Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). False- colour transmission electron micrograph of fibrils,coloured blue,in an extract of fresh brain from a cow infected with BSE,a form of transmissible,slow virus encephalopathy. Human slow virus encephalopathies include Kuru,Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease,& Gerstmann-Straussler syndrome. The agents causing these diseases form a group of virus-like organisms called prions. The fibrils are believed to be aggregations of the major proteins of the infectious agents themselves. Magnification: x67,500 at 6x4.5cm size,x36,300 at 35mm size |