At 10:38 AM 9/27/01 -0700, John Young wrote:
The Department of Agriculture today issued an emergency announcement about the spread of "chronic wasting disease" (CWD) among cattle and deer in the American West:
http://cryptome.org/doa092701.txt
The disease can be fatal to humans. Is there any tie of CWD to cowpox?
CWD is an american game-animal version of Mad Cow, ie, BSE. Think of it as Mad Elk Disease. There was a _Science_ article on it in the last 2 years, maybe someone with online access to that journal can find the ref. Basically because the american animals that get it do not spread it readily (vs. densely farmed cattle and sheep which are taken to common locations like auction houses) and only a few hunters will die, its not considered a threat of the same scale as BSE. Cowpox is a virus. CWD (& BSE & kuru & Crutzfeld-Jacob=mad human disease) are all infectious proteins aka 'prions'. Cannibalism is taboo for a reason.