Mad cow in Washington?

"George Z. Bush" wrote:

Steve Hix wrote:
In article

,
Orval Fairbairn wrote:

In article ,
noname wrote:

I heard there is a mad cow in Washington. Is it GWB or who?


It is already pandemic in:

Dept. of Homeland Security
Transportation Security Administration
Secret Service
Internal Revenue Service
US Senate
US House of Representatives
National Science Foundation
NASA
NSA
NSC
CIA
FBI

The cow in question, however, resided in Washington state.

I don't understand why the press is making such a big to-do about the thing.
From what I have heard, there have only been some 139 cases in human beings in
the entire world. That's 139 out of some 3 billions......you have a far better
chance of being struck by lightning or winning four lotteries within the same
year than you have of contracting that thing.

Maybe it was just a slow news day and they needed something to fill the on-air
minutes.

George Z.

You will also notice that some of the countries all upset about the possibility of
MCD also have very high smoking rates and are unconcerned about that!

Bob McKellar

I thought my ex had moved!

From: "George Z. Bush" am
Date: 12/25/2003 8:47 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

Steve Hix wrote:
In article

,
Orval Fairbairn wrote:

In article ,
noname wrote:

I heard there is a mad cow in Washington. Is it GWB or who?


It is already pandemic in:

Dept. of Homeland Security
Transportation Security Administration
Secret Service
Internal Revenue Service
US Senate
US House of Representatives
National Science Foundation
NASA
NSA
NSC
CIA
FBI

The cow in question, however, resided in Washington state.

I don't understand why the press is making such a big to-do about the thing.
From what I have heard, there have only been some 139 cases in human beings
in
the entire world. That's 139 out of some 3 billions......you have a far
better
chance of being struck by lightning or winning four lotteries within the same
year than you have of contracting that thing.


Try 6 billion people on Earth. You may be correct about the probabilities, but
why not try to stop the spread while it's still small?

Of the known human cases over 100 were in the UK if memory serves. They took
drastic actions and the spread from there has stopped.

Just think, if all the AIDS cases around the world had been quarantined when
the cases were in the few hundreds or thousands there wouldn't be the scale of
suffering we see now.

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired

"George Z. Bush" wrote in message
...

I don't understand why the press is making such a big to-do about the
thing.
From what I have heard, there have only been some 139 cases in human
beings in
the entire world. That's 139 out of some 3 billions......you have a far
better
chance of being struck by lightning or winning four lotteries within the
same
year than you have of contracting that thing.

It is a new, incurable, infectious, deadly disease with freighting symptoms.
With proper attention the disease itself can likely be sent the way of
smallpox
at minimal cost but if ignored it could be epidemic.

The human population is so dense and interconnected with frequent, easy
and quick travel that a really biologically hot new disease could kill
multiple
billions of people. Luck has been with us so far, if we keep on top of it we
may be able to substitute wisdom and knowledge in when our luck runs thin.

Quite frankly, I think the media has this one just about right. Maybe a tad
overblown but not by much.

"John Keeney" wrote in message
...
It is a new, incurable, infectious, deadly disease with freighting
symptoms.
With proper attention the disease itself can likely be sent the way of
smallpox
at minimal cost but if ignored it could be epidemic.

It's not infectious, at least not unless you choose to feed on dead
sufferers... I don't think it's infectious amongst animals in the same
herd, but the worry is if the triggers are present in the food then they
could all develop it. (Unless I recall incorrectly.) The massive slaughter
we saw in the UK two years ago was not to halt the spread of mad-cow, but
foot and mouth, which is infectious.

The main problem with vCJD is that the incubation time is up to ten years.
until which time it's undetectable, and as you say is a vicious, incurable
wasting disease. The outreak in the UK is (widely assumed) to be down to the
practice of feeding bovine livestock with animal feed made from ground-up
cows. The disease develops from the injestion of spinal and brain tissue of
the same-species. CJD has also been reported in the past in remote
canibalistic tribes. Another possible infection method is the use of growth
hormone used on unusually small human children to promote growth. The
hormone is developed from cow brain tissue.

I would choose to worry about mad cow if cases start appearing throughout
the country, as that indicates that the whole national farming procedures
are flawed, and that infected feed is returning to the animals' food chain.
In which case, you may well start seeing cases of vCJD in humans within the
next decade.

Si

George Z. Bush wrote:

: I don't understand why the press is making such a big to-do about the thing.
: From what I have heard, there have only been some 139 cases in human beings in
: the entire world. That's 139 out of some 3 billions......

True. On the other hand, Creuzfeldt-Jacob disease is appalling
in its nature and symptoms; a horrible death and very hard on
the family.

What makes it worse is that this is a totally preventable
event. BSE is almost a man-made disease; if people had not
been so stupid to feed cows with insufficiently treated
proteins from other animals (IIRC this decision was taken
in the 1980s, when the UK and perhaps some other countries
lowered the legal standard for heat treatment of carcases)
there would have been no BSE. And if authorities had not
taken an incredibly complacent "no harm will ever come to
you" attitude about BSE it would have been easy to eradicate,
as AFAIK there is no cow-to-cow transmission.

So every death to CJD is one to many. It is not like lightning
striking someone.

: Maybe it was just a slow news day and they needed something to
: fill the on-air minutes.

No, it is important enough. Even in economic terms: In the EU
the impact on the beef industry of the BSE cases was dramatic
and it will probably be the same in the USA. It remains to be
seen how wide-spread this is --- AFAIK controls in the US
meat industry are only sporadic, so an isolated case does not
need to remain one.

--
Emmanuel Gustin

"Emmanuel.Gustin" wrote in message
...
What makes it worse is that this is a totally preventable
event. BSE is almost a man-made disease; if people had not
been so stupid to feed cows with insufficiently treated
proteins from other animals (IIRC this decision was taken
in the 1980s, when the UK and perhaps some other countries
lowered the legal standard for heat treatment of carcases)

If I recall corrcetly, BSE is imune to heat treatmet. The only solution,
which is common sense if you think about it, is that you shouldn't force
your herbivorous cattle to consume their own species as part of their feed.

Si

In article ,
"Emmanuel.Gustin" wrote:

George Z. Bush wrote:

: I don't understand why the press is making such a big to-do about the
: thing.
: From what I have heard, there have only been some 139 cases in human beings
: in
: the entire world. That's 139 out of some 3 billions......

True. On the other hand, Creuzfeldt-Jacob disease is appalling
in its nature and symptoms; a horrible death and very hard on
the family.

What makes it worse is that this is a totally preventable
event. BSE is almost a man-made disease; if people had not
been so stupid to feed cows with insufficiently treated
proteins from other animals (IIRC this decision was taken
in the 1980s, when the UK and perhaps some other countries
lowered the legal standard for heat treatment of carcases)
there would have been no BSE.

Yemeni sheep are fed protein from other animals?

cf a recent case of C-J diagnosed in a Special Forces sergeant during
the past year; the cause of infection determined most likely to be
eating sheeps brains with some tribal elders during some local
negotiations.