Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease

James Botts could not make his hand obey. He was trying to write a grocery list, and the words kept trailing off into scribbles. He figured that he was just tired. A few days later, though, he was riding his bike and one hand kept flying off the handlebar. Then he tried to put up a window screen and found that he couldn't grip the stapler. Within weeks, Botts lost vision and speech; he began shaking so violently, his wife and four kids had to take turns holding him down.

The U.S. Agriculture Department said Friday that a new study found little risk of "mad cow" disease turning up in American cattle, but as a precaution the government plans to test more cattle and ban the use of spinal column material in processed meat. Harvard University researchers said in a 550-page report that the United States was "extremely unlikely" to suffer an outbreak of the deadly disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), because of strict U.S. trade restrictions.

A test has shown that a Japanese animal slaughtered in August carried "mad cow" disease, the Ministry of Agriculture said Saturday, confirming the first known case of the deadly brain-wasting illness in Asia. The Japanese government had announced last week that the 5-year-old dairy cow in central Japan might have suffered from the disease and sent a tissue sample to experts in Britain for a conclusive diagnosis. The results came back late Friday, the ministry said.

Japan reacted with fear and disbelief Tuesday to reports that the nation had discovered its first suspected case of "mad cow" disease. Reluctant to take any chances, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines quickly announced bans on Japanese beef and beef products. "Mad-Cow Disease Could Spread Nationwide," screamed the headline in one Japanese newspaper. "First Time in Japan," warned another.

Japan's government announced Monday that it has found the country's--and Asia's--first suspected case of "mad cow" disease and blamed imported feed as the likely cause. Japanese health experts had previously asserted that the high standards of cleanliness at Japanese cattle ranches would keep the country free of the brain-wasting disease, which has ravaged herds in Britain and elsewhere in Europe and is believed to be linked to a fatal human disease.

Increasingly worried about protecting the nation's blood supply from "mad cow" disease, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday further tightened restrictions on blood donors who have lived or traveled abroad. The new rules affect those who have traveled to Europe since 1980, when mad cow disease--bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE--began showing up in British cattle herds.

Two drugs that are effective in treating malaria and some psychotic illnesses may also be able to treat the human version of "mad cow" disease and other related illnesses, and should be immediately tested in human clinical trials, researchers at UC San Francisco said Monday. The drugs, quinacrine and chlorpromazine, appear to successfully treat mouse cells infected with prions, the researchers said.

A 6-year-old cow in the Czech Republic is suspected of having "mad cow" disease, officials said Wednesday, prompting fears that the bovine illness may have spread beyond Western Europe. "At this point, we can confirm the first suspicion of BSE in the Czech Republic," Czech Agriculture Ministry spokesman Hugo Roldan said. Roldan said the animal was from a herd in a village in the Jihlava region, 70 miles southeast of Prague, the capital.

A French teenager believed to have been suffering from the human variant of "mad cow" disease has died after slowly losing the ability to walk, speak and breathe. Arnaud Eboli, 19, died after fighting the brain-wasting ailment for more than two years, according to the Assn. of Victims of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. "He died in appalling conditions. He looked like an old man," his mother said.

With piles of sheep carcasses burning in Britain and 2 million cows across Europe slated for slaughter to boost flagging beef prices, these are paralyzing times for the men and women who devote their lives to defending the rights of animals. The nightly television images of culling and carnage have drawn surprisingly little protest among the environmentalist and conservation groups that urge a more humane relationship between humans and the creatures that provide them food.