The abnormal protein (prion) that causes CJD, also known as “mad cow disease,” is not only found in the brain, as previously thought, but also on the skin of the patient.
The results of a new study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine have raised concerns about the infectiousness of the disease.
To obtain this result, experts conducted research based on skin samples of 38 patients who died of mad cow disease. A new, highly accurate technique was also applied to measure the level of prions in the diseased skin samples. The extracted prions showed the ability to infect and cause disease when tested on mice.
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However, the study also showed that the possibility of infection through casual contact is almost non-existent because the amount of prions on the skin is thousands to hundreds of thousands of times lower than the amount of prions in the patient’s brain. The possibility of infection from prions on the skin mainly occurs when performing common surgeries on body parts other than the patient’s brain. The lead author of the study, expert Wenquan Zou, said that up to now, the risk of infection with this deadly disease has always been known to be due to infection during surgery or treatment using prion-infected brain tissue. Therefore, the discovery of prions on the patient’s skin is considered an important discovery, not only helping to indicate other risks of infection but also opening up biopsy or examination methods to help improve the probability of early diagnosis or disease detection during examination. He also said that the method of examining the skin of a corpse to determine the cause of death would be particularly useful in countries where brain surgery is not readily accepted, such as China and India, the most populous places in the world. The authors also said that more research is needed to gain a deeper understanding of the risk of infection with this dangerous disease. Although it is rare, with a rate of 1 in 1 million people per year, this disease is “incurable”, progressing very quickly and causing death within a year. The initial symptoms are the appearance of small holes in the brain, sudden loss of memory or vision, behavioral changes and impaired coordination. The disease really came to attention a few decades ago when some patients in England contracted it after eating infected cattle. The situation was so serious that in 1996, the European Union (EU) imposed a global ban on the trade and consumption of beef and related products originating from the UK, which was only lifted three years later. According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), from October 1996 to March 2011, there were 224 cases of CJD, mainly in the UK.
Source: VNA/ Vietnam+