A British expert on the human form of mad cow disease says it is essential that coroners test the brains and spleens of all young people who die. Professor John Collinge says without post-mortem tests for the infection it is impossible to get accurate information on how many people in Britain may be carrying it, The Times of London reported Wednesday.

U.S. researchers say a virus could be the cause of prion diseases, including mad cow and Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseases.

Research in Japan and at Yale University School of Medicine shows that infection with a weak strain of Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD) prevents infection by more virulent strains and that the protection requires persistent replication by the infectious agent, but not misfolded prions.

WASHINGTON - California scientists say they have created the first synthetic version of a rogue protein called a prion and used it to give mice a brain-destroying infection, evidence important to settling any lingering doubt these mysterious substances alone cause mad cow disease and similar illnesses.