Objective Recent results of epidemiological studies, experimental transmissions of the BSE agent as well as histological and biochemical studies on the presumed agent indicate that BSE may well have been transmitted to humans through consumption of contaminated meat. To date, 14 cases of a new variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease(vCJD) have been observed in younger persons in the UK and one in France since 1994. This disease has not been observed earlier and its appearance significantly exceeds the sporadic incidence of CJD. The BSE agent is transmissible experimentally through peros application to a variety of mammals and can also be transmitted by intracerebral injection to primates. The neuropathological lesions found in the brain of experimentally infected animals resemble the lesions from BSE-diseased cows as well as from human patients dying with vCJD. In addition, the proteolytic cleavage pattern of the prion protein (the presumed BSE agent) extracted from the brains of these animals and from those of human vCJD cases retained the BSE signature .The potential extent of the epidemic in the British and in a worse scenario European population over the next few years has to be established. The future dynamics of this potential epidemic cannot be extrapolated from the surveillance of CJD in Europe within the next few years. The major problem in assessing the risk of BSE infection in individuals as well as in the general population is that the infectious dose acquired through food consumption of humans remains unknown. The Weissmann Report suggests that the best approach to obtain this data is experimental infection of nonhuman primates. This proposal suggests that a titration experiment in a nonhuman primate macaque species be performed with the aim of determining the infectious dose of brain material derived from BSE-diseased cattle by feeding.We propose a specific set of trials to titrate the minimal infectious dose of the BSE agent in a nonhuman primate species. In parallel, we will address whether the BSE-induced BSE is transmissible through blood transfusion. This knowledge will then enable us to more precisely estimate the risk of BSE transmission to humans through contaminated food as well as the risk of BSE transmission from human to human by blood and blood products. The actual work will be performed in a coordinated fashion through a cooperation of 6 European centres. The proposed protocol will require 86 animals kept under biological safety conditions for up to 10 years. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologymammalogyprimatologynatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsagricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandry Programme(s) FP4-BIOMED 2 - Specific research, technological development and demonstration programme in the field of biomedicine and health, 1994-1998 Topic(s) 24 - Risk assessment of SEs Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator DEUTSCHES PRIMATENZENTRUM GMBH EU contribution No data Address 4,Kellnerweg 4 37077 Göttingen Germany See on map Total cost No data Participants (4) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE France EU contribution No data Address 60-68,Route du Panorama 18 92265 FONTENAY AUX ROSES See on map Total cost No data ISTITUTO SUPERIORE DI SANITA Italy EU contribution No data Address Viale Regina Elena 299 00161 ROMA See on map Total cost No data PAUL-EHRLICH-INSTITUT, FEDERAL AGENCY FOR SERA AND VACCINES Germany EU contribution No data Address Paul-Ehrlich-Strasse 51-59 63225 LANGEN See on map Total cost No data Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control Sweden EU contribution No data Address Lundagatan 2 105 21 Solna - Stockholm See on map Total cost No data
