AR-News: Mad cow diseases still baffle scientists

[jim robertson]

Mad cow diseases still baffle scientists
Cross-species maladies caused by mysterious prions

By Maggie Fox
Health and Science Correspondent

Updated: 12:32 p.m. ET Dec. 24, 2003WASHINGTON - Mad cow disease, which 
officials say has been detected for the first time in the United States, 
still mystifies scientists because it is not caused by a virus, bacteria or 
other microbes, does not alert the immune system and can jump from species 
to species.


Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said the disease, formally known as bovine 
spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, had been found in a single Holstein cow 
in Washington state.

"Even though the risk to human health is minimal, based on evidence, we will 
take all appropriate actions out of an abundance of caution," Veneman told 
reporters on Tuesday.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3801706/

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