CALGARY -- University of Calgary researchers may be closer to a test for BSE after pains-takingly picking out genetic differences brought about by the devastating disease.
BSE can lurk undetected in a cow for years before the animal suddenly begins to show ab-normal behaviour that's followed fairly quickly to death.
Currently, the only way to confirm an animal has been infected with mad cow disease is by testing its brain after death.
But Christoph Sensen, a professor in the faculty of medicine, says his team has begun ge-netic sequencing that could lead to a blood test.
In tests done for a similar disease in elk, as well as for BSE, Sensen and other researchers isolated specific gene sequences in blood that are different in infected animals.
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He said the differences are very small -- like picking out an extremely tiny needle in a ge-netic haystack -- but could make a huge difference to Canadian farmers who have been hard hit by BSE.
