Exploring the zoonotic potential of animal prion diseases

Zoonotic potential of emerging animal diseases.

Prion Diseases as Transmissible Zoonotic Diseases

Prion diseases, also called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), lead to neurological dysfunction in animals and are fatal. Infectious prion proteins are causative agents of many mammalian TSEs, including scrapie (in sheep), chronic wasting disease (in deer and elk), bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE; in cattle), and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD; in humans). BSE, better known...

Early qualitative risk assessment of the emerging zoonotic potential of animal diseases.

Most newly emerging human infections of global importance are of animal origin, w1 but early accurate predictions of zoonotic risk of emerging animal diseases are difficult, as shown by the epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United Kingdom. Miscalculation, delays, or poor risk communication can result in failure to protect the public’s heal...

Visual pathology in animal prion diseases.

Prion diseases, also known as the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), are a group of slowly developing neurodegenerations occurring in human and animals. Prion diseases can be transferred between animals, humans, from humans to animals, and from animals to humans. As a result, the central nervous system is attacked, resulting in microglia activation, astrocytosis, prion plaque dep...

Potential approaches for heterologous prion protein treatment of prion diseases

Prion diseases, or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are progressive, fatal neurodegenerative diseases with no effective treatment. The pathology of these diseases involves the conversion of a protease sensitive form of the cellular prion protein (PrP(C)) into a protease resistant infectious form (PrP(res)). The efficiency of this conversion is predicated upon a number of factors...