February 1, 2007

Mad cow disease caused by virus, not prions
 

Researchers have found more evidence that a virus may cause mad cow disease and not a prion as earlier believed.

Mad cow disease and other related brain disorders might be caused by a virus and not deformed proteins or prions, noted a recent study.

Researchers reported that they found virus-like particles in mouse nerve cells infected with two brain-wasting diseases similar to mad cow disease, but found no traces of the particles in uninfected cells, said Laura Manuelidis, a neuropathologist at Yale University.

Some scientists have questioned the prion research performed by Stanley Prusiner of the University of California, San Francisco, since he won the Nobel Prize in 1997, Manuelidis said.

Mad cow disease, known formally as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a cattle disease that destroys brain tissue by causing abnormal tangles of protein fibres and creating microscopic holes in the brain.