1. Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Prion disorders)

2. Forms of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Scrapie Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome Kuru BSE vCJD nvCJD All associated with PRIONS

4. Animals Effected by Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Sheep, goats, deer, elk, mink, domestic cats, zoo species, cattle and humans

6. BSE First seen in UK in 1986 Linked to cattle food supplemented with rendered offal from slaughtered sheep Perhaps stimulated and amplified by the use of air embolus to slaughter cattle (captive bolt gun) Both are temporally related to the advent of BSE

8. Prions Proteinaceous infectious particle Discovered by Dr. Stanley Prusiner Prusiner awarded 1997 Nobel prize for physiology/medicine Protein composition Apparently capable of self reproduction Contains no DNA or RNA Very resistant to high temperatures and disinfection