Additions and corrections: Prion protein gene sequence of Canada's first non-imported case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)

Abstract

On page 1006 of the above-cited article, reference is made to a 2001 report by Horn et al. (Horn, G., Bobrow, M., Bruce, M., Goedert, M., McLean, A., and Webster, J. 2001. Review of the origin of BSE: report to United Kingdom Government. http://147.46.94.112/BSE/bse0927.pdf), with the intention of directing the reader to the most recently published broad discussion of various questions surrounding the origins of BSE, including but not limited to the occurrence of a spontaneous mutation in cattle. Unfortunately, the single reference might suggest incorrectly that it was in this report that the hypothesis of the origin of BSE via spontaneous mutation in cattle was first advanced. In fact, it was in the Report of the BSE Inquiry (http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk; see Vol. 2, paragraph 7.3) that the idea was first fully articulated. The reader is directed to the Report to obtain a more complete background discussion on the novel-mutation hypothesis, in addition to detailed consideration of alternative hypotheses.