Thanks for the info Jeri. As Paddi stated earlier we who have been
living through this scare here in Alberta, Canada close to so many of our
friends in the cattle business. We have been educated to all of this and
it is a shame and very upsetting to us that the USA is now in the same
situation. The USA/Canada border was shut down to our cattlemen's exports
and yes they have suffered and the ripple effect has been devastating in our
area as Beef production in the west here is a major source to our economy.
FYI the 1 "old" cow that was positive here had been imported from the
Northern USA as a calf.
When you mention the possibility of a spontaneous case occurring it
has been discussed in the research areas here by some. Due to the fact
that no other cattle on the farm she came from here or the surrounding areas or
the area she was born in the USA nor have her offspring that have
been found have had any positives it is interesting that the news media has
not put this or other positives of this terrible economic crippler into the
forefront of the News. As usual we only hear the gruesome details and
never the possibility that the disease is isolated. Yes we should set up
at racking ID system in food animal population for these situations. This
would lesson the time it takes to track the history/background of a diseased
animal and hopefully be better able to quickly solve future situations
(And there will be more). BSE is not a highly contagious disease but is a human
health hazard and we need to be diligent with it as any disease but due
to the method it is transferable to humans (eating the actual infected
tissues of nerve cells in spinal or brain )it is highly unlikely we will have a
problem with transition to ourselves through the food chain. If this was
the case we should have been seeing some diagnosis of CJD in people of North
America and this has not been the case as of yet.
Even though it is rare and as you say possible spontaneous occurrences it
is more than likely that the disease is out there in very small numbers of
cattle and has been for years. As some local cattlemen have
suggested this is probably the case and we are just not catching all
the BSC positive, younger, cattle due to the lack of physical symptoms
and therefore are not always being tested at the time of slaughter.
On a side note when I was visiting family in Louisiana and Arkansas last
month my cattlemen friends there thanked me (Canada) for the positive BSC we had
here because the beef prices had been so good (high) in their area and they
attribute it to the border closer!!!
Heres hoping that the proper information and perspective is put on
this terrible case you have and it does not effect your industry as it has
ours.
May you all have a safe and happy New Year and may ride some great trails
in 2004!
Mary
From: DESERTRYDR1@xxxxxxx Subject: Re:
[RC] OT - Mad Cow Disease in WA State
Mike and
others, it IS possible for a case of BSE to pop up in one cow in an
otherwise clean area. It happened in Canada. The disease is
caused by a prion, which is basically a protein gone bad. It
replicates in brain and neural tissue, and destroys it. I work for a
local health department in Eastern WA. We are fairly close to the
problem, about 50 miles away. It really caught us by surprise, and we
were getting phone calls about it before we even got a press release, which
we usually get first. This morning our Regional Epidemiologist called
a meeting and we discussed the situation. There is a lot more that is
NOT know about the methods of travel of the prions. There is a human
variant that is hereditary. It is also spread by processing brain and
neural tissue into animal feeds then feeding it back to the same
species. As far as I was told this morning, that practice has been
stopped since the big scares in Great britain. I do know that sheep
that die are NOT accepted by the local rendering plant due to concerns about
scrapie, which is the similar disease in sheep. Scrapie is present in
sheep in this country. Also, Wasting disease, a similar disease of elk
and deer, is in this country. It was introduced by farmed elk.
There have been cases of spontaneous CJD (the human variant) and so I
see no reason why there should not be spontaneous cases in cattle.
Also possibly hereditary cases. The cow that was involved was 12 yrs.
old, fairly old for cattle. So far it's history has not been
released. We will know a lot more in a week or two.
There is already in place, and at work, a team of experts, vets, etc
that are working on the possible cause of this case. Also, the whole
herd the cow came from will be destroyed and tested. Also any cattle
that came into contact,etc. The Mabton/Sunnyside area of WA has a LOT
of cattle, as there is a major feedlot in Sunnyside. Instead of
getting alarmist or flip about the situation, be glad it doesn't affect
horses, and be glad it hasn't affected your livelyhood, YET.
It's amazing the different view we who are actually involved (and I am
involved only to the point of getting first hand info so I can answer
questions from the general public) have a totally different viewpoint than
some of those who get their news from the TV or newspaper, or even the
net.
I personally do not eat a lot of beef, but this won't stop
me, because i see the work going on. As C Newell posted, that's
why they are trying so hard to get a system in place to track animals sold
for food, and animals that can carry zoonotic diseases. (Sorry that's
a very loose paraphrase, I deleted the post) I have a lot more
confidence in the people working on these problems, because I work with them
on a daily basis. jeri
