The Effects of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies on Humans Essa

The Effects of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies on Humans Abstract Humans have to deal with many different diseases and the ones most disliked are the ones with no cures. Like cancer, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies have no cure, but they are more rare. These diseases are prion diseases which cause the brain to deteriorate. Prions are proteins that sometimes behave like viruses, which mean that they should have some form of nucleic acid, but since they don’t, they cause abnormalities. The nervous system contains many normal prions, but when an abnormal prion comes along, it transforms all the normal prions into abnormal ones. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is found in cattle, but it can be transmitted to humans. The Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease affects the elderly for reasons unknown, while Kuru affects those who practice cannibalism. Scrapie is found only in sheep and the Chronic Wasting Disease is found in deer and elk. As of right now, Kuru and Scrapie are not known to infect humans. Prion diseases affect many animals, such as cattle, sheep, deer, elk and humans. All mammals have prions, which are proteins that are found abundantly in the nervous system. The brain contains the most prions and is therefore dominantly affected by disease. The prion disease found in cattle is called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. Humans contract this disease by eating infected cows. The elderly usually contract the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease for reasons unknown, and Kuru, which is extremely rare nowadays, is contracted by cannibalism. Scrapie infects sheep and the Chronic Wasting Disease infects deer and elk. Though there is no link to either Scrapie or Chronic Wasting Disease infecting humans, it is ... ...missible Spongiform Encephalopathies 6 References †¢ American Veterinary Medical Association. (2002, May). About Scrapie. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 7/25/05: http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/may02/s050102i.asp †¢ Australian Academy of Science. (1997, February). Mad Cow Disease-A Human Problem? Science. 7/25/05: http://www.science.org.au/nova/003/003key.htm †¢ CBC. (2003, December). Science and Symptoms. CBC News. 7/26/05: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/madcow/science.html †¢ University of Toronto. (2003, June). Researchers Discover Possible Diagnosis, Treatment, Vaccine for Mad Cow, Prion Diseases. Science Daily. 7/26/05: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/06/030602025719.htm †¢ U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2005, February). Prion Disease. Genetics Home Reference. 7/26/05: http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=priondisease