TSE Research Center

Lines of evidence supporting the role of an extreme thermo-acidophilic bacterium (spiroplasma sp.) in the pathogenesis of chronic wasting disease and the other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. MORPHOLOGICAL SPIROPLASMA IDENTIFIED BY TEM IN CJD BRAIN TISSUES SPIROPLASMA IN AQUEOUS FLUID OF SHEEP WITH TERMINAL SCRAPIE EXPERIMENTALLY SPIROPLASMA-INFECTED ANIMAL MODEL RAT MODEL  SPIROPLASMA INDUCES SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY DEER MODEL CLINICAL EVIDENCE OF BRAIN STEM LESIONS MORPHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF BRAIN STEM LESION RUMINANT MODEL- SHEEP AND GOATS MORPHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF BRAIN STEM LESION LOCALIZATION TO EYES- RETINOPATHY MOLECULAR DETECTION OF ORGANISM IN TSE-AFFECTED TISSUES (PCR) CULTURE OF SPIROPLASMA FROM CWD & OTHER TSE-AFFECTED TISSUES PASSAGE IN EMBRYONATED EGGS GROWTH IN CELL-FREE BRUCELLA SPECIAL MEDIA GROWTH ON AGAR WITH FORMATION OF SUBSURFACE PLAQUES IDENTICAL BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TRANSMISSIBLE TSE AGENT AS SHOWN BY ENUMERATION OF SUBSURFACE PLACUES O

Dr. Bastian has been researching the pathogenesis of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) for over four decades. He grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada (a current hotbed of the ongoing panzootic of chronic wasting disease (CWD), a rapidly spreading TSE in deer, moose, and elk populations. CWD was discovered to have spread from Fort Collins, Colorado to currently involve 29 States and four Canadian provinces). CWD has also a global presence involving deer populations in Europe and recently found in reindeer herds in Sweden and Norway. CWD is also affecting the cervid population in South Korea. Dr. Bastian is a Neuropathologist trained under Professor Steven Vogel at Duke Medical School in Durham NC (1968-1972). In the 1960s the transmissible agent of scrapie (a TSE known for over 300 years in sheep) would not pass through a 100 nanometers filter (the size of a large virus thus the idea of a slow virus disease- a Herpes virus measures 140 nanometers in diameter and is easily v

Spiroplasma may cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.  An interview with a leading expert in infectious diseases: Dr. Frank Bastian. What is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD?) CJD is a transmissible disease characterized by spongy degeneration of the brain. It strikes about one in 1 million people annually. About 5% of CJD cases occur in families or among certain ethnic groups. The disease has been transmitted inadvertently during medical treatment and surgical procedures. CJD has been transmitted by the administration of growth hormone derived from the pituitary glands of people who died from CJD. The disease also has been transmitted by transplantation of corneas and dura tissue obtained from people who died from CJD. CJD has been transmitted experimentally to monkeys by oral feeding of contaminated tissue and to lab animals by infusion of white cells. CJD symptoms usually appear when people are in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. Ninety percent of people with CJD die within a year of the onset of

 by Ed Gehrman Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) is identified by the plaques of mutated amyloid protein that form within the brain tissue and destroy synapses and neurotransmitter functions and take on a characteristic sponge or Swiss cheese appearance. CJD, Scrapie and Kuru are all members of this degenerative disease family, afflictions known about for over two hundred years but not studied intently until the early sixties when they were found to be transmissible. Read the rest of the article HERE

  From New York Times: Some scientists say that the predators are essential to curbing the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease because they pick off weak deer.  Are the wolves of Yellowstone National Park the first line of defense against a terrible disease that preys on herds of wildlife? That’s the question for a research project underway in the park, and preliminary results suggest that the answer is yes. Researchers are studying what is known as the predator cleansing effect, which occurs when a predator sustains the health of a prey population by killing the sickest animals. If the idea holds, it could mean that wolves have a role to play in limiting the spread of chronic wasting disease, which is infecting deer and similar animals across the country and around the world. Experts fear that it could one day jump to humans. “There is no management tool that is effective” for controlling the disease, said Ellen Brandell, a doctoral student in wildlife ecology at Penn State University w

THE POSSIBLE ASSOCIATION OF TSE WITH SQUIRRELS - FO Bastian I was indirectly involved and am mentioned in the New Yorker article regarding whether squirrels could be a reservoir for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans. The young neurologist who reported the association was a trainee at USA (University of South AL where I was the neuropathologist. At a conference. I presented a case of CJD from Foley AL who routinely ate fresh squirrel brains. I also mentioned that the CJD case at Baylor wherein I discovered the spiroplasma inclusion by electron microscopy (reported in 1979) was a patient who was an avid squirrel brain eater. I also had received a consultation regarding a man in West VA who was a survivalist who ate fresh squirrel brains mixed with fresh eggs. As you know the New Yorker Magazine made fun of the Lancet report by the Kentucky doctors suggesting that Kentuckians are in danger of getting CJD from road kill. Unfortunately, the senior author of the Lancet article said i

Each year many Monroe Countians are among the thousands of Georgians that take to the wood in hopes of bagging a few squirrels. Some of the reasons why squirrel hunting is so popular include: It is a sport that can be enjoyed by hunters of all ages; squirrels offer a real challenge, and bushy tails make a tasty meal. However, there is a problem with the third reason; eating squirrel brains can prove to be fatal.  Read the full article   HERE .

  What follows are two articles about recent work performed by Dr. Frank Bastian and a response by Frank Although Dr. Frank Bastian's research concerning Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has not been able to be replicated by other researchers, the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania (USP) is continuing to support his research. To review: Bastian believes that spiroplasma bacteria cause CWD in deer and other cervids. Conventional research has determined that misfolded proteins called prions cause CWD. Bastian believes that the prions are byproducts of the bacterial action. For a number of years, Bastian has said that the first thing his research will develop is a kit that will allow hunters to test harvested deer for CWD in the field. The second thing he believes he can do is to develop live-animal tests and vaccines for CWD. This would be a great help for the deer-farming industry in dealing with CWD. He also thinks he can develop an oral vaccine that can be used for free-ranging deer.

CLEVELAND, October 4, 2019--Wenquan Zou, MD, PhD, an expert in degenerative neurological diseases, along with his collaborators Shu G. Chen, PhD also from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Jiyan Ma, MD, PhD, from Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Thomas Beach, MD, PhD, from Banner Sun Health Research Institute, Sun City, Arizona, have received a five-year, $3.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for diagnosing Parkinson's disease (PD) via an innovative skin testing approach. Also part of the team is Steven Gunzler, MD, a neurologist at the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and the School of Medicine. The methodology uses highly sensitive technology to detect the presence in the skin of "misfolded" alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) proteins that are the cause of nerve cell dysfunction and death in PD.   Read the rest of the article   HERE .