In this thesis the statistical analyses that were used to study the by now well known bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic are reviewed. Central to the analysis is a backcalculation survival model whose development is discussed in detail. Various techniques applied to examining the likelihood of a maternal infection route (in addition to the main feed infection route) are discussed. It is found that maternal transmission is likely to occur at low rates. Measures taken to eliminate meat and bone meal feed supplements, the main infection source, have essentially eliminated BSE. However, the magnitude of the latent effect of tainted meat on humans in the form of the linked new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease is yet to be assessed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.30847 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Sturm-Beiss, R. |
| Contributors | Wolfson, David (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Mathematics and Statistics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001805792, proquestno: MQ70556, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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