[Asieh Namdar, Cnn Anchor:] French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin is promising help to farmers, hit hard by the scare over Mad Cow Disease. He says France may have to handle the crises on its own, if the European Union does not grant direct aid to these farmers. Finding a cure has also been a major concern among European countries; some researchers in Slovenia say their work could bring revolutionary progress in diagnosing and treating the disease. TV Slovenia has more.
[Viko Luskovec, Tv Slovenia Correspondent:] Diagnosing the Mad Cow Disease with animals and humans is very time- consuming. Reliable tests require demanding an extensive laboratory checks and could be done after death. Scientists are there for making every effort to find better tests for diagnosing this disease, since the available methods do not allow for fast and early detention. In Slovenia, special mono-clone antibodies have been developed, which may represent a new revolution in the field.
[Dr. Vladka Eurin Serbec, Slovene Institute For Blood Transfusion:] The advantages of this discovery are particular in the fact that our antibodies allow the introduction of the fast, simple and low-cost test for determining prior based diseases with animals and humans.
[Luskovec:] The main problem of current tests is that they can hardly differ between healthy and infected. The Slovene mono-clone anti-bodies recognize and infect them with a relatively great precision. By using this anti-bodies, the test itself takes less than two hours, while existing tests require two days; their practical value can become even greater.
[Serbec:] Our plans for the future include the development of tests which could be used during the lifetime of an individual. This means that the test could be used for a routine sifting method with animals and later with humans.
[Luskovec:] A diagnostic test based on highly specific monoclone anti-bodies could begin a new chapter in this field. Scientists are looking for tests which could help determine diseases during the lifetime of individuals. That means that such a disease could be diagnosed, based on blood or tissue samples. However, the main goal to develop an appropriate cure still seems to be far away. This report was prepared by Viko Luskovec for TV Slovenia for CNN World Report.