Deadly Feasts

1
Deadly Feasts

• Feast on this..
• The Ins and Outs of BSE

2
Question 1

• Disease and Experiments

3
Kuru

• 1957 Gadjusek discovers disease among the Fore
• The disease is inevitably fatal
• Mostly affects women and children
• Gadjusek sends pieces of brain and other tissues
  to Igor Klatzo in Maryland
• Klatzo finds brain damage but no inflammation
• Amyloid plaques associated w/ old age
• Also finds spongy holes in the brain

4
Flow of Experiment
Gadjusek and Klatzo examine Kuru brains
5
Creutzfeldt Jakob

• Dr. Creutzfeldt autopsied a brain and found
  astrogliosis
• New disease known as CJD
• Also brain damage, no inflammation and sponginess
• No experiments yet, just autopsies

6
Flow of Experiment
Gadjusek and Klatzo examine Kuru brains
Creutzfeldt and Jakob disease and autopsies
7
Scrapie

• Disease of sheep in England
• Caused sheep to scrape themselves against things
• Hadlow autopsied brains from dead sheep
• Discovered the same sponginess in the brains
• Realizes that it is infectious

8
Flow of Experiment
Hadlow sheep more autopsies, realization of
infectiousness
Gadjusek and Klatzo examine Kuru brains
Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease and autopsies
9
Mink

• Hadlow studies mink in the west
• Finds Scrapie-like tissue in brains
• Inoculates healthy animals w/ the tissue
• 8 months later mink are sick
• Named the disease Transmissible Mink
  Encephalopathy

10
Flow of Experiment
Hadlow sheep more autopsies, realization of
infectiousness
Gadjusek and Klatzo examine Kuru brains
Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease and autopsies
Hadlow transmits Scrapie-like disease in mink
11
Chimpanzees

• Joe Gibbs tries to transmit Kuru to chimpanzees
• He uses tissue from a young Fore Kuru victim
• Inoculates several chimps
• Georgette, a 2 year-old chimp dies from a
  kuru-like disease

12
Flow of Experiment
Hadlow sheep more autopsies, realization of
infectiousness
Gadjusek and Klatzo examine Kuru brains
Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease and autopsies
Hadlow transmits Scrapie-like disease in mink
Gibbs successfully transmits kuru to a chimpanzee
These prove that Spongiform Encephalopathies are
transmissible
13
Question 2Uncovering Hidden Likeness Through
Patterns
14
What Patterns Do Scientists look For?

• When studying Kuru they looked for infection
• They looked for a virus or bacteria
• Scientists tried to find a genetic link
• The brains of the deceased were examined
• Patients symptoms were studied to determine
  likeness
• Disease time span was recorded within species
• Scientists looked for patterns in disease
  transmission

15
Looking Past the Past

• Scientists tried to connect viruses and bacteria
• Infection was the first pattern found absent
• No infection meant a new disease form
• Prions where found based on brain comparisons
• All afflicted brains showed sponge-like holes
• Connections between holes patterns demonstrated
  TSE connections
• Disproving one pattern leads to another's
  discovery

16
Astrogliosis

• Is found in all TSE related diseases
• Appears as a dark star-like shape
• Was the first distinctive link between species
• Astrogliosis lead to the spongiform name title
• Are rogue protein chains in the brain
• Could be found and compared by microscope
• Considered the definitive trademark of the disease

17
Transmission

• Transmission of the TSE diseases are related
• Species could be infected through oral ingestion
• Examples show patterns of disease spread
  similarly
• In Humans, Kuru was spread through Cannibalism
• BSE spread from infected feed cows consumed
• CJD spread from BSE infected beef consumption
• Tissue from infected brains injected replicated
  disease

18
Lastly, you will see a Picture Gallery
19
Astrogliosis Images
20
Prions
21
PrP Deposition in the Brain of Cattle
22
PrP Positive Amyloid Plaques
23
A Day In the Life of
Question 3

• Taking a look at the Primary Scientists

24
Dr. D. Carleton Gajdusek

• 1923 Yonkers Present Frederick
• Medical Focus
• Background
• Motivation Paul de Kruifs book Microbe Hunters
• Inspiration Aunt Entomologist
• Biophysics degree at University of Rochester
• Physical Chemistry at Caltech
• Postdoctoral Work in Microbiology at Harvard

25
Gajdusek (cont.)

• Noted Characteristics
• Hippie, tall, lean, crew cut
• Rail-thin, intense, self-centered, thick
  skinned, inconsiderate
• Personality Summary
• Peripatetic
• Enormously ambitious but scattered
• Compulsive Talker
• Enthusiastic
• Submerged compulsively in work

26
Gajduseks Contribution

• Cannibalism-Kuru Link
• Reluctant
• CJD primate inoculation study
• Factor in transmissible breakthrough
• Coined pathological laughter

Updated glimpse although not Gajdusek today
27
Dr. Joe Smadel

• Died 1963
• Medical Focus Research
• Background
• Administrator at Walter Reed Army Institute of
  Research
• Associate directorship at the National Institutes
  of Health

• Personality Summary
• Demanded Unswerving performance from associates
• Crusaded against shallow thinking

28
Smadels Contribution

• Controlled used resources
• 1,000 grant
• Lobbied medical journals
• Arranged examination of kuru brains
• Helped with recruitment for primate inoculation
  program
• Major contribution to AFES

29
Dr. Clarence Joseph Gibbs

• Medical focus Specialized in insect-bone Viruses
• Background
• Received degrees from Catholic University of
  America
• Chief of NINDSs Laboratory of Central Nervous
  System Studies
• Successful vaccine for Rift Valley Fever
• Worked for Smadel at Reed Instiute
• Left arboviruses for unknowns of kuru
• Washingtonian Ph.D. Virologist
• Noted characteristics
• Short, blunt
• Personality Summary
• Determined
• Quoteoverall assistant

Died February 16, 2001 Was 76 years old!
30
Gibbs Contribution

• Signed on for study
• Organized transmission studies
• Helped Gajdusek organize NIND meeting in 1964
• Factor in transmissible breakthrough
• Cut funding
• Successful Oral transmission

Updated glimpse although not Gibbs today
31
Dr. Vincent Zigas

• Background
• Skaggs public-health officer
• Based in Kainantu
• Refugee
• Fluent in Pidgin
• Noted characteristics
• Trim, volatile Estonian with wavy hair
• Resembled comic actor Danny Kaye

32
Zigas Contribution

• Conducted kuru examinations with Gajdusek
• Infection assumption
• Staked claim with Gajdusek

33
Question 4

• Social Interaction of Scientists
• And
• Its Effect on Discoveries

34
Communication is the Key

• In Deadly feast scientist communicate by
• Letter (mail)
• Visiting each others worksite
• Scientist today communicate by
• Phone
• Email
• Fax

35
Scientist presented in Deadly Feast

• Dr. D Carleton Gajgusak
• Dr. Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt
• Dr. Alfons Jakob
• Researcher William J. Hadlow

36
Relevance of Interaction

• Interaction enable different ideas to be
  presented.
• Each scientist could give own point of view.
• New Ideas possible new discoveries
• Since vCJD was so hard to understand, the more
  minds involved the better chance at a true
  breakthrough.

37
Quick Information Insert
CJDs effect on the Beef Industry In US
38
Impact on Beef Industry

• Farm prices have had problems with stability.
• As much as 20 drop.
• Beef exports will be the hardest hit
• Lower prices are not always best for the economy.

39
Other Facts

• As of December 26,2004, 18 countries had placed
  bans on imports of US beef products.
• Example of some of the Countries
• Japan
• Mexico
• South Korea
• Hong Kong
• US must convince others that beef is safe.

40
Question 5

• Vivisection

41
Vivisection

• Etymologically, refers to dissection
• It is experimenting for mostly physiological or
  pathological investigation using animals
• The term has a negative association now
• Many dictionaries describe vivisection as
  cruelty to animals
• Historically Humans have also been used for
  experimentation (eg. Concentration Camps WWII)
• Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele performed human
  vivisection
• Japanese Dr. Fukujiro Ishiyama also did this

42
Does Animal Testing Help?

• Animal testing has helped develop vaccines for
• rabies, polio, measles, mumps, and TB
• Antibiotics, HIV medications, insulin and cancer
  treatments rely on animal tests
• Operations on animals have helped with organ
  transplants on humans

43
Whats Wrong With It?

• Animal experiments can be misleading
• Species can react differently than humans
• Necessary? There are alternatives
• Test tube studies w/ human tissue
• Computer models

44
Morality

• FOR
• Human has greater intrinsic value
• Legislation protects animals from cruelty
• Animals are killed for food, why not for
  medicine?

• AGAINST
• Animals have the right to life just as humans
• The laws on labs are not strictly enforced
• Are the deaths necessary?

45
Animal Testing in Deadly Feasts

• They infected a chimp, Georgette with Kuru
• Georgettes lower lip started to droop (92)
• We watched how Georgette started to hang on the
  side of the cage because she was unstable (93)
• They had to end up killing her because her
  condition was so bad

46
WORKS CITED

• www.bbc.co.uk
• www.arkonline.com/animal_test.htm
• www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia.com/v/vi/vi
  visection.htm
• www.peta.org