Prions and Mad Cow Disease
by Brian K. Nunnally, Ira S. Krull
October 2003
The alarm sounded by Canada’s recently confirmed case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has reaffirmed the exigency of establishing improved safeguards and more aggressive surveillance protocols in North America and around the world. Research converging on the probable causative agent-prion proteins-calls for intensive assessment of the headway gained in tracing prions, testing for transmissible neurodegenerative diseases, and developing methods for cornering the epidemic. Administered by an illustrious panel of 36 international contributors, this timely book marshals techniques for prion protein assay and diagnosis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).
- manifests evidence of infectious agents believed responsible for TSEs
- explores prion protein detection via immunoassay, chemiluminescent ELISA, bioassay, and fluorescence
- relates differential extraction, DELFIA, multispectral techniques, and in vivo diagnostics
- consults comparable sheep-carried infection scrapie for BSE leads
- examines chronic wasting disease, a TSE striking deer and elk populations
- specifies measures for active BSE surveillance and safety monitoring of biological products
- presents models for estimating probabilities of animal-animal BSE spread
