Doctors afraid to perform autopsies on CJD victims, and yet...

[Sliverofhope]

Americans continue to eat beef, with just a 7% reported decrease in consumption according to a poll.

Medical doctors are afraid to autopsy human corpses with sterile equipment and gloves and masks and protection, and on the other hand we have people consuming corpses of animals that may have the disease as well.

The only treatment for vCJD currently is designed to make your death slightly less horrible.

I'm sitting here, going absolutely mad as a cow trying to figure out why nobody seems to care that an invariably fatal disease is potentially in our midst, and the testing is allowed to be so faulty.

I suppose we want to replay Reagan's approach to AIDS.

It seems people have to die before any change happens in this country.

[TeeYiYi]

1. That's what it reminds me of . . .

re: "Reagan's approach to AIDS"

It seems to be true that those unwilling to learn from the past are destined to repeat it. :(

TYY

[WindRavenX]

2. WTF? That makes no sense at all

As I understand it, the only way to contract CJD (mad cow disease) is to ingest infected protein from the animal because it contains malformed protein molecules called prions.
Why would there be any risk in testing, if they are not actually ingesting? Proteins are huge molecules and cannot pass thru membranes easily, if at all.
This makes no biological sense.
edit: grammar

[Sliverofhope]

3. Hold on, let me find a link

I know I've read this.

Here's something: Morticians Fear CJD victims:

http://www.wyfda.org/member/cj_7.html

I know I read about doctors, too.

"There is no definitive test to diagnose it and no treatment to cure the always fatal disease. A few researchers even disagree about what infectious agent actually causes it. Like AIDS in the 1980s, many doctors and pathologists are reluctant to handle tissue from Creutzfeldt-Jakob patients. And many familiar with the disease doubt it is really as rare as the one-in-a-million estimates. "

"Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has been linked to cornea transplants and human-growth hormone made from infected cadavers, but so far not other donated organs. Fear of the disease is so acute among health-care professionals, few will agree to autopsy the bodies of patients or do brain biopsies, the only way to definitively diagnose a living patient. "

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/brain11104.cfm

[WindRavenX]

5. that article still doesn't say much

Exposure to the brain and/or cerebro-spinal fluid produces a high potential exposure level since these (and to a lesser degree, other internal organs) are the primary reservoirs for the prion
Well duh. But that STILL doesn't mean you can "get" CJD- the prion molecules are simply too big to simply be contracted by merely handling the corpse and biological fluids like blood. You'd have to either inject or ingest the protein. With proper bio hazard material, it shouldn't be that bad. This stuff isn't the ebola virus...

[Sliverofhope]

6. Still, doctors are being perhaps illogically afraid

And yet we have at least, at very least, probably half of Americans ingesting corpses. I'm not saying the doctors are acting rationally, but that the difference between the reactions is striking.

[WindRavenX]

7. Agreed

The doctors are acting very illogical, especially from what we know on how the disease is spread and contracted.
As for public consumption of the carcasses, I for one do not eat red meat (never ate much of it to begin with, too heavy), and I see no reason to continue with the poor standards of testing in the US. Japan tests every single one of their cows for the disease.

[TrustingDog]

8. I believe this is the reason...

it's not that it's 'catchy' in the trad sense. but prions are extremely hardy and when operating instruments are used on autopsies, they could be carrying prions onto the next unsuspecting patient.

The only way to Know if one has mad cow is an autopsy - so the docs are worried about malpractice suits more than likely.

[lapfog_1]

4. There is no damn good argument to

simply testing every cow that we slaughter.

I don't eat beef anymore, and after viewing the PETA video, I
may be giving up chicken soon. Won't give up shrimp or fish.

Not only is the FDA not mandating testing for prionic disease,
they won't ALLOW it!!!