LONDON - Scientists have carried out the first laboratory experiment to show that "mad cow" disease or BSE can jump the species barrier to humans at a molecular level, it was disclosed yesterday.
The breakthrough showed that BSE is only transmitted to human protein with great difficulty. However, the researchers discovered that the sheep disease, scrapie, which is similar to BSE, could also make the jump, with the same degree of efficiency.
In one way this may be seen as reassuring, because even though scrapie can be traced back 200 years, it has never been known to affect humans. However, the results could be interpreted as meaning that there is a slim possibility that scrapie-infected lamb, as well as BSE in beef, could pose a threat to humans. - (PA)