Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy

One of a number of progressive neurodegenerative disorders in animals and humans caused by similar uncharacterized agents that produce spongiform changes in the brain.</P> Specific examples of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies include: > >In animals: > >scrapie, which affects sheep and goats; >bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also called mad cow disease, which affects cattle; >transmissible mink encephalopathy; >feline spongiform encephalopathy; >chronic wasting disease (CWD) of mule deer, white-tailed deer, black-tailed deer, and elk.

</LI></UL> >In humans: > >kuru; >Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; >Gerstmann-Straussler syndrome; >fatal familial insomnia; >variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).

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