Prions, which are supposedly the source of BSE, are said to be virtually indestructable. Forget about the beef, shouldn't there be millions of accumulated prions floating around in the air? Well for once someone is actually right about prions.True,they are not a bacteria or virus.They do however cause encephalitis spongaforma(Mad Cow).To the best of my knowledge these are food borne and not airborne pathogens.There was some crazy story that some strong winds had carried it to Great Britain but I think that was later disproved.
They can not be destroyed by heat or irradiation of the food.Someone is going to have to figure this one out soon. Good question. Are we safe from madcow because our governments took care of the problem, or was it just another way to scare the masses? Bird flu got as far west as France and was expected to reach USA a few weeks later. All is quiet now. SARS was expected to reach all corners of the globe. All is quiet now. Before AIDS we had herpes. Its always something. All we can do is take resonable care. | 