Bovine spongiform encephalopathy

From MicrobeWiki, the student-edited microbiology resource

Bovine spongiform encephalotpathy

Introduction

(Figure 1). [brain.png|thumb|400px|right|Figure 1. Image of brain. http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/DiseaseInfo/ImageDB/BSE/BSE_001sm.jpg. ]]
By Kevin Pan

At right is a sample image insertion. It works for any image uploaded anywhere to MicrobeWiki. The insertion code consists of:
Double brackets: [[
Filename: PHIL_1181_lores.jpg
Thumbnail status: |thumb|
Pixel size: |300px|
Placement on page: |right|
Legend/credit: .
Closed double brackets: ]]

Other examples:
Bold
Italic
Subscript: H2O
Superscript: Fe3+



Introduce the topic of your paper. What microorganisms are of interest? Habitat? Applications for medicine and/or environment?

Overview

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (figure 1) is a progressive neurological disorder in cows that belongs to a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies1. that causes the central nervous system to degenerate. BSE has an incubation period of about four years and affects adult cattle at the peak onset of 4-5 years. Humans can be infected with this disease after eating products that have been tainted with this disease. While the exact method of transfer is still not understood, it is believed that a misfolded protein known as the prion protein in cattle is the cause of transfer. This protein is difficult to kill as it is able to survive heat, UV light, ionizing radiation and normal sterilization techniques1 It is believed that the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is the human form of BSE, is caused by BSE. However, studies have shown a similarity between prions of BSE and TSE, but not a directly correlation to support that theory2. Symptoms of CJD are dementia, memory loss, personality changes and hallucinations.


Transmission

Transmission occurs via a contaminated animal-source of proteins in cattle feed, but horizontal transmission is not the main method of new infections.

Control