Article: MAD COW RAVAGES BRAIN TISSUE.(LIFE & LEISURE)

Byline: New York Daily News

Q: What is mad cow disease?

A: The human form of mad cow disease is variant Crutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD), an incurable but rare killer caused by rogue proteins, called prions, that misfold themselves and cause spongy holes in brain tissue.

Symptoms range from loss of balance and motor control to mood changes, inability to swallow and death. The disease tends to strike young people in their 20s -- 92 so far -- but remains poorly understood, its incubation time unclear.

Prions are dangerously odd: They are impervious to drugs, able to survive very high heat and can live beyond the death of one host to ...

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