Steel link to ‘mad cow’

INFECTIOUS agents of the sort believed to cause mad cow disease in humans can appear “as if from nowhere” when healthy brain tissue comes into contact with steel, scientists said yesterday.

The startling observation was made by British researchers developing a sensitive test to detect the proteins on metal surfaces.

They believe that although very rare, the phenomenon might explain some cases of so-called “sporadic” Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).