The development of scientific invention of health has shown relieving facts. Thanks to the continual improvement that microbiology, medical engineering, and other relevant fields of study that support the invention in health industry. Interestingly, the development of health science is in line with the development of diseases. In this situation, nowadays world is busy about various diseases that are befalling animals and are infectious to human.
For example, mad cow disease in United States that affecting at the trade of beef export and import. Concerning the spreading of such disease, in this paper, we would like to discuss the issue on Prions and their relevant to biology, the ways of transfer between animals, and initiatives to prevent their mass spreading.II. Prions and the Relevance to Biological Scientists Prion Protein (PrP) stands for Proteinaceous Infectious. This is a kind of protein that is obtained from system of animal brains, which incurred by some kind of meningitis that unaccountable, the “bovine spongiform encephalopathy”.
Unlike bacterium, virus or protozoa, prions are not living matters that have completed life cycle. In fact, prions are completely different from viruses since they do not own the nucleate acid.This condition make them to be persistent to all process aiming at changing or hydrolyzing the nucleate acid including protease enzyme, ultraviolet ray, radiation and various chemical like detergent, substance that causing denaturizing protein like disinfectant drug or warm-up / poaching (“Prions”). Interestingly, Prions own the ability to multiply themselves through particular mechanisms that are still unknown although fortunately the structure of Prions gene has been found. In addition, scientists have also discovered that infected animal at Prions’ inoculation experiment will accumulate the number of Prions at brain system (“Prions”).
Moreover, scientists also discover that Prions are assumed to spread through and inside nerve system. However, the difference of knowledge about Prions at molecular level and diseases that Prions cause have led to various results. For this reason, intensive research have been carried out,to minimize that difference (“Prions”).III.
Prions Research’s Scientists Unfortunately, Prions do not only confuse and annoy the animals but also human. According to study from David Krakauer, zoology expert from Oxford University, assure that human, which consuming mad cow will have risk to be incurred by a similar disease although complete evidence has not been available yet.At human, disease, which emerges, referred as a new variant from Creutzfeldt - Jacob disease (vCJD). Moreover, since mad cow is spreading, vCJD have yanking out the soul more than 80 British and two France citizens (“All about Prions”).
Special programs need to be immediately decided to close all approach that enable the spreading of mad cow. Meat Flour and Bone Flour, which nowadays are used for the mixture of poultry food, are very possible produce BSE for the next ten years. The government should anticipates possibility like that, for example by illegally import the beef from the risk region, such as those which have been done by many states. The reason is, like told by Ralph Blanchfield, scientist from Institute of Food Science and Technology, English, “There is no guarantee, a state, one hundred percent safe from mad cow” (“All about Prions”).
IV. The Spread of Prions between Animals Prions are known as the causes of the disease at animal such as the popular mad cow disease, scrapie at sheep and goat, and infectious encephalopathy at minks, and deer. In addition, Prions are also known as the sources of “transmissible neurodegenerative disease” at human. Those are Creutzfeldt - Jakob disease (CJD), Gertsmann - Scheinker Syndrome, Kuru disease and fatal of familial insomnia (“Prion diseases' deadly action”)."Cannibalism" practice reappears in the other form that called "high-tech cannibalism".
Organ transplantation or giving extract from system of live human or die human to other human, in fact can be categorized as "high-tech cannibalism", which can increase the risk of disease spreading (“Prion diseases' deadly action”). In epidemiology, this disease can be spreading through gift of livestock food that made from meat flour and bone or Meat Bone Meal / MBM from ruminants that infected by Prion protein. Human can be also infected if consuming animal product that infected by BSE, and it will cause the Creutzefeld - Jacob Disease, which have fatal effect to human’s body (“Prion diseases' deadly action”).V. Approaches to Prevent the Spread of Prions Prevention is the best way for Prion disease, because there is no drug yet to overcome it.
Although some ways of medication are being worked but generally, it is an asymptomatic medication. Some approaches of prevention are related with spreading way, hence the steps to be considered are: make selection of material source coming from cow and minimizing the use of substance that made from cow (Perkel, M. J., 2003).Some ways have been observed to prevent the Prion infection at animal testing and system culture. One of them is using Pentosan (poly-b-xylose-2, 3-disulphonate, pentosan polysulphate that shortened by PPS) that is one of polysulphonated polyglycosides (PG'S).
Pentosan obtained from “beech wood'” tree and have been used as anticoagulant that looking like heparin (Perkel, M. J., 2003). Some other compound used to prevent the CJD is Gingko Biloba, Vitamin E and antioxidant that the work is principally according to the reduction of oxidative stress that caused by Prion infection.Acyclovir and Interferon are some antivirus compounds that have been recognized and assumed as potential but fail to prevent the TSE or CJD (Perkel, M. J.
, 2003). Another way to prevent the spreading of Prion is by releasing Governmental Policy about Prohibiting of use of Meat Flour, Bone Flour, Blood Flour, Bone Flour and other substance, which made from ruminants, as food of ruminants livestock. Beside that, it also required to make study through observation of nerve clinic symptom and laboratory inspection at many areas, what relate at standard of OIE (Perkel, M. J., 2003).
VI. Conclusion Epidemic of Prions disease at human and animal seems to be the consequence of “pattern of life”. This is the impact of human’s ego and ambition to yield more animal protein (meat and milk). Ruminants, which naturally are herbivore, forced to become the carnivore (cow forced to eat the MBM / meat bone meal, or food that coming from stomach gland / stomach from other animal), it is representing a practice of cannibalism indirectly
