Field Dressing Deer/elk CWD/TSEs aka MAD COW DISEASE
Greetings,
I wish to submit some new and old data for the
ones interested in reading about CWD and CJD.
This study and others should warrant strict safety
guidelines while field dressing your kill. I am not
kidding you, inoculation is the most effective mode
of transmission (route). A simple cut and or scratch
while field dressing a kill (if infected with CWD/TSE),
could very well transmit the agent to a human, and a
pair of those cheap rubber gloves will not protect you
very well. AND if you are exposed to the agent, you
will never know it until years later, by that time, how
many have you exposed through various other routes
(dental, surgery, just to name a few)?
I am not trying to scare anyone, just to enlighten
you on TSEs (all of them), and to simply warn
you of the potential for transmission from various
routes and sources.
Recently a study came out and I posted
the abstract, but over the weekend I
received the full text, and I think every
hunter out there should have the
opportunity to read it. Whether you do
or not is your business;
Occupational risk factors for the sporadic form of
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (FULL TEXT
snip...
Among occupations and industries, for which
previous reports suggested potential exposure to a transmissible
spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) agent, the OR for CJD was
significantly increased among butchers (OR=6.8, 95% C.I. 1.5,
30.1, based on 4 cases and 3 controls), and persons working in
offices of physicians (OR=4.6, 95% C.I. 1.2, 17.6 based on 5
cases and 4 controls).
snip...
http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow...ges/91447.html
some old data to reference too;
ANOTHER FARMER KILLED BY CJD !!!
snip...
20 year old died from sCJD in USA in 1980 and a 16 year
old in 1981. A 19 year old died from sCJD in
France in 1985. There is no evidence of an iatrogenic
cause for those cases....
http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/y...0/04004001.pdf
cover-up of 4th farm worker ???
http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/y...0/23006001.pdf
http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/y...0/20006001.pdf
CONFIRMATION OF CJD IN FOURTH FARMER
http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/y...1/03008001.pdf
now story changes from;
SEAC concluded that, if the fourth case were confirmed, it would be
worrying, especially as all four farmers with CJD would have had BSE
cases on their farms.
to;
This is not unexpected...
was another farmer expected?
http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/y...1/13010001.pdf
4th farmer, and 1st teenager
http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/y...2/27003001.pdf
2. snip...
Over a 5 year period, which is the time period on which the advice
from Professor Smith and Dr. Gore was based, and assuming a
population of 120,000 dairy farm workers, and an annual incidence
of 1 per million cases of CJD in the general population, a
DAIRY FARM WORKER IS 5 TIMES MORE LIKELY THAN
an individual in the general population to develop CJD. Using the
actual current annual incidence of CJD in the UK of 0.7 per
million, this figure becomes 7.5 TIMES.
3. You will recall that the advice provided by Professor Smith in
1993 and by Dr. Gore this month used the sub-population of dairy
farm workers who had had a case of BSE on their farms -
63,000, which is approximately half the number of dairy farm
workers - as a denominator. If the above sums are repeated using
this denominator population, taking an annual incidence in the general
population of 1 per million the observed rate in this sub-population
is 10 TIMES, and taking an annual incidence of 0.7 per million,
IT IS 15 TIMES (THE ''WORST CASE'' SCENARIO) than
that in the general population...
http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/y...1/31004001.pdf
snip...
http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow...s/9912501.html
http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow...ges/91448.html
THOSE HEALTHY LOOKING DEER/ELK ''SUB-CLINICAL'' INFECTION
DEAD DEER WALKING
Issued: Monday, 28 August 2000 NEW EVIDENCE OF SUB-CLINICAL PRION
INFECTION: IMPORTANT RESEARCH FINDINGS RELEVANT TO CJD AND BSE
A team of researchers led by Professor John Collinge at the Medical
Research Council Prion Unit1 report today in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, on new evidence for the existence of a
'sub-clinical' form of BSE in mice which was unknown until now.
The scientists took a closer look at what is known as the 'species
barrier' - the main protective factor which limits the ability of
prions2 to jump from one species to infect another. They found the mice
had a 'sub-clinical' form of disease where they carried high levels of
infectivity but did not develop the clinical disease during their normal
lifespan. The idea that individuals can carry a disease and show no
clinical symptoms is not new. It is commonly seen in conventional
infectious diseases.
Researchers tried to infect laboratory mice with hamster prions3 called
Sc237 and found that the mice showed no apparent signs of disease.
However, on closer inspection they found that the mice had high levels
of mouse prions in their brains. This was surprising because it has
always been assumed that hamster prions could not cause the disease in
mice, even when injected directly into the brain.
In addition the researchers showed that this new sub-clinical infection
could be easily passed on when injected into healthy mice and hamsters.
The height of the species barrier varies widely between different
combinations of animals and also varies with the type or strain of
prions. While some barriers are quite small (for instance BSE easily
infects mice), other combinations of strain and species show a seemingly
impenetrable barrier. Traditionally, the particular barrier studied here
was assumed to be robust.
Professor John Collinge said: "These results have a number of important
implications. They suggest that we should re-think how we measure
species barriers in the laboratory, and that we should not assume that
just because one species appears resistant to a strain of prions they
have been exposed to, that they do not silently carry the infection.
This research raises the possibility, which has been mentioned before,
that apparently healthy cattle could harbour, but never show signs of, BSE.
"This is a timely and unexpected result, increasing what we know about
prion disease. These new findings have important implications for those
researching prion disease, those responsible for preventing infected
material getting into the food chain and for those considering how best
to safeguard health and reduce the risk that theoretically, prion
disease could be contracted through medical and surgical procedures."
ISSUED FRIDAY 25 AUGUST UNDER EMBARGO. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE EMBARGO IS
SET BY THE JOURNAL.
http://www.mrc.ac.uk/index/public_in...-mrc-43-00.htm
OPINION OF THE SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE ON MEDICINAL PRODUCTS AND MEDICAL
DEVICES ON “THE PROTECTION OFFERED BY NATURAL RUBBER LATEX MEDICAL DEVICES
(MEDICAL GLOVES AND CONDOMS) AGAINST TRANSMISSIBLE DISEASES”
Adopted by the SCMPMD during the 24th plenary meeting
of 16 October 2003
snip...
1. Introduction to the problem
The changing characteristics of the risk of infection by blood borne
pathogens with respect to clinical
procedures has resulted in a number of discussions about the
effectiveness of protective equipment and
materials, including natural rubber latex products such as medical
gloves, designed to have this barrier
function (Anonymous 1987, CDC 1988, Fay and Dooher1992, Fay 1996, FDA
1999, Gerberding et al
1995, Rabussay and Korniewicz 1997, Stringer et al 2001). In addition,
the low quality of some surgical
and examination gloves, considering the importance of the barrier
effectiveness, has been a concern in
the past (Fay and Dooher 1992). This was particularly so in the 1980’s
when the increased use of
gloves placed an increased demand on industry, resulting in some low
quality gloves on the market (Fay
and Dooher1992). The perception of additional risks of infectivity with
respect to the Transmissible
Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE) such as Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy (BSE) and variant
Creutzfeld-Jacob-Disease (vCJD) have also raised the level of concern.
In addition, a series of
alternative materials have been made available to clinicians, arising
from the apparent increased levels
of allergies to latex products. Similar concerns exist for these
alternatives, leading to a greater degree of
uncertainty over barrier effectiveness from one product to another.
snip...
7. Risk assessment including populations at risk
The risk of health care workers for blood borne exposure and infection
is highest in operating room
settings, the most likely means of transmission being percutaneous
injuries (Fay and Dooher 1992,
Stringer et al 2001, Wright et al 1991). Prevention is mainly provided
by the use of the so-called
universal precautions (CDC 1988). Glove use should reduce the incidence
of contamination of hands,
but they cannot prevent penetrating injuries due to needle or other
sharp instruments. It should be noted
that there is an increase in glove leakage during surgical and dental
procedures (Albin et al 1992,
Douglas et al 1997, Driever et al 2001, Fay and Dooher 1992, Fiehn and
Westergaard 1989, Korniewicz
et al 1990, Kotilainen et al 1989, Rego and Roley 1999). For example
Driever et al (2001) found during
an examination of 953 gloves worn during cardiac surgery, 26% of those
worn by the operator were
punctured, as were 38 % of those worn by the theatre nurses. Limiting
the time of the surgical
procedure reduces glove barrier failure, as glove failure increases in
time (Fay and Dooher 1992,
Gerberding et al 1990, Quebbeman et al 1991).
The use of the double glove method in surgery gives an additional level
of protection against blood
borne infections and greatly reduces the risk of glove penetration, as
discussed by Gerberding et al
(1990) and Quebbeman et al (1992) a number of years ago. Recently there
have been a number of
studies published that strongly support and advocate the use of double
gloving as the major risk
management factor in the control of the transmission of disease in a
clinical setting. In gynaecological
surgery, Murta et al (2003) found that 10.4 % of single gloves
perforated during use, as did 9.8 % of the
outer double gloves whereas there was no perforation of any inner double
glove. In general surgery
Laine and Aarnio (2001) found a 6.2 % incidence of puncture of the inner
of a double glove compared to
an overall 18.3% of total operations resulting in perforation. In open
lung surgery, Hollaus et al (1999)
reported a 78 % incidence of perforation of gloves, but the inner glove
only perforated in 1.1%, double
gloving effectively protecting against cutaneous blood contact. It is
recognised that double gloving may
not always bring benefits (Avery et al 1999), that many surgeons are not
in favour of it (St Germaine et
al, 2003) and that care has to be taken not to reduce manual dexterity
and increase discomfort (Alrawi
et al, 2002), but a recent major systematic review of the evidence
(Tanner and Parkinson 2002) makes
it very clear that wearing two pairs of latex gloves significantly
reduces the number of perforations of the
glove in contact with the skin and reduces the risk of surgical cross
infection.
Although the risk for infection with TSE is largely unknown, certain
assumptions for the possibility of
infection can be established. The United Kingdom (UK) is at this moment
the only country with a major
infected population. Up to August 2003, 133 people have died of definite
or probable vCJD in the UK,
the total number of patients diagnosed being 137. In France 6 people
were diagnosed with vCJD, while
in some other countries only single cases were noted so far. A major
difficulty here is that people may
be infected and unknowingly be in the incubation phase of the disease at
the time of a clinical
procedure, this phase possibly lasting several years. This necessitates
rather severe prophylactic
measures. The route of infection is not known, but could be ingestion of
BSE contaminated food.
11
Health care workers are one of the populations at risk, of which those
working in the operating theatre
(surgeons, nurses) have the highest risk, especially when surgery on the
brain is performed.
Considering the rather limited number of patients with TSE, and the
professional measures which can
be used to avoid contamination/infection, the actual risk to anyone is
very limited. For those patients
with a known TSE infection (CJD, vCJD) proper measures can be instigated
to protect the health care
workers. The use of natural rubber latex medical gloves is one of them.
In view of the limited number of humans infected with vCJD, the general
risk for health care workers for
infection with vCJD even in the UK is marginal at most. As stated for
specific cases, specific measures
can be instigated to reduce the risk of infection. The risk for
infection with vCJD (or BSE) by food
consumption is unknown, and is largely reduced by various EU
regulations, but is probably higher than
the risk introduced by patient contact.
For viral infections (HIV, Hepatitis) the situation is quite different.
The risk especially for health care
workers for infection with a viral infection can be rather high.
However, this risk can be reduced to
almost zero by proper preventive measures such as using protective
clothing and natural rubber latex
medical or examination gloves.
An overview of the estimated risks for transmission of infectious agents
through natural rubber latex
medical devices i.e. gloves and condoms, along with risk management
procedures is presented in Table
2.
8. Conclusions/recommendations
For TSE it is unknown whether the agents can pass through an intact
latex membrane. The estimated
size of these agents lies below that of viral simulants which cannot
pass the latex membranes, so,
theoretically, TSE passage cannot be excluded. However, in view of the
known physical and chemical
characteristics of TSE agents and natural rubber latex, it seems
unlikely that TSE can actually pass
through intact latex. This is probably also true for alternative
materials. So far, no infections with TSE in
health care settings could be attributed to the barrier failure of latex
medical gloves. Moreover, the
population at risk for TSE infection in health care settings is very
low, even in the UK. For condoms
there is no indication of risk for TSE infection as there are no
indications for sexual transmission of
TSE’s.
Both natural rubber latex medical gloves and condoms offer good
protection against transmission of
viral infections including HIV. However, the protection may diminish
during use, especially when the
glove material is aged or damaged. By far the greatest risk for
transmission of infectious agents, is
encountered when a glove is torn or punctured during a medical
procedure. In order to prevent this,
more detailed instructions on use of latex medical gloves would be
warranted in terms of factors such as
the duration of use and the use of double gloves. It should be
emphasized that medical gloves and
condoms are single use devices.
It is known that some chemicals can penetrate natural rubber latex and
affect the physical properties of
the product. It is, however, unknown as to whether this process can
influence transmission of infectious
agents, either positively or negatively.
In general, in terms of leakage properties, no alternative material has
been found to be superior to
natural rubber latex.
9. References
snip...
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/scmp/out48_en.pdf
TSS
http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/cgi-shl/...&f=12&t=000319