Eventually, a total of three different antibody-based tests all confirmed the presence of prions. A highly-contagious and deadly animal brain disorder, chronic wasting disease (CWD), which is related to mad-cow disease, has been detected in Europe for the first time. The European Commission (EC) said on Tuesday that it had found a new strain of mad cow disease in cattle from Spain, Portugal and France. Although the disease is not known to be transmitted to humans, it is highly contagious among elk, deer and related animals, which can shed infectious prion proteins in their saliva, urine and faeces. “If it’s similar to our prion disease in the United States and Canada, the disease is subtle and it would be easy to miss,” says Christina Sigurdson, a pathologist at the University of California.
A highly-contagious and deadly animal brain disorder, chronic wasting disease (CWD), which is related to mad-cow disease, has been detected in Europe for the first time. The European Commission (EC) said on Tuesday that it had found a new strain of mad cow disease in cattle from Spain, Portugal and France. Although the disease is not known to be transmitted to humans, it is highly contagious among elk, deer and related animals, which can shed infectious prion proteins in their saliva, urine and faeces. “If it’s similar to our prion disease in the United States and Canada, the disease is subtle and it would be easy to miss,” says Christina Sigurdson, a pathologist at the University of California.