NR ANUI
AU Concepcion,G.P.; Padlan,E.A.
TI Are humans getting 'mad-cow disease' from eating beef, or something else?
QU Medical Hypotheses 2003 May; 60(5): 699-701
PT journal article
AB Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or 'mad-cow disease' is believed to have been caused by the consumption of scrapie-infected sheep matter that had been added to cattle feed. BSE is then believed to have been transmitted to humans by the consumption of infected beef. We have compared the sequences of human and various animal prion proteins with regards to the fragments that could result from gastric digestion. We noted the close similarity of the sequences of human and rodent prion proteins in a peptic fragment that corresponds very closely to one that had been shown by others to be protease resistant and infective. Since rats and mice are known to be susceptible to prion disease, we propose that ingestion of infected rodent parts, possibly droppings, may be a possible mode of transmission of scrapie or BSE to humans.
MH Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Cattle; Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform/*transmission; Feces; *Food Contamination; Human; Meat Products/*analysis; Molecular Sequence Data; Prions/chemistry; Rodentia; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
AD Marine Science Institute, College of Science, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
SP englisch
PO Schottland