|
Again, unknown to the medical
profession, a virus called the Jakob-Creutzfeld virus does grow in the pituitary gland and was not inactivated
by the purification process. Therefore, some of the growth hormone, was obviously contaminated with live
JC virus and this form of dementia has now developed in many of the recipients.
So, although we appear to see new diseases emerging, it is more often unfortunate coincidences that
happen to suit opportunistic viruses. However, it could be suggested that modern lifestyle and methods
of food production favour the emergence of new diseases and their spread.An example could possibly
be the new variant of BSE. The practice of feeding ground up animal tissue to animals might now be
considered a risky form of new food generation. The problem realistically is that many carcasses are
ground and mixed to produce animal feed and therefore one infected animal can potentially pass on
the infection to a multitude of other animals through the food. This compares with where one animal
might kill another and eat it, there is only one-to-one transmission, not multiple and widespread
contamination. A similar
situation occurred with the development of growth hormone from ground up pituitary glands, that was
used for treatment of children who had a deficiency of growth hormone.
|
