Current tests require brain or tissue samples, yet scientists say the brain may "leak" the infectious prions that cause diseases like bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE; opening the possibility for a test to detect them in the blood stream.
Claudio Soto of the University of Texas (UT) Medical Branch at Galveston worked with infected hamsters with prions, the misfolded nerve proteins believed to cause the diseases, and then tested blood at various times.
Soto's team study, published in the journal Science, would allow cows to be tested before they enter the food supply, as well as people who may be suffering from the rare but devastating Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease or CJD, and its close cousin, vCJD.
Soto tells reporters, "With this method, for the first time we have detected prions in what we call the silent phase of infection, which in humans can last up to 40 years."
However, Soto says time is of the essence, adding, "It has been reported that large quantities of (infectious prions) appear in the brain only a few weeks before the onset of clinical signs."
