Risk of mad cow breeding fish?

Three U.S. researchers are concerned about the potential of a human Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - the human form of "mad cow" - the food of fish fed by-products, the benefits of cows.

Mad cow disease, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a fatal disease in cattle brain, scientists believe, can lead to Creutzfeldt Jakob disease in humans, eat the infected cow parts.

In the latest edition of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Dr. Robert P. Friedland, a neurologist at the University of Louisville in Kentucky and colleagues that farmed fish fed contaminated cow can transmit Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Scientists want to supervisory authorities of the Government to ban cow meat or feeding fish bone, the safety of this practice can be confirmed.

Eating fish at least twice a week is generally recommended because the positive effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on the heart and brain, to the knowledge.

"We are worried," Friedland and his colleagues write that the food of fish can be a means of transmission of infectious proteins from cow to man, that new variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease.

"We have not proved that it is possible to fish for the disease to humans. However, we believe that adequate precautions for the public health, the practice of feeding cows on fishing should be banned, "Friedland said in a prepared statement." Fish is not very well at sea, without eat the cows, "he added.

The risk of transmission of the disease from cows to humans who eat the fish "seems low, the scientists stress that the perception of barriers between species, but this does not guarantee that it can not happen .

"The fact that no cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease have been in contact with food for farmed fish do not guarantee that food is part of the cow fish is safe," said Friedland.

"The incubation period of these diseases in recent decades, the links between diet and practice infection difficult," he says.

"Strengthening of security measures to secure the protection of the public," Friedland conclusions.