MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2004 Jan 9;52(53):1280-5.
On December 23, 2003, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) made a preliminary diagnosis of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a single "downer" (i.e., nonambulatory disabled) dairy cow in Washington state. On December 25, this diagnosis was confirmed by the BSE international reference laboratory in Weybridge, England. This report summarizes the findings of the initial investigation of this case and describes the public health prevention measures adopted by USDA to protect the human food supply. The occurrence of BSE in the United States reinforces the need for physicians to be aware of the clinical features of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) and to arrange for brain autopsies in all decedents with suspected or probable CJD to assess the neuropathology of these patients.
2003年12月23日，美国农业部（USDA）初步诊断出华盛顿州一头“倒地不起”（即无法行走的残疾）奶牛感染了牛海绵状脑病（BSE）。12月25日，英国韦布里奇的BSE国际参考实验室证实了这一诊断。本报告总结了该病例初步调查的结果，并描述了美国农业部为保护人类食品供应而采取的公共卫生预防措施。美国出现BSE进一步凸显了医生了解变异型克雅氏病（vCJD）临床特征的必要性，并安排对所有疑似或可能患有CJD的死者进行脑部尸检，以评估这些患者的神经病理学情况。
