CJD from sheep sources

[Joao Vasconcelos Costa]

Bruce Phillips wrote:
> 
>         Presuming that CJD forms in the U.K. are from ingested BSE-contaminated
> beef, is it conceivable that ingestion of Haggis, a Scottish "delicacy"
> containing sheep entrails (?) in an intestinal membrane, or other such
> preaprations could passage the agent to humans.  An English post-doc in this
> department described Haggis to me and this question arose in light of the
> BSE- CJD issue in the U.K.  Also intriguing was my recollection, which may be
> inaccurate, that the current U.K CJD cases were first described from somewhere
> in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Is this true and were some cases in Scotland?

People has eaten sheep meat during all the existence of scrapie (more
than 200 years) with no evidence of transmission. The situation about 
BSE transmission to man may be different, since the agent may have
aquired a new host range.

Joao

-- 
*****   JOAO VASCONCELOS COSTA, MD, PhD
*****   Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia - Oeiras, Portugal
*****   mailto:jcosta at pen.gulbenkian.pt
*****   http://www.pen.gulbenkian.pt/v2/jvc.html