Is BSE creeping silently through the food chain?
New research has revealed that BSE (bovine spongiform ecephalopathy), otherwise know as 'mad cow disease' may be even more insidious than previously thought. Scientists from Britain's Medical Research Council Prion unit, based at St Mary's Hospital in London, claim to have uncovered a 'sub-clinical' form of BSE, meaning that some animals may carry the disease without displaying any associated symptoms. This breaks the earlier assumption that the disease could not pass between species undetected. Their findings have re-awakened concerns that BSE could be transmitted to humans through food such as pork, poultry and sheep, although many experts say the results do not indicate any new dangers to public health. Present measures to protect the public are adequate, they say. But, speaking to the British press, Professor Andrew Hill from the St Mary's team suggested it would be best to err on the side of caution. 'Perhaps we should not assume that because one species appears resistant to a strain of prions it has been exposed to that it doesn't silently carry the infection. It raises the theoretical possibility that apparently healthy cattle could harbour but never show clinical signs of BSE.' His research team may now urge the British authorities to introduce spot-checks on apparently normal and healthy farm animals to see if their brains carry any indication of the disease. Britains' spongiform ecephalopathy advisory committee will consider the new findings at its next meeting on 29 September.