4 ms·

About 20 or so years ago I was feeling bad about my chances of developing the type of CJD associated with mad cow disease because of all the burgers I'd eaten o

About 20 or so years ago I was feeling bad about my chances of developing the type of CJD associated with mad cow disease because of all the burgers I'd eaten over the preceding years. There were also human cases getting reported at a rate that some suggested matched the pattern for the early days of an epidemic. Luckily that never materialised. Still though having lived in the UK during a certain time period precludes one from donating blood elsewhere, to this day.

arkades 8y ago
> There were also human cases getting reported at a rate that some suggested matched the pattern for the early days of an epidemic. An epidemic is by definition a statistically significant deviation from historic baselines. Every single upswing within the normal rates of variability - all of the sin curve living above 0 - looks like “early epidemic.” We have one every month. That was scare-mongering, too. Everyone loves to report an incipient disaster, at least until people get numb and the ratings fall down.
Grazester 8y ago
I stopped eating beef from that time due to that mad cow outbreak. A few years before that I was worrying about the Ebola outbreak in Zaire. I was no where near these regions either. As kid and into my teens I was pretty paranoid about disease and death.
dev_dull 8y ago
Sorry friend. Not off the hook yet: > patients with very long incubation periods of at least 34 years, and probably more than 40 years. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(06)69362-8/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...
- barking 8y ago
  The uptick in cases should have started in about 2014 (if 34 years ) or 2020 (if 40 years) and start to tail off a decade later.
dv_dt 8y ago
There were certain feeding practices that were banned or reduced that were thought to contribute. I.e. many places quit feeding meat and bone meal of other livestock to cattle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_feeding#Mad_Cow_Disease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_feeding#Mad_Cow_Disease
- howard941 8y ago
  That surely helped but as always, some enterprising folks found a way to "launder" the goods by feeding the banned products to poultry and then feeding their remnants and droppings to cattle. Compare US position: https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2017/07/22/USDA-Feed-not-likely-disease-pathway-for-US-BSE-positive-cow https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2017/07/22/USDA-Feed-n... VIC position: http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/beef/feeding-and-nutrition/Use-of-Poultry-Litter,-Manure-and-Feed-in-Livestock-System http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/beef/fee...

arkades 8y ago

> There were also human cases getting reported at a rate that some suggested matched the pattern for the early days of an epidemic. An epidemic is by definition a statistically significant deviation from historic baselines. Every single upswing within the normal rates of variability - all of the sin curve living above 0 - looks like “early epidemic.” We have one every month. That was scare-mongering, too. Everyone loves to report an incipient disaster, at least until people get numb and the ratings fall down.

Grazester 8y ago

I stopped eating beef from that time due to that mad cow outbreak. A few years before that I was worrying about the Ebola outbreak in Zaire. I was no where near these regions either. As kid and into my teens I was pretty paranoid about disease and death.

dev_dull 8y ago

Sorry friend. Not off the hook yet: > patients with very long incubation periods of at least 34 years, and probably more than 40 years. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(06)69362-8/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

barking 8y ago
The uptick in cases should have started in about 2014 (if 34 years ) or 2020 (if 40 years) and start to tail off a decade later.

dv_dt 8y ago

There were certain feeding practices that were banned or reduced that were thought to contribute. I.e. many places quit feeding meat and bone meal of other livestock to cattle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_feeding#Mad_Cow_Disease https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_feeding#Mad_Cow_Disease

howard941 8y ago
That surely helped but as always, some enterprising folks found a way to "launder" the goods by feeding the banned products to poultry and then feeding their remnants and droppings to cattle. Compare US position: https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2017/07/22/USDA-Feed-not-likely-disease-pathway-for-US-BSE-positive-cow https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2017/07/22/USDA-Feed-n... VIC position: http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/beef/feeding-and-nutrition/Use-of-Poultry-Litter,-Manure-and-Feed-in-Livestock-System http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/beef/fee...