Mad Cow Disease Halted for First Time
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Oct 30 (HealthDayNews) -- A British research team has halted a mad cow-like disease in lab animals, pointing the way to new hope for preventing the progression of the disease in humans as well.
"No one else has reported this, not that we are aware," says Dr. Giovanna Mallucci, a member of the research team at the Institute of Neurology in London. The team's report appears in the Oct. 31 issue of Science.
Called mad cow disease in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, the neurological disorders studied occur when normal nerve cell proteins, called prions, change for unknown reasons into a disease-causing form.
Both are fatal brain diseases and there is no known cure. In CJD, patients may have failing memory, behavioral changes, coordination problems, and visual disturbances. Mental deterioration hastens as the disease progresses, and 90 percent of those who have it die within a year, according to the National Institutes of Health.
http://target.com/target_group/pharmacy/healthinfo/health_news/health_news_article.jhtml?urn=urn:content:healthscout:htm:30102003:30102003_14Dr. Mallucci is one of THE eminent doctors studying this disease.