The New Straits Times, April 1, 2001
By Professor Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
AS the foot-and-mouth disease is reported to have spread to animals in Disneyland Paris, the mad cow story too seems to be unending.
Recently, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) based in Rome, "Mad cow disease is not an exclusively European Union problem".
FAO reportedly warned that up to 100 countries -- including some Asian countries -- could be at risk.
Already, the Office International des Epizooties, the world agency responsible animal disease outbreaks, has noted that mad cow disease (or BSE, bovine spongiform encephalitis) has been detected in many European Union countries, and also Switzerland.
But Malaysia has been assured that local livestock is generally safe. Sources from the Veterinary Services Department said, "since 1986, the livestock industry has not used the meat and bone meal which is related to the spread of BSE".
They are fed with grass and oil palm kernel and reared in oil palm integrated and feedlot projects, according the sources. Moreover, the Government has imposed a ban on livestock and related products from such countries. Even import of cattle and beef from Brazil and Thailand have been banned.
In addition, a surveillance programme has been implemented to ensure that Malaysia remains free of the mad cow disease. Beef imported from other countries such as Australia, New Zealand and India, are only allowed into the country if the abattoirs are accredited.
This is a commendable move, since it is known that it only takes "infected material the size of a peppercorn to infect a cow", warns the World Health Organisation.
What makes mad cow disease even more fearful is the fact that it can be linked to humans. Worse still, there is no way of knowing for sure how many people may be incubating the disease, namely the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD for short, which turns the brain spongey.
The disease is debilitating, with symptoms such as depression, uncoordinated movement, involuntary movement and finally a catatonic state of withdrawal.
It is invariably deadly as there is no known treatment as yet.
But now there’s another twist to the story. Mad cow may be contaminating computers, leading to the "mad com" disease. While mad cow is now a household name, this is not the case for "mad com". In fact, many, including prominent scientists, may not have heard of it.
They are more than just similar sounding names. They have many similarities that make the understanding of the latter particularly helpful.
The main difference perhaps is the host, one being animals, the other being machines -- computers to be exact.
It seems despite the millions spent to track down the Y2K bug last year, one such bug has somehow escaped the dragnet, leading to "mad com".
How "mad com" originated is hard to say at this stage, because it seems to defy the theories of classical biomedical sciences. Never before have infective agents crossed over from animals to machines.
One suspicion is that computers have parts contaminated by and/or exposed to the mad cow infective agents over a long period of time. Others have speculated about a prion-like computer virus.
Here again are striking similarities. In "mad cow", mutant rogue brain proteins, or prions, are said to be the infective agents. A similar "computer prion", dubbed AF101, is suspected of being the "mad com" agent.
AF101 is found to reside in the CPU, the computer brain, and the computer integrated circuit (analogous to the cow’s brain and nerve cells). Others suspect that it can be found in the network itself, where it lurks before turning virulent.
And so, as much as humans can be infected when they come in contact with diseased livestock, "mad com" too can infect humans who come in contact with AF101.
"Mad com" behaves just like mad cow in that it can be transmitted to humans as well, causing another variant CJD, an acronym for "Computer Junkie-related Disease".
Like mad cow, "mad com" too is difficult to detect because the effects show up at least a decade later. This puts not only owners and users of computers in a difficult spot, but also governments.
But all is not lost. Computers less than five years of age are, for now, considered free of the "mad com" disease. Tests have so far revealed the presence of AF101 only in older models, especially the clones made from cannibalising discarded models, just like when cows are fed with their own kind.
Though AF101 is yet to be given an attention catching name, anti-virus experts last week suspected that it could be related to the human form, the Aprilia fooleae type. More commonly, it is known as the April Fool’s virus. And the related CJD may just be a "computer related syndrome" after all, due to an over-tired brain which could be easily fooled. Got ya!
