Has any paper been published linking the transmission of BSE(and vcjd) to humans
and the method of animal slaughter

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 22 Jun 2003 07:40 PDT

Hello there.

I've done some BSE-related work, so I'm familiar with much of the
literature.  Can you clarifiy for me what it is you're looking for?

The disease-causing agents of BSE and vCJD are known to concentrate in
the nerve tissue, especially of the brain and spinal cord.  So any
methods of animal slaughter that might introduce brain/spinal matter
into food are presumed to have a high possibility of transmitting
disease agents, if they are present.

There are many articles that discuss this, with a particular focus on
bolt-action "stun guns" that are used to slaughter cattle, and methods
of cutting up carcasses so as to avoid introducing spinal tissue into
meats.

But as for actual research that connects, through epidemiology,
slaughter methods and cases of BSE/vCJD, I'm not aware of any such
literature.

Let me know what your interests are, and whether any of the
information I've mentionede here would be of interest -- if so, I can
post links to the appropriate articles as an answer to your question.

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Clarification of Question by jerusalem-ga on 22 Jun 2003 10:17 PDT

What I need is direction to any papers that link pre stunning of
cattle sheep etc prior to slaughter with the spread of BSE and vCJD in
the human population

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 22 Jun 2003 11:24 PDT

Is this the type of paper you're after:

Stunning methods and BSE risks
europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/out245_en.pdf

If so, let me know if you need additional information, or if I should
post this link as an answer.

If not, please elaborate on what you need.

Thanks.

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Clarification of Question by jerusalem-ga on 22 Jun 2003 13:22 PDT

This could be what I need. What I need is a paper linking an animal
which is infected with BSE and the infection of its body parts ( other
than brain & spinal chord) with the prion which is directly linked
with stunning by a captive bolt prior to slaughter