Summary
In an effort to discern the common features of the transmissible slow diseases, certain aspects of the transmissible subacute spongiform encephalopathies and of visna, maedi and Aleutian disease are discussed. Epidemiological studies indicate a genetic predisposition to these diseases in the natural host species. The causal agent is widely disseminated throughout the body during the long latent period but the progression of the disease process is not inhibited by an immunological response by the host. In each disease the clinical phase, which progresses slowly but inevitably towards a fatal termination, is associated with the proliferation of a specific cell type. The pathogenesis and pathology of a disease is determined by the type of proliferating cell.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beck, E. and Daniel, P. M. 1969. Degenerative diseases of the central nervous system transmissible to experimental animals. Post-grad, med. J. 45, 361–370.
Beck, E., Daniel, P. M., Gajdusek, D. C. and Gibbs, C. J. 1969. Similarities and differences in the pattern of the pathological changes in scrapie, kuru, experimental kuru and presenile polioencephalopathy, in “Virus Diseases and the Nervous System”, Ed. by C. W. M. Whitty, J. T. Hughes and F. O. McCallum. Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 107–120.
Chapman, I. and Jimenez, F. A. 1963. Aleutian mink disease in man. New Eng. J. Med. 269, 1171–4.
Daniel, P. M. 1971. Transmissible degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Proc. Roy. Soc. Med. 64, 787–794.
Ecklund, C. M., Kennedy, R. C. and Hadlow, W. J. 1967. Pathogenesis of scrapie virus infection in the mouse. J. Inf. Dis. 117, 15–22.
Field, E. J. 1969. Slow virus infections of the nervous system. Internat. Rev. Exper. Path. 8, 129–239.
Gajdusek, D. C. 1967. Slow virus infections of the nervous system. New Eng. J. Med. 276, 392–9.
Gajdusek, D. C. 1971. Slow virus diseases of the central nervous system. Amer. J. Clin. Path. 56, 320–332.
Gajdusek, D. C. and Gibbs, C. J. 1971. Transmission of two subacute spongiform encephal-opathies of man (Kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) to new world monkeys. Nature 230, 588–591.
Gajdusek, D. C, Gibbs, C. J. and Alpers, M. 1967. Transmission and passage of experimental kuru to chimpanzees. Science 155, 212–4.
Gibbs, C. J. and Gajdusek, D. C. 1969. Infection as the etiology of spongiform encephalopathy (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). Science 165, 1023–5.
Gordon, W. S. 1946. Advances in veterinary research. Vet. Rec. 58, 616–620.
Gudnadottis, M. and Palsson, P. A. 1965. Host-virus interaction in visna infected sheep. J. Immunology 95, 1116–1120.
Hadlow, W. J. 1959. Scrapie and kuru. Lancet 2, 289–290.
Hanson, R. P., Eckroade, R. J., Marsh, R. F., Zu Reine, G. M., Kanitz, C. L. and Gustafson, D. P. 1971. Susceptibility of mink to sheep scrapie. Science 172, 859–861.
Henson, J. B., Gorham, J. R., Padgett, G. A. and Davis, W. C. 1969. Pathogenesis of the glomerular lesions in Aleutian disease of mink. Arch. Path. 87, 21–8.
Hunter, G. D. 1969. The chemical nature of the scrapie agent, in “Virus Diseases and the Nervous System”. Ed. by C. W. M. Whitty, J. T. Hughes and F. O. McCallum. Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 123–8.
Padgett, G. A., Leader, R. W., Gorham, J. R. and O’Mary, C. C. 1964. The familial occurrence of the Chediak-Higashi syndrome in mink and cattle. Genetics 49, 505–512.
Palsson, P. A., Pattison, I. H. and Field, E. J. 1965. Transmission experiments with multiple sclerosis. NINDB Monograph No. 2, p. 49–54.
Parry, H. B. 1969. Scrapie—natural and experimental, in “Virus Diseases and the Nervous System”. Ed. by C. W. M. Whitty, J. T. Hughes and F. O. McCallum. Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 99–105.
Ressang, A. A., Stam, F. C. and de Boer, G. F. 1966. A meningo-leucoencephalomyelitis resembling visna in Dutch zwoeger sheep. Path. Vet. 3, 401–411.
Sigurdsson, B. 1954. Rida, a chronic encephalitis of sheep, with general remarks on infections which develop slowly and some of their special characteristics. Br. vet. J. 110, 341–354.
Thormar, H. 1965. Physical, chemical and biological properties of visna virus and its relationship to other animal viruses. NINDB Monograph No. 2, p. 335–340.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Based upon a communication to the Irish Neurological Association, November, 1971.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hartigan, P.J. Transmissible slow diseases. Ir J Med Sci 142, 27–34 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02949986
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02949986