NYTimes: Malformed Proteins Found In Sheep Muscle

[Mara]

Malformed Proteins Found in Sheep Muscle
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

Published: May 24, 2004

Prions, the misfolded proteins that are widely believed to cause brain-wasting diseases, have been found in sheep muscle, scientists announced yesterday - the first time they have been discovered in animal flesh that many humans normally eat.

But the scientists emphasized that the finding did not mean that lamb or mutton posed a danger to humans.

"The risk of transmission from sheep to humans is very, very low," said Olivier Andréoletti, a prion specialist at the National Veterinary School in Toulouse, France, and lead author of the study, which was published yesterday in Nature Medicine.

The prions were found at one five-thousandth the concentrations that are found in sheep brains, and therefore likely to be much less infectious.


More: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/24/science/24sheep.html