Scientists at the University of Kent in England theorize
that bovine spongiform encephalopathy may have its roots
in trade in human corpses and skeletons that were ground
up and included in animal feed imported to Europe from India.
According to an article published last week in the journal
Lancet , researcher Alan Colchester speculates
that the Hindu custom of disposing of bodies in rivers led
to a trade in human remains, some of which were ground up
and added to animal feed. Colchester says that it is "highly
likely" that human remains were fed to cattle in the United
Kingdom and elsewhere, and that may have included people
who died of sporadic Creutzfeldt Jakob disease.
Under his theory, the cattle became infected, producing
a new disease, which was then transferred back to humans
as variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease.
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