'Mad cow' disease found in goat

[emad]

BBC

European scientists have confirmed what is thought to be the first known case of "mad cow" disease in a goat.

It is the first time the brain wasting disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), has been found in an animal other than a cow.

The animal was slaughtered in France in 2002 and was first thought to have the brain-wasting condition scrapie.

Correspondents say it is a disturbing sign that BSE can be transmitted to other animals consumed by humans.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4216431.stm

[emad]

1. See also: Bird flu 'passed between humans'

BBC

Scientists have said a woman who died of bird flu probably contracted the disease from her daughter.

The researchers from the Thai Ministry of Public Health warn it is likely there will be more cases where the virus is passed from human-to-human.

Professor John Oxford, a leading UK expert, said the virus had broken down the "final door" which prevented it being spread between people.

The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4215659.stm

[InvisibleTouch]

2. Sheep get it as well. n/t

[emad]

4. Margaret Thatcher's erstwhile Home Secretary Ken Baker once

accused her of having "Mad Cow Disease" after a series of disastrous policy decisions defending the reputations of the Bush family: I think it was in 1989/1990 that Jeb Bush came to the UK to defend some character assasination lawsuit in the Royal Courts of Justice and Thatcher stood up in the House of Commons to say why she would testify on his behalf (eventually in an in-camera hearing) saying that his reputation had been impugned by "common criminals" and that her evidence is the sort of thing that shows "just what friends are for".

The term Mad Cow Disease then became synonymous in the UK with the idea of arselicking on behalf of the Bush family.

[daleo]

11. That's an interesting anecdote.

It is too bad it is not more widely known in North America. Most of the media seems to have a critical case of it, often paid for with U.S. tax dollars it turns out.

[bullimiami]

3. brain wasting disease is in sheep (scrappie)

and in wild game animals like elk and deer. not surprising to find goats with it.

[GTS]

7. My reading of the article is that they have found is BSE,

not it's cousin scrappie.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. And people, too,

Kreutzfelt-Jacob disease, and kuru.

[genieroze]

17. brain wasting disease is in sheep? OMG, so that's what * supporters

are suffering from.

[Megahurtz]

22. Lol!

:D

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

5. eat at own risk.no lifeguard on duty --human "animals" have dormant prions

that can take up to 40 yrs to manifest and then it gets diagnosed as something else when it finally does in order to keep the "hush" going.
Guessing Reagan might have had it too.
Do not trust the meat industry to protect you.
There have been some disturbing decisions made
to not allow some places to "test" for mad cow because that would imply the other places didn't test for it-
--so do you think there's actually testing going on in the USA ?

The industry's tagged all Google inquiries to go to sites they own if you seek "mad cow".
You have to look up Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease-

Reuters is weak on this new goat story.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28312309.htm

eat at own risk.no lifeguard on duty.

[jdj]

6. was it "My Pet Goat?" No!!!

Probably got it from W.

[emad]

9. Yes! As created by Major Jim Channon of the First Earth Battalion

See Crazy Rulers of the World:
http://www.jonronson.com/goats_04.html
and
http://www.channel4.com/community/showcards/C/Crazy_Rulers_of_the_World.html

[ElectroPrincess]

10. Nope, but I did hear on CSPAN that all those Iraqis in the

North who choose to *risk their life and limb* to vote on Sunday would be rewarded with a quart of goat's milk. Yummy! And I must say quite a prize for risking bodily injury and/or death.

Mad Cow in Goats and Sheep is Baaaad News based on just it's sheer existence. <puns all classless and fully intended>

[Jacobin]

12. Damn. No more souvlaki

[tubbacheez]

13. Somehow... someway... the freepers will try to connect this issue

to gay marriage.

[AuntiBush]

14. US Scientists should

begin a study up on the Hill. Sure seems to be "something" sick going on up there.

[uppityperson]

15. What about rabbits and guinea pigs? Seriously, I'm disturbed.

Disturbed by the food industry. Thinking seriously about raising chicks to eat rather than just eating the eggs my chickens lay. But then, I buy chickenfood at the feed store to suppliment what they get grazing and who knows what is in there. Argh.

[Lisa]

18. it's possible to buy organic feed mixes these days

My local feed store has them. (I admit -- my chicks eat healthier stuff than I do!)

Or -- it's also possible to buy organic grains in bulk at health food places, and make your own mixtures. Chickens can do pretty well on surplus garden produce supplemented by grain, and foraging for bugs etc. on their own.

[uppityperson]

19. Organic feed locally looks like floor sweepings & chicks hate

So far all I can find locally for organic food the chickens won't eat. They scratch it all over and trample it into the ground rather than eating it. It you have a link for a source, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

[CAcyclist]

16. This is so ironic

Because veterinarians think that scrapie is where BSE originated from.

[doodadem]

20. Just how sick is it

that the cattle industry was feeding cow remains back to cattle anyway? I mean, really, how did anyone think that was not going to cause a problem down the road? What's the bovine version of "Soylent Green is people!"?
Glad that the CowBoy (pet Brahma steer) and Bitsy the Wondergoat (pygmy) eat only hay, grass, carrots, and peppermints, on our place. What little bit of extra feed my fat horses get is mostly a "straight" grain, like crimped oats or barley.

[rodeodance]

21. "mad goat disease"--that will take a bit to sink in

[warrens]

23. Human cannibalism created an identical disease

It pretty much wiped out most cannibalistic tribes; their brains were full of holes and they started dropping like flies. Feeding meat to herbivores is bad news; they're not meant to digest it, and even when you process it so their system is fooled into digesting it, eventually it comes back to haunt you.

The significance of the goat catching it is that they thought the disease was limited strictly to cattle. Now they know they're wrong, and people like pork producers are going to have this floating over their heads. The solution is simple: stop feeding animals to animals. The vast majority of our food animals are herbivores; the real impetus for feeding them animal parts is that the industry has a pile of leftovers that humans will not eat, so they had to find SOMETHING to do with them that would earn a few bucks. I am told that many meat producers would be running at a loss if they didn't have rendering operations to turn the bones and fat and icky parts into stuff they can sell.