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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Procedures for Identifying Infectious Prions After Passage Through the Digestive System of an Avian Species
Published on: November 6, 2013
Ethical issues in human prion diseases
S J Tabrizi1, C L Elliott, C Weissmann
1Department of Neurodegenerative Disease/MRC Prion Unit, Institute of Neurology, London, UK.
Abstract:
Prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are a group of closely related transmissible neurodegenerative conditions of humans and animals, all of which are incurable. In recent years, they have captured public attention with the emergence of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic in Europe, and more recently with the appearance of variant CJD (vCJD) in humans, a novel form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) that is linked to dietary exposure to BSE. In this chapter, we outline ethical questions posed by research, diagnostic procedures and therapy in the field of prion diseases.
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