Blood test closer for mad cow disease, Alzheimers and
Parkinson's by: Pia Akerman From:The Australian September 12,
201210:51AM BLOOD tests to diagnose Alzheimers disease,
Parkinson's and the human form of mad cow disease could be
closer thanks to new Australian research. Research by University
of Melbourne scientists, published in the Nucleic Acids Research
journal this week, has identified specific particles (exosomes)
released by cells infected with prions, the pathogen that causes
diseases such as human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. It
raises the possibility of a diagnostic blood test identifying
the exosomes in the blood stream. Thousands of Australians are
currently banned from donating blood because they lived in the
UK when mad cow disease was present in local beef and there is
no easy test to identify the risk. Since 2004 a small number of
British residents have been diagnosed with vCJD transmitted
through blood transfusion. University of Melbourne associate
professor Andrew Hill, who worked on