feces had smaller amyloid fibrils and higher sensitivity to denaturation treatment than the liver amyloid fibril fraction. In mammalian prion, it has been demonstrated that there is a very strong correlation between seeding capability and amyloid fibril conformation (32, 33). Similarly, in yeast prion, it also has been indicated that [PSI] with stronger infectivity typically have less stable fibrils in vivo than strains with weaker infectivity (34), and the prion strain with relatively smaller prion particles is always associated with greater frangibility and increased sensitivity to denaturants (35). The enhanced frangibility is presumably involved in the increase in seeding efficiency and prion infectivity, while the high sensitivity probably results from structural differences in inter-molecular contacts and a shorter, less stable amyloid core. The divergent ultrastructure between the fecal and the liver fibrils identified by transmission electron microscopy may be responsible for the different characteristics of transmissibility and sensitivity to denaturation treatment, analogous to prion protein. It has been reported that AA amyloidosis can be experimentally induced by i.v. or i.p. administration of AA amyloid fibrillar extracts in recipient mice (10). A few recent studies have shown that AA-containing extracts also had amyloid-inducing activity when administered orally to mice (36, 37). In AApoAII amyloidosis, we ported that an oral administration of AApoAII amyloid fibrils induced amyloidosis in recipient mice (38). Thus, it is plausible that oral ingestion of AA-containing fecal matter caused amyloid deposition in the cheetah population. At this juncture, the manner in which fecal matter is initially absorbed by the cheetahs is not clear. This may occur during mutual grooming (licking of the fur contaminated by fecal matter). Recently it was shown that a prion agent could bind to whole soil and common soil minerals and retain infectivity for a prolonged period (23, 39). Thus, soil may act as a reservoir capable of contaminating both food and fur. It is also unknown how AA fibril proteins enter the feces. Because AA amyloidosis was also in the small intestines of AA amyloidosis cheetahs, it is possible that AA proteins enter the feces through exfoliated mucosa. In conclusion, we found that cheetahs with amyloidosis pass fecal matter that had strong seeding efficiency and should be regarded as a transmission medium. To control the incidence of AA amyloidosis and reduce the likelihood of the animal’s extinction, prevention of the transmission with excretion from cheetahs with amyloidosis should be considered along with reduction of precursor SAA levels.

snip... full text pdf ;

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0800367105v1


Greetings,

I have two comments ;

To control the incidence of AA amyloidosis and reduce the likelihood of the animal’s extinction, prevention of the transmission with excretion from cheetahs with amyloidosis should be considered along with reduction of precursor SAA levels.<<<

considering AA amyloidosis in humans, should we consider this same risk factor for humans, i.e. 'extinction' and 'prevention of transmission with excretion' and Alzheimer's ?

In particular, systemic AA amyloidosis is regarded as an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality in captive cheetahs as prevalence increased from 20% in pre-1990 reported necropsies to an unusual 70% of necropsied cheetahs in 1995 (14).<<<

hmmm, big increase, and key word here is 'CAPTIVE'. WHAT WERE THESE CHEETAHS FED ? i.e. dead stock downers maybe ?

These cheetahs are reported elsewhere to have been fed cattle delicacies such as split spinal cords, whole necks, whole skulls, and split skulls from which the knacker had "removed" CNS material, as late as 1993.

Switcheroo -- MAFF web site mysteries 19 Apr 99 webmaster correspondence with MAFF "help" desk The MAFF staff actually responds helpfully to substantative question about material on their Web site though delays occur. The webmaster wrote MAFFon 16 April 1999 thanking them for their 15 Apr 99 update on animals that have succumbed to confirmed TSE and asking for dates of death on unpublished cases in tigers, ocelots, pumas, and bison that are listed on their site. These animals died some years back but nothing has ever appeared. On 17 Apr 99, the webmaster wrote again about something very puzzling: an allusion to cheetahs on line 15 and 29 whereas no such line numbers existed on the web page. Evidently they were holding back a line-by-line database of animals that would be very useful to scientists and conservationists around the world.. Very ominiouly, the cheetah lines went up to 29 whereas they showed "only" 5 British cheetahs (at Marwell and Whipsnade) plus 4 exported cheetahs [not furnished but Fota, Pearle Coast, and Safari de Peugres x 2]. There is nothing special about cheetahs and BSE other than they have a shorter incubation time than some of the other felids.

These cheetahs are reported elsewhere to have been fed cattle delicacies such as split spinal cords, whole necks, whole skulls, and split skulls from which the knacker had "removed" CNS material, as late as 1993. No cheetah has ever been autopsied that did not display clinical signs of TSE; 11 cheetahs died at Marwell alone in the mid-90's but apparently were incinerated without autopsy or freezing samples despite the zoo's track record.

The response to my polite inquiry: none. Well, actually there was a response: the MAFF webmaster quietly deleted any mention of the database. The switheroo occured on Mon, Apr 19, 1999 10:59 AM GMT according to Netscape 'document info', taking the site back to an earlier version of the document not mentioning line 15 and 29 and deleting the name of Marwell Zoo (the cheetah BSE factory).

However, I had saved the original page to disk. Here is what the deleted top secret MAFF page actually said:

"Not included above are two cheetahs at zoos in Australia and the Republic of Ireland. Both were apparently litter mates and exported from Marwell zoo, where the cheetahs on lines 15 and 29 were born. Two cases in cheetahs were also confirmed in France, one in January 1997, in an animal born at Whipsnade zoo in 1989. Details are awaited for the second case, but it is reported to have been born in Britain*." *Why don't they just ring up the French team and find out -- they published the abstract 8 months ago in August of 1998. They gave a presentation at the Chester Zoo published in the Proceedings of the EAZWV on May 24-24, 1998.

MAFF came through (somewhat) on 13 May 1999. Though the names of the zoos could not be supplied and the cheetah line 29 business could not be explained, birth and death dates of zoo BSE animals supplement the published record.

http://www.mad-cow.org/zoo_cites_annotated.html


New BSE-like disease found in cheetah 06/09/2007 - 17:52:28

A cheetah at a zoo in Nuremberg has died after contracting an illness similar to mad cow disease, becoming the first confirmed case in Germany of feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE), city authorities said today.

Lulu, a female cheetah born in 1998, had suffered for six weeks from problems that included trouble balancing and weakness in her hind legs, the Nuremberg city government said in a statement.

The animal eventually was put to sleep, and tests by Bavarian and federal labs were positive for FSE, it added.

It was unclear how and when Lulu became infected with the disease, which has a several-year incubation period, but Nuremberg authorities said it likely happened in the Netherlands, where she was born.

Lulu moved to Germany at the age of 15 months, returned to the Netherlands five years later and arrived at the Nuremberg zoo in March 2006.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/mhcwgbqlkfcw/


http://www.eveningecho.ie/news/bstory.asp?j=230658672&p=z3x659378&n=230659432


http://www.live-pr.com/en/bse-like-disease-detected-in-german-zoo-s-r1048136284.htm


GREETINGS,

interesting to say the least. how could this cheetah have contracted FSE?

feed with FSE ?

casual contact with FSE in zoo ?

remember the man and his cat whom both had sporadic CJD;

In October 1998 the simultaneous occurrence of spongiform encephalopathy in a man and his pet cat was reported. The report from Italy noted that the cat did not display the same clinical features as FSE cases previously seen. Indeed, the presence of a new type of FSE was suggested. The man was diagnosed as having sporadic CJD, and neither case (man nor cat) appeared to be affected by a BSE-related condition.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/bse/bse-science/level-4-othertses.html:


Image] Research letters Volume 352, Number 9134 [Image] 3 October1998[Previous] [Next] [Image][Image] Simultaneous occurrence of spongiform encephalopathy in a manand his cat in Italy

[Image] Gianluigi Zanusso, Ettore Nardelli, Anna Rosati, GianMaria Fabrizi, SergioFerrari, Antonella Carteri, Franco De Simone, Nicola Rizzuto, SalvatoreMonaco

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) encompass inherited,acquired, and sporadic mammalian neurological disorders, and arecharacterised by the conversion of the cellular prion protein (PrP) in aninsoluble and protease-resistant isoform (PrPres). In human TSE, four typesof PrPres have been identified according to size and glycoform ratios, whichmay represent different prion strains. Type-1 and type-2 PrPres areassociated with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), type 3 withiatrogenic CJD, and type 4 with variant CJD.1,2 There is evidence thatvariant CJD is caused by the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-prionstrain.2-4 The BSE strain has been identified in three cats with felinespongiform encephalopathy (FSE), a prion disease which appeared in 1990 inthe UK.5 We report the simultaneous occurrence of sporadic CJD in a man anda new variety of FSE in his cat. A 60-year-old man, with no unusual dietary habits, was admitted in November,1993, because of dysarthria, cerebellar ataxic gait, visual agnosia, andmyoclonus. An electroencephalogram (EEG) showed diffuse theta-deltaactivity. A brain magnetic resonance imaging scan was unremarkable. 10 dayslater, he was speechless and able to follow only simple commands. RepeatEEGs showed periodic triphasic complexes. 2 weeks after admission, he wasmute, akinetic, and unable to swallow. He died in early January, 1994. His 7-year-old, neutered, female shorthaired cat presented in November,1993, with episodes of frenzy, twitching of its body, and hyperaesthesia.The cat was usually fed on canned food and slept on its owner's bed. Nobites from the cat were recalled. In the next few days, the cat becameataxic, with hindquarter locomotor dysfunction; the ataxia got worse andthere was diffuse myoclonus. The cat was killed in mid-January, 1994. No pathogenic mutations in the patient's PrP gene were found. The patientand the cat were methionine homozygous at codon 129. Histology of thepatient's brain showed neocortical and cerebellar neuronal loss,astrocytosis, and spongiosis (figure A). PrP immunoreactivity showed apunctate pattern and paralleled spongiform changes (figure B). The cat'sbrain showed mild and focal spongiosis in deeper cortical layers of all fourlobes (figure C), vacuolated cortical neurons (figure D), and mildastrogliosis. The cerebellar cortex and the dentate nucleus were gliosed.Immunoreactive PrP showed a punctate pattern in neocortex, allocortex, andcaudate nucleus (figure E). Western blot analysis of control and affectedhuman and cat brain homogenates showed 3 PrP bands of 27-35 kDa. Afterdigestion with proteinase K and deglycosylation, only samples from theaffected patient and cat showed type-1 PrPres, with PrP glycoform ratioscomparable to those observed in sporadic CJD1 (details available fromauthor). [Image] Microscopic sections of patient and cat brains A: Occipital cortex of the patient showing moderate spongiformdegeneration and neuronal loss (haematoxylin and eosin) and B: punctateperineuronal pattern of PrP immunoreactivity; peroxidaseimmunohistochemistry with monoclonal antibody 3F4. C: cat parietal cortexshowing mild spongiform degeneration (haematoxylin and eosin).D:vacuolated neurons (arrow, haematoxylin and eosin), E: peroxidaseimmunohistochemistry with antibody 3F4 shows punctate perineuronaldeposition of PrP in temporal cortex. This study shows a spatio-temporal association between human and felineprion diseases. The clinical features of the cat were different frompreviously reported cases of FSE which were characterised by gradual onsetof behavioural changes preceding locomotor dysfunction and ataxia.5Neuropathological changes were also at variance with the diffuse spongiosisand vacuolation of brainstem neurons, seen in FSE.5 The synaptic pattern ofPrP deposition, similar in the cat and in the patient, was atypical for aBSE-related condition. Evidence of a new type of FSE was further provided bythe detection of a type-1 PrPres, other than the BSE-associated type 4.2Taken together, our data suggest that the same agent strain of sporadic CJ as involved in the patient and in his cat. It is unknown whether these TSE occurred as the result of horizontaltransmission in either direction, infection from an unknown common source,or the chance occurrence of two sporadic forms.

1 Parchi P, Castellani R, Capellari S, et al. Molecular basis of phenotypicvariablity in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Ann Neurol 1996; 39:767-78 [PubMed]. 2 Collinge J, Sidle KCL, Meads J, Ironside J, Hill AF. Molecular analysis ofprion strain variation and the aetiology of 'new variant' CJD. Nature 1996;383: 685-90 [PubMed]. 3 Bruce ME, Will RG, Ironside JW, et al. Transmissions to mice indicate that'new variant' CJD is caused by the BSE agent. Nature 1997; 389: 498-501[PubMed]. 4 Hill AF, Desbruslais M, Joiner S, et al. The same prion strain causes vCJDand BSE. Nature 1997; 389: 448-50 [PubMed]. 5 Pearson GR, Wyatt JM, Henderson JP, Gruffydd-Jones TJ. Feline spongiformencephalopathy: a review. Vet Annual 1993; 33: 1-10. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sezione di Neurologie Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche e dellaVisione, Università di Verona, Policlinico Borgo Roma, 37134 Verona, Italy(S Monaco; e mail rizzuto@Gorgorna.univr.it); and Istituto ZooprofilatticoSperimentale della Lombardia e dell' Emilia, Brescia =========================================TSS indeed there have been 4 documented cases of TSE in Lions to date. Lion 32 December 98 Born November 86 Lion 33 May 1999 (euthanased) Born November 81. Lion 36 Euthanased August 2000 Born July 87. Deteriorating hind limb ataxia. Lion 37 Euthanased November 2001 Male, 14 years. Deteriorating hind limb ataxia since September 2001. (Litter mate to Ref. 36.) http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/bse/index.html go to the url above, on the bar at the top, click on _statistics_, then in middle of next page, click on_other TSEs_. or go here;

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/bse/bse-statistics/level-3-tsestat.html:


and http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/bse/bse-science/level-4-othertses.html:


http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1992/11/13001001.pdf:


also; Reports on the clinical symptoms presented by these cats give a relatively homogeneous picture: Affected cats show a lack of coordination with an ataxia mainly of the hind limbs, they often fall and miss their target when jumping. Fear and increased aggressiveness against the owner and also other animals is often seen. They do not longer tolerate to be touched (stroked) and start hiding. These behavioural chances might be the result of a hypersensibility to touch and noise, but also to increased fear. Excessive salivation is another more frequently seen symptom. Cats with FSE in general show severe behavioural disturbances, restlessness and depression, and a lack of coat cleaning. Symptoms in large cats in general are comparable to those in domestic cats. A report on FSE (in german) has been presented in 2001 in the Swiss FVO Magazin. A paper on the first FSE case in a domestic cat in Switzerland is currently in press in the Journal Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde (SAT).

http://www.neurocenter-bern.ch/tse_e.shtml:


Article Posted: 04/15/2007 9:16:48 PM

Human and Animal Food Poisoning with Mad Cow a Slow Death

an editorial by Terry S. Singeltary Sr.

HUMAN AND ANIMAL FOOD POISONING WITH MAD COW DISEASEs A SLOW DEATH

WITH all the pet food deaths mounting from tainted pet food, all the suffering not only the animals are going through, but there owners as well, why are owners of these precious animals not crying about the mad cow tainted animal carcasses they poison there animals with everyday, and have been for decades, why not an uproar about that? well, let me tell you why, they don't drop dead immediately, it's a slow death, they simply call it FELINE and or CANINE ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, DEMENTIA OR MAD CAT/DOG DISEASE i.e. FSE and they refuse to document CSE i.e.Canine Spongiform Encephalopathy, but it's there and there is some strange pathological findings on that topic that was convientantly swept under the rug. Sadly, this happens everyday with humans, once again confidently swept under the rug as Alzheimer's and or dementia i.e. fast Alzheimer's. Who wants to spend money on an autopsy on an old dog or cat? Sadly, it's the same with humans, you get old and demented your either die or your family puts you in an old folks home and forgets about you, then you die, and again, no autopsy in most cases. Imagine 4.5 annually with Alzheimer's, with and estimated 20+ million dieing a slow death by 2050, and in reality it will most likely be much higher than that now that the blood supply has been infiltrated with the TSE agent, and we now know that blood is another route and source for this hideous disease. It's hell getting old now a days.

NOW, for the ones that don't believe me, well mad cow has been in the USA for decades undetected officially, but the late Richard Marsh documented way back, again, swept under the rug. Then in 2003 in December, the first case of BSE was finally documented, by accident. Then you had the next two cases that were documented in Texas and Alabama, but it took an act of Congress, literally, to get those finally documented, and when they were finally documented, they were atypical BSE or Bovine Amyloid Spongiform Encephalopathy (BASE), which when transmitted to humans is not vCJD or nvCJD, but SPORADIC CJD. Now you might ask yourself what about that mad cow feed ban of August 4, 1997, the year my mother died from the Heidenhain Variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (confirmed), well that ruminant to ruminant was merely a regulation on paper that nobody enforced. Just last month there was 10+ PLUS MILLION POUNDS OF BANNED BLOOD TAINTED MBM DISPERSED INTO COMMERCE, and there is no way the FDA will ever recover it. It will be fed out again. 2006 was a banner year for FDA mad cow protein fed out into commerce. Looks like 2007 will be also. Our federal Government has failed us at every corner when it comes to food safety. maybe your dog, your cat, your mom, your dad, your aunt, or your uncle, but again, who cares, there old and demented, just put them down, or put them away. It's hell getting old. ...END

http://www.swnebr.net/newspaper/cgi-bin/articles/articlearchiver.pl?160273


http://newhopetoday.blogspot.com/2007/04/article-posted-04152007-91648-pm-human.html


http://www.emaxhealth.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12779


FELINE AND CANINE ALZHEIMER'S OR MAD CAT/DOG DISEASE AND PET FOOD ... ...TSS Name: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Date: Jan 26, 2007 Dear Terry S. Singeltary Sr. ... specifically dry dog food, some of which was reported to have been ... [url]www.kxmb.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=113652[/url] - 107k -

http://www.kxmb.com/getForumPost.asp?ArticleId=113652


FELINE AND CANINE ALZHEIMER'S OR MAD CAT/DOG DISEASE AND PET FOOD ... ...TSS Name: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. Date: Jan 26, 2007 Dear Terry S. Singeltary ... so that the dog food will not mistakenly be mixed into cattle or other ... [url]www.kxnet.com/t/schools/113652.asp[/url] - 107k -

http://www.kxnet.com/getForumPost.asp?ArticleId=113652


Crushed heads (which inevitably involve brain and spinal cord material) are used to a limited extent but will also form one of the constituent raw materials of meat and bone meal, which is used extensively in pet food manufacturer...

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1989/03/17004001.pdf


QUESTION, IS U.S.A. FOOD PRODUCTION SYSTEM POISONING US ?

What Do We Feed to Food-Production Animals? A Review of Animal Feed Ingredients and Their Potential Impacts on Human Health

Amy R. Sapkota,1,2 Lisa Y. Lefferts,1,3 Shawn McKenzie,1 and Polly Walker1 1Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; 2Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, College of Health and Human Performance, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA; 3Lisa Y. Lefferts Consulting, Nellysford, Virginia, USA

snip...

Table 1. Animal feed ingredients that are legally used in U.S. animal feeds

Animal

Rendered animal protein from Meat meal, meat meal tankage, meat and bone meal, poultry meal, animal the slaughter of food by-product meal, dried animal blood, blood meal, feather meal, egg-shell production animals and other meal, hydrolyzed whole poultry, hydrolyzed hair, bone marrow, and animal animals digest from dead, dying, diseased, or disabled animals including deer and elk Animal waste Dried ruminant waste, dried swine waste, dried poultry litter, and undried processed animal waste products

snip...

Conclusions

Food-animal production in the United States has changed markedly in the past century, and these changes have paralleled major changes in animal feed formulations. While this industrialized system of food-animal production may result in increased production efficiencies, some of the changes in animal feeding practices may result in unintended adverse health consequences for consumers of animal-based food products. Currently, the use of animal feed ingredients, including rendered animal products, animal waste, antibiotics, metals, and fats, could result in higher levels of bacteria, antibioticresistant bacteria, prions, arsenic, and dioxinlike compounds in animals and resulting animal-based food products intended for human consumption. Subsequent human health effects among consumers could include increases in bacterial infections (antibioticresistant and nonresistant) and increases in the risk of developing chronic (often fatal) diseases such as vCJD. Nevertheless, in spite of the wide range of potential human health impacts that could result from animal feeding practices, there are little data collected at the federal or state level concerning the amounts of specific ingredients that are intentionally included in U.S. animal feed. In addition, almost no biological or chemical testing is conducted on complete U.S. animal feeds; insufficient testing is performed on retail meat products; and human health effects data are not appropriately linked to this information. These surveillance inadequacies make it difficult to conduct rigorous epidemiologic studies and risk assessments that could identify the extent to which specific human health risks are ultimately associated with animal feeding practices. For example, as noted above, there are insufficient data to determine whether other human foodborne bacterial illnesses besides those caused by S. enterica serotype Agona are associated with animal feeding practices. Likewise, there are insufficient data to determine the percentage of antibiotic-resistant human bacterial infections that are attributed to the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in animal feed. Moreover, little research has been conducted to determine whether the use of organoarsenicals in animal feed, which can lead to elevated levels of arsenic in meat products (Lasky et al. 2004), contributes to increases in cancer risk. In order to address these research gaps, the following principal actions are necessary within the United States: a) implementation of a nationwide reporting system of the specific amounts and types of feed ingredients of concern to public health that are incorporated into animal feed, including antibiotics, arsenicals, rendered animal products, fats, and animal waste; b) funding and development of robust surveillance systems that monitor biological, chemical, and other etiologic agents throughout the animal-based food-production chain from farm to for, to human health outcomes; and c) increased communication and collaboration among feed professionals, food-animal producers, and veterinary and public health officials.

REFERENCES...snip...end

Sapkota et al. 668 VOLUME 115 NUMBER 5 May 2007 Environmental Health Perspectives

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1867957&blobtype=pdf


IN STRICT CONFIDENCE

TRANSMISSION OF ALZHEIMER-TYPE PLAQUES TO PRIMATES

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1993/01/05004001.pdf


Alzheimer's and CJD

http://betaamyloidcjd.blogspot.com/


Saturday, March 22, 2008

10 Million Baby Boomers to have Alzheimer's in the coming decades 2008 Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures

http://betaamyloidcjd.blogspot.com/2008/03/10-million-baby-boomers-to-have.html


Original Paper

Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Laura Debatina, Johannes Strefferb, Markus Geissenc, Jakob Matschkec, Adriano Aguzzia, Markus Glatzela, c

http://betaamyloidcjd.blogspot.com/2008/03/association-between-deposition-of-beta.html


Sunday, April 27, 2008 re-Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Greetings,

I thought this most important research by Aguzzi et al 'Association between Deposition of Beta-Amyloid and Pathological Prion Protein in Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease' most important, and thought further reading of this study should be at hand.

http://betaamyloidcjd.blogspot.com/2008/04/re-association-between-deposition-of.html


Terry S. Singeltary Sr. P.O. Box 42 Bacliff, Texas USA 77518