title: Risk of oral infection with bovine spongiform encephalopathy agent in primates.
abstract: The uncertain extent of human exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)--which can lead to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)--is compounded by incomplete knowledge about the efficiency of oral infection and the magnitude of any bovine-to-human biological barrier to transmission. We therefore investigated oral transmission of BSE to non-human primates. We gave two macaques a 5 g oral dose of brain homogenate from a BSE-infected cow. One macaque developed vCJD-like neurological disease 60 months after exposure, whereas the other remained free of disease at 76 months. On the basis of these findings and data from other studies, we made a preliminary estimate of the food exposure risk for man, which provides additional assurance that existing public health measures can prevent transmission of BSE to man.
authors.affiliation: Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique/Direction des Sciences du Vivant/Départment de Recherche Médicale, 18 Route du Panorama, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses, France.
authors.forename: Corinne Ida
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Lasmézas
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Comoy
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hawkins
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: Franck
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mouthon
authors.forename: Timm
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Konold
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Auvré
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lescoutra-Etchegaray
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Salès
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Deslys
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D002417:Cattle; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000635:transmission; D004435:Eating; D016643:Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform / Q000473:pathology / Q000635:transmission*; D005506:Food Contamination; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D018419:Primate Diseases / Q000635:transmission*
chemical_list: D018620:PrPSc Proteins