NewsMine — nature-health — livestock — madcow — Viewing Item

300 cases a year of CJD in america Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/17/D8D9SJK00.html http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/17/D8D9SJK00.html 9 Cases of Brain-Wasting Disease in Idaho Oct 17 11:56 AM US/Eastern Email this story By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press Writer BOISE, Idaho From the moment Joan Kingsford first saw her husband stagger in his welding shop, she wanted two things: His recovery and to know what made him sick. She got neither. Alvin Kingsford, 72, died recently of suspected sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the fatal brain-wasting illness. The disease can be conclusively diagnosed only with an autopsy, which did not take place. State and federal health officials are trying to get to the bottom of nine reported cases of suspected sporadic CJD in Idaho this year. Sporadic, or naturally occurring, CJD differs from the permutation dubbed variant CJD, which is caused by eating mad-cow-tainted beef and has killed at least 180 people in the United Kingdom and continental Europe since the 1990s. "One thing is very clear in Idaho _ the number seems to be higher than the number reported in previous years," said Dr. Ermias Belay, a CJD expert with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "So far, the investigations have not found any evidence of any exposure that might be common among the cases." Normally, sporadic CJD only strikes about one person in a million each year, with an average of just 300 cases per year in the United States, or just over one case a year in Idaho. Over the past two decades, the most cases reported in Idaho in a single year has been three. Until this year. Of the nine suspected cases reported so far in 2005, three tested positive for an infectious disease of the nervous system, though more tests are pending to determine if the fatal illness was in fact sporadic CJD. Four apparent victims were buried without autopsies. Two suspected cases tested negative. Still, federal and state health officials are stopping just short of calling the Idaho cases a "cluster," waiting for final test results from the victims who got autopsies. The best tool of investigators to pin down the diagnosis _ the autopsy _ is sometimes hard to get, said Tom Shanahan with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Pathologists are often reluctant to perform the procedures, the cost of an autopsy can be high and some families are reluctant to give their consent, officials say. Joan Kingsford wanted an autopsy done on her husband, but no mortician in the area would agree to handle Alvin's body after his brain cavity had been opened. They feared they would catch the rare disease, Kingsford said. Ultimately, she opted to skip the autopsy and have a traditional funeral service. "A week before he passed away, the funeral homes said they wouldn't take the blood out" if an autopsy was done on him, she said. "They just put some embalming in him and told me I had to have a funeral in three days." CJD is transmitted through a malformed prion found primarily in the brain and spinal fluid of those infected, Belay said. Standard sterilization procedures don't eliminate the risk of infection; instead equipment must be soaked in a chemical solution for more than an hour and then heated, according to the World Health Organization. Mortuary procedures _ including embalming _ can be done safely on intact bodies of CJD victims as long as extra precautions are taken, but the World Health Organization does not recommend embalming patients who have had autopsies. Larry Whitaker, a Beaverton, Ore.-based regional salesman for the embalming chemical and equipment manufacturer Dodge Company, offers workshops to his clients on safe handling of CJD-infected bodies. "When the brain has been removed, it is an extraordinary risk," Whitaker said. "This is one time I think that cremation has to be more than mildly considered." A member of the Mormon Church, Joan Kingsford's church discourages cremation. She was thrown into making a decision about her husband's remains much sooner than she expected. "It was two and a half months before we knew what was wrong with him, and by that time he was in the hospital," she said. "I wish we could have done the autopsy, because I think people need to know about this." "We definitely have a problem in Idaho," she added. ___ On the Net: CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/vcjd/

300 cases a year of CJD in america Alabama cow tests positive for disease { March 13 2006 } Briton from houston has mad cow disease Bush wants mad cow testing to stop { May 9 2008 } Canada cows mad cow quarantine Canada mad cow animal may have reached US Canada shock wave madcow { May 20 2003 } Canadian madcow Cow destroyed before tested for madcow { May 3 2004 } Dispute of condition of washington mad cow Fda proposed banning brains from animal feed { October 5 2005 } Feds investigated 20 cases for human mad cow Florida women died of mad cow disease Human variant mad cow is puzzle { January 3 2004 } Inspector general details flaws in madcow testing { July 15 2004 } Mad cow disease found in goat { January 28 2005 } Mad cow dog food recalled { May 27 2003 } Mad cow may be affecting more humans Mad cow texas { January 26 2001 } Madcow maybe from us More us cattle likely to have mad cow disease { February 5 2004 } Mysterious mad cow cases found texas alabama { June 12 2006 } Natural beef sales outpace conventional beef Plants violating mad cow rules Possible new case of mad cow disease Reports possible case of madcow disease { November 18 2004 } Study finds broader reach for mad cow proteins { January 21 2005 } Suspected case of mad cow { June 12 2005 } Testing for mad cow to end after third case found Tests confirm second mad cow case { June 25 2005 } Tests if texas death linked to mad cow disease Third us herd quarantined in madcow investigation Upto 100 more mad cow cases expected Us may pay farmers to test for madcow { January 2 2004 } Usad investigates third possible mad cow Usda not testing animals at risk for madcow Usda probes 3rd case of mad cow { July 27 2005 } Usda says mad cow probe could take months Usda scales back mad cow testing { June 2006 } Files Listed: 39

Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security Archives

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information, go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purpose of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.