Can a Link Between Cattle and Human Disease be Proven or Disproven?

Abstract

There are numerous laboratory strains of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), distinguishable on the basis of their disease characteristics in panels of inbred mouse lines.¹ The main criteria used to identify different TSE strains are the incubation periods of the disease in these mice and the distribution of pathological changes seen in their brains, expressed as a "lesion profile". Studies on TSE strain characteristics after passage in hosts of different species or genotypes have shown that the agent contains an informational component that is independent of the host.^2,3 In recent years strain typing methods have been used to explore epidemiological links between spongiform encephalopathies occurring in different species.