Eat em and weep: Warning on Eating Squirrel Brains By Theresa Tamkins NEW YORK (Reuters) -- People in rural Kentucky should avoid eating a local delicacy -- squirrel brains. Health experts suspect the practice may have caused at least five and possibly as many as 11 cases of the fatal dementia-inducing disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), the same disorder linked to "mad cow disease" in the U. K. The family of all five patients reported that they had eaten squirrel brains at some point, a food that is scrambled with eggs or added to a meat and vegetable stew called "burgoo," according to a letter in The Lancet. "It's not that uncommon in certain parts of rural Kentucky," said Dr. Joseph Berger, professor and chairman of the neurology department at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. About 27% of people living in western Kentucky consume squirrel, according to a survey of 100 people conducted by Berger and his colleagues, Drs. Erick and Beverly Weisman. The patients with the brain disease ranged in age from 56 to 78, and most died within a year of diagnosis. "There appeared to be, at least by statistical analysis, an overrepresentation of squirrel-brain consumption in patients that had CJD," he said. "However, it may be a statistical fluke." CJD can occur spontaneously, though the disease is very rare. Spongiform encephalopathy disorders, which cause spongy holes to form in the brain, have been found in mink, mule deer, elk, and other species. It's not clear how the diseases are spread, but many scientists believe the infectious agent is a prion (pronounced pree-on), an abnormal protein thought to change the shape of normal proteins in the brain. The abnormal proteins then accumulate and damage nervous tissue -- though the theory is still controversial. A spongiform encephalopathy of sheep, a disease ground up and used in cattle feed in the U. K. Consumption of nervous tissue-contaminated beef is thought to have caused 20 cases of CJD in humans in England, Scotland and France, though the link has not been confirmed. There have been no cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy found in the U. S., so it's unlikely that the Kentucky cases were caused by eating beef. However, more study -- including analysis of the prion protein in the five patients and testing of squirrel brains -- is needed "It certainly raises some interesting questions and we do plan to pursue this both in the human population and we should be harvesting squirrels, or squirrel brains, from that region of the state to take a look at them," Berger said. In the meantime, steering clear of squirrel brain consumption is not a bad idea, according to the Kentucky researcher. "I would not suggest to people that they not eat squirrel entirely, but I probably would avoid eating squirrel brain, and I probably would avoid eating the nervous tissues of any animal," he said. SOURCE: The Lancet (1997;350:642) --- Joe Honn <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I dont care what the species, they all are excellent > for cooking....fry em up, make sure not to spoil the > gravy, and watch for the pellets, they'll break your > teeth. ===== Indigo Nights [log in to unmask] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).