Human Mad Cow Disease to Be Prevented with Most Accurate Blood Test

Added by James Morley on February 4, 2011

A prototype of the highest accuracy in blood test for detecting human mad cow disease has been made by British scientists.

This could be a true breakthrough since the detection of the disease could be completely changed from screening and complex diagnosis to a mere blood test.

The fatal brain disorder could be detected in the future with the help of this prototype which is yet in an incipient stage. However, it has been proved that this test would be 100,000 times more accurate and sensitive than other methods, thus making the diagnosis process way easier and far more accurate.

In the trials, the prototype of this newly discovered blood test for human mad cow disease has been able to detect even smallest amount of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), which causes the formation of prions in our blood.

The study is being undertaken at the Medical Research Council’s Prion Unit at the University College London and is being led by Graham Jackson.

“Although further larger studies are needed to confirm its effectiveness, (this test) is the best hope yet of a successful early diagnostic test for the disease,” said Mr. Jackson.

The scientist further added that the transmission of the disease could be prevented if the entire population would be screen for vCJD infections, in order to determine who silent carriers of the human mad cow disease are.