Given the extensive exposure of the UK population to BSE in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, what explains the low number of confirmed cases? One clue lies in the results of studies of the transmission of BSE and variant CJD in mice, which in many cases does not result in death from clinical disease, but instead can produce an asymptomatic “carrier state,” in which the disease has not yet manifested itself.
由于20世纪80年代末和90年代初英国人口普遍感染了牛海绵状脑病，那么确认的发病病例数不高又做何解释呢？一条线索来自牛海绵状脑病和变异型克雅氏病在老鼠中传播状况的研究，表明这两种病在多数情况下都不会导致临床死亡，但却能够造成没有明显症状的“携带状态”，也就是疾病没有发作。