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Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has become the most publicly recognizable example of a group of fatal neurodegenerative diseases caused by proteinaceous infectious particles called prions. The contributors to this volume, all internationally recognized experts in their fields, provide an introduction to prion biology, followed by reviews of the latest information on BSE, vCJD, and chronic wasting disease, an animal prion disease that has recently emerged in North America.

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Text covers the classical outbreaks of botulism, typhoid, E. coli 0157, and Salmonella food poisoning in Britain. Includes other catastrophes like Aberfan, Piper Alpha, and Chernobyl, explaining why Britain has a propensity to have disasters. Demonstrates failures in policymaking, application of science, and failing inspectorates. ... Read more

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Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or "mad cow disease," first diagnosed in late 1986, is transmitted through feed, indirect horizontal transmission, apparently maternally and possibly horizontally, through cattle-to-cattle contact or a contaminated environment. With no ante-mortem test yet developed, the only information available about BSE is from case surveillance and a limited number of experiments. Only through careful and rigorous modeling and analysis can reliable estimates of past infection and predictions of future cases be made. The modeling developed for BSE utilizes a range of techniques from statistics, ecology, and demography that is of interest both as a case study and for providing tools for other modeling projects. Statistical Aspects of BSE and vCJD: Models for Epidemics presents the general methodology required for thorough analysis and modeling of novel long incubation diseases with largely unknown etiology. BSE in British cattle is the primary example system presented, but application to other diseases, particularly the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (e.g., Scrapie in sheep and nvCJD in humans) are also highlighted. The book concentrates on presenting an exposition of the "state-of-the-art" rather than introductory material on the mathematical/statistical modeling of infectious diseases. ... Read more

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In the spring of 1996, when numerous reports of bovine spongioform encephalopathy, popularly known as "mad cow disease," coincided with an outbreak of a similar neuropathological disease in humans, a panic spread across Britain, Europe, and subsequently to the United States. Described as "the biggest crisis the European Union ever had," the mad cow controversy raised important issues about the ways in which risks to the public heath are assessed, disseminated, and controlled. Was the "epidemic" merely a failure of management, the lessons of which could be incorporated into a new strategy for dealing with public anxiety? Was it an isolated case of poor decision-making in a highly volatile economic sector, or was it the kind of nightmare that could face any government responsible for public safety? And what role did the media play in exacerbating an already spiraling crisis?

Customer Reviews (3)

This book is not for everyone...
While this book is not for everyone, I would recommend it for researchers who want more objective information on the British BSE situation. It was written before a confirmed case of the disease was found in the U.S., but still provides valuable background on the European development of the issue. The two chapters providing a content analysis of both the British and American media's framing of the disease were particularly helpful.

Save Your Money
If you want to buy a book about mad cow diseases, check out Deadly Feasts or Mad Cow USA.This book edited by Ratzan is a disappointing hodge podge, disjointed and not interesting.

I wasted my money
Many of the references were incorrect. Especially, the chapters on the scientific perspectives of BSE. ... Read more

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While much information has been gained regarding the molecular nature of prion proteins, only recently have several research groups begun to cast light on turning the normal prion protein into its aberrant, infectious form. In this book, a team of experts provide the most up-to-date collection of current methods in this unique area of neuroscience. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, this is an ideal collection for researchers investigating the growing field of mammalian prion disease.

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This digital document is an article from Family Practice News, published by Thomson Gale on September 15, 2007. The length of the article is 433 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Premorbid changes found in Creutzfeldt-Jakob.(Clinical Rounds)
Author: Amy Rothman Schonfeld
Publication: Family Practice News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 15, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 37Issue: 18Page: 45(1)

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This book examines the policy and politics of two health risks, which have recently become prominent social issues in many countries. One is the issue of asbestos as an environmental risk to humans, and another is that of bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE), or mad cow disease as an animal disease, and of its variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) as a human food risk. Employing a set of analytical frameworks in political science, each case study explores how the issues emerged, agendas got set, alternatives were chosen, and policies were implemented. Through the analysis, it is examined how safety and public reassurance were pursued in the countries studied (Japan, the UK, France the USA, and Korea). Exploration of the successes and failures in their efforts discloses the key elements to successful health risk management.

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This digital document is an article from Family Practice News, published by International Medical News Group on February 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1317 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Prion disease called potential risk to humans: chronic wasting disease of deer.(Clinical Rounds)
Author: Timothy F. Kirn
Publication: Family Practice News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2004
Publisher: International Medical News Group
Volume: 34Issue: 3Page: 53(1)

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The report on an international workshop and symposium held in December 1964 and bringing together many divergent groups working on the problems of slow virus infections (later known as prion-mediated diseases). ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from World of Microbiology and Immunology, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 905 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the concepts, theories, discoveries, and pioneers in microbiology and immunology, using a mix of traditional academic and topical articles, this title addresses current ethical, legal, and social issues with special emphasis given to biological warfare and terrorism. ... Read more

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At once a gripping medical mystery, an exotic travelogue, and a stirring coming-of-age story, this powerful, first-hand account of life on the frontiers of science tells of the adventures of Dr. Robert Klitzman, whose research provided important keys to understanding Mad Cow Disease, potentially the world's next major epidemic. 75 photos.Amazon.com Review
The key word here is personal. Physician RobertKlitzman tells us his life story and humanizes what could easily havebeen a tabloid-size horror story of Stone Age cannibals androtten-brained cows. Vivid portraits of the men and women he helpedand worked with lift this book above mere sensationalism, showing onepeople's tragedy in the hopes that others can be averted.

Kuru is afatal disease formerly epidemic among the Fore people of New Guinea,with symptoms including involuntary laughing, dementia, and loss ofmotor control. Traced to their ritual cannibalism, it was found to becaused by nonliving crystal-like proteins in the brain. Klitzmantraveled to New Guinea before attending medical school to work withthese people and quickly learned how little Western medicine could dofor the afflicted--he could only make their deaths as comfortable aspossible. His despair is palpable.

Fortunately, most Fore have beenconvinced to give up the most dangerous of their ancestral practices,and the disease has largely abated. But mad cow disease (and otherslike it), caused by the same class of protein as kuru, remains athreat to Westerners--a threat Klitzman would rather we not face. Hisvery personal story forces us as readers to examine our own lives andour own ancestral practices, perhaps to make some changesourselves. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Foaming at the Mouth about New Guinea
This is a really awful book - embarrassingly bad writing (p.205 "How was your trip?" Roger asked with disgust, foaming at the mouth." Page 276:"Ray's blue eyes exploded in ecstasy as he spied a butterfly.") Also, there are many sentences that one must skip or pause to decipher because the sentence just doesn't make any sense.(Who the heck edited this book?)

The book contains precious little about Kuru and less about cannibalism.Also there is not much on Mad Cow Disease.There is here lots and lots and lots of Robert Klitzman.But, even as a "personal account," this book is sadly not very interesting or readable. (Maybe if the author had published this as an edited journal date by date, it would have worked a bit better. Ah, maybe not.)

We read that there amid the fleas and the smelly New Guinea people he thinks about his future."I decided that I wanted to live an active life, engaged with the world.What I had seen and learned intellectually from Carlton [Gajdusekan - Nobel Prize winner and "sadly" convicted pedophile] was living life. Literary critics [and presumably editors] missed the point by being too analytic and petty, I thought."

This is essentially a vanity publication [and rip-off of the reading public].Perhaps it is interesting to some relative or close friend of the author (though I doubt it).While the author can add this title to his list of publications, the author should pray that no future writing monies ever depend on the quality of this book.

I cannot imagine any reason anyone would waste his/her time or money on this dreadful book.

Fascinating
This book tells the story of a young man who travels to Papua New Guinea to try his hand at medical research.The book jackets accurately describes it as "a gripping medical mystery, an exotic travelogue, and a stirring coming-of-age story."Just one year out of college, Klitzman sets off to Papua New Guinea alone to work on a project arranged by Carleton Gajdusek to survey the incubation time for kuru.Klitzman soon finds himself living in the Highlands, where he spends his time seeking out former cannibals who are dying of kuru so that he can interview them about when they last ate human flesh.

Klitzman's cultural insights are quite compelling- -instead of finding fault with all that frustrates him, he is able to put the difficulties in context and realize that people are much the same everywhere, underneath their material trappings.One of the fascinating facets of this book is that at the time when Klitzman was doing his research in PNG, kuru was dying out- -the project that he was working on was to find the incubation period for a disease without a future, or so it seemed at the time.When Mad Cow began popping up a few years after Klitzman finished his project, the results suddenly became extremely important for trying to estimate potential deaths due to tainted beef.The book serves as a good reminder that basic research may prove its worth long after the fact.

The book's main narrative takes place in Papua New Guinea in 1983-84, 7 years after independence.It provides interesting historical documentation of living conditions in PNG in the time immediately following independence.In 1997, Klitzman returns to the area where he did his research, and observes how many aspects of life in PNG had deteriorated in the intervening time, despite the quantity of wealth coming into the country.For this reason, area specialists may find much of interest in Klitzman's detailed descriptions of living conditions in the early 1980s in PNG.

Strange Title - Amazing Adventure
I had read Dr Klitzman's earlier book "Being Positive" and wanted to read more of his work, the title sounded very strange but bought the book after the life affirming experience of reading the first. DrKlitzman is one hell of an explorer !, brave, adventurous and a greatmedical investigator and researcher. The Papua New Guinea Highlands mighthold the answers to the questions that medical researchers have been askingfor years and Dr Klitzman is a trail blazer to these answers. This storydeserves to be read by anyone who is affected directly or indirectly by anydisease from cancer to HIV, it will give you a better insight and hope.

An extraordinary story by a gifted writer
Written with the intensity of a thriller, THE TREMBLING MOUNTAIN is a brilliant examination of the cultures of the mind.Read it now.

A poorly written, poorly proofread book
The subject of cannibalism should grab the attention of the reader.Instead, on page after page, you are startled by grammatical inconsistencies.Nobody has bothered to proofread this book -- not theauthor, the reader, the editor.The author does not transport you in anyway into an exotic world, but instead has you grinding your teeth as youread through such language as "I seen..."This reads like ahasty job, not one that has been put together with love and pride. ... Read more

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This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Rural Studies, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
This study investigates how members of anti-GM campaign groups and environment groups perceive the risks and benefits of genetically modified (GM) technology in food and agriculture. The study targeted these groups as the most risk-averse sector of society when considering GM technology. Survey respondents were asked to rank the current and future risks and benefits of GM and to rank GM risks against other health risks. Respondents appear to be unconvinced by the claims that future GM technologies will provide additional consumer (or environmental) benefit, since perceived future risks were ranked more highly than future benefits. Results support the claim that there is an inverse relationship between perceived risk and perceived benefit. Results also suggest that among the respondents there are differences of opinion regarding the degree of risk to health posed by the technology. Women and people living in rural areas, on average, ranked risks more highly than men and people living in urban areas. This study serves to fill a void in the understanding of the perceptions of anti-GM campaigners. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Canada and the World Backgrounder, published by Taylor Publishing Consultants Ltd. on March 1, 2001. The length of the article is 3097 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Behind the Image.(civil servants, Canada)(Statistical Data Included)
Publication: Canada and the World Backgrounder (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2001
Publisher: Taylor Publishing Consultants Ltd.
Volume: 66Issue: 5Page: 26

Article Type: Statistical Data Included

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This digital document is an article from Validation Times, published by Washington Information Source on October 1, 2000. The length of the article is 866 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: FDA would like diagnostic test, but validation still key.(United States Food and Drug Administration on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies)(Brief Article)
Author: Howard Fields
Publication: Validation Times (Newsletter)
Date: October 1, 2000
Publisher: Washington Information Source
Volume: 2Issue: 10Page: 1

Article Type: Brief Article

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This digital document is an article from Medical Update, published by Benjamin Franklin Literary & Medical Society, Inc. on May 1, 1998. The length of the article is 519 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: About those mysterious prions...
Author: Edwin W. Brown
Publication: Medical Update (Newsletter)
Date: May 1, 1998
Publisher: Benjamin Franklin Literary & Medical Society, Inc.
Volume: v21Issue: n11Page: p2(1)

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This digital document is an article from Nutrition & Dietetics: The Journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2007. The length of the article is 2515 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Production practices for red meat in Australia.(APPENDIX)
Author: David Thomason
Publication: Nutrition & Dietetics: The Journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 64Issue: 3Page: S192(4)

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