A Test for Human Version of BSE?

A British medical technology company claims it’s developed the first test to detect abnormal prions in the blood that may cause the human version of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, so-called mad cow disease.

Microsens Biotechnology says it was able to find prions --- protein particles --- in the blood of a patient with variant Cruetzfeldt Jakob disease. Variant CJD is believed to be the human form of BSE. The test, however, isn’t ready for human use, the company said.

Until now, the disease could be diagnosed only after death. No accurate tests exist for live subjects because blood levels of prions are quite low.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at May 26, 2004 10:27 AM | TrackBack