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• n  a fatal disease of sheep characterized by chronic itching and loss of muscular control and progressive degeneration of the central nervous system

• Stanley Prusiner discovers prions, the infectious proteins responsible for scrapie and mad-cow disease.
• The probable cause: feed that contained meat or bone of sheep infected with scrapie.
• Tikvah Alper, a South African researcher, found that the scrapie agent was exceedingly small and resistant to ultraviolet radiation, a form of energy that can be lethal to viruses.

News & Articles

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• Deadly Diseases Could Strike Bighorn Sheep
  Declining bighorn sheep populations may be vulnerable to some of the fatal diseases, including chronic wasting disease (CWD), that are found in their western U.S. habitats, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study . USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) research showed that bighorn sheep are likely susceptible to the deadly neurological diseases scrapie and CWD, which are occurring ...
  Aug. 28, 2013 - USGS