Infectious Processes

In recent years a number of scholars have analyzed the management of BSE, also known as 'mad cow disease'. The BSE crisis is regarded by many as an example of the failure of officials and politicians to handle risk situations. Yet, BSE is also characterized by a unique trait, that is, the infectious agent that causes it. Thus far, no one has paid attention to the fact that BSE and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathy's (TSEs) are allegedly caused by a novel agent - a prion - distinct from all other known infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses. The prion hypothesis was introduced by the American scientist Stanley Prusiner in 1982. It immediately created a controversy among scientists and is still rejected by some. Yet, despite this lack of consensus in the scientific community, Prusiner was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1997. This book analyzes the introduction, reception, development and consequences of the prion hypothesis. It shows that BSE is a unique case not only in virtue of its political mismanagement but also because its infectious agent has created a form of revolution in biology.

Auteur

H. ANDERSEN Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark B. CHAMAK Researcher and Writer K. DRESSEL Scientific Secretary, German TSE Research Platform, University of Munich, Germany E. FRANCOEUR Lecturer, École de Technologie Supériere de Montréal, Canada M. J. POULSEN Research Adviser, Health Care Sector, Frederiksborg County, Denmark K. KIM Research Fellow, Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College, London, UK J. SEGAL Assistant Professor, Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maitres, Paris, France

Résumé
In March 1996, the British Secretary of State for Health announced that 'Mad Cow Disease' (BSE) had transmitted to humans. One striking aspect of this new episode of the BSE crisis was the recurrent appearance of 'prions', thought to be the infectious agents of this disease. The history of prions displays several interesting characteristics. Prions are enigmatic agents usually described as 'infectious proteins', whose pathogenecity is not yet fully understood. If the prion hypothesis, which holds that BSE and similar diseases are caused by such agents, is now widely accepted by the scientific community, many researchers are still disputing it. In the 1980s, Stanley Pruisner, the proponent of the prion hypothesis, was regarded as an heretic. In 1997, however, he won the Nobel Prize for medicine for his discovery of prions. Ths book sheds light on such paradoxical features and is the first to look at the prion case from an historical and social perspective.

Contenu

Introduction: Prions?; E.Seguin PART I: KNOWLEDGE The Early History of the Protein-Only Hypothesis. Scientific Change and Multidisciplinary Research; M.J.Poulsen & H.Andersen Styles of Scientific Practice and the Prion Controversy; K.Kim Paradigm Change? Explaining the Nature of the TSE Agent in Germany; K.Dressel PART II: DISCOURSE Visualizing Prions, Graphic Representations and the Biography of Prions; J.Segal & E.Francoeur PART III: POLITICS Prion Research and the Public Sphere in France; B.Chamak The UK BSE Crisis and the Prion Discursive Chain in Scientific Literature; E.Seguin Conclusion: The Prion Case; E.Seguin