IF THERE is one categorical pronouncement you can safely make about prion
diseases like BSE or CJD, it is that one should not make categorical
pronouncements. “British beef is safe” and “there is no BSE in Germany” come to
mind. Now there are two more: “scrapie is safe”, and “people don’t catch
sporadic CJD”. Scrapie is the most widespread prion disease, infecting untold
numbers of sheep worldwide. Sporadic CJD is the old-fashioned pre-BSE kind that
is supposed to happen spontaneously in unlucky people. But a surprise
observation in France suggests some sCJD cases—though by no means
all—may be linked…
To continue reading, today with our introductory offers
Advertisement
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles
1
The world's fastest spider tops 3.5 metres per second
2
Babies are born with the neural foundations for maths
3
The race to understand how and when Thwaites glacier will collapse
4
Where, when and how to watch the 2026 solar eclipse
5
This physicist is hunting for the biggest black hole in the universe
6
We’ve uncovered a master gene that switches on human development
7
US government wants to have a useful quantum computer by 2028
8
I’m the first person whose life was saved by CRISPR base editing
9
I have a 100 per cent chance of getting cancer due to a rare gene
10
Our verdict on The Selfish Gene: An unpopular piece of popular science
