I tried cervid spongiform encephalopathy at PubMed. The following article was one of nine that came up. Cervid means elk or deer. You can get a lot more articles clicking on "Related Articles". A lot more basic science on prions needs to be done.
I did manage to figure out how to save it in my Links profile. I am interested in this kind of stuff, so I'll probably read up on it tomorrow (after coffee, coffee, coffee).
I doesn't really matter though, most likely I'll just use it as a conversation topic with my PHd microbiologists brother and sister-in-law at our family Beach Week this summer.
'course, the last time I saw them, when I asked them for their thoughts about the most recent Mad Cow thing, they ended up arguing the more esoteric points between themselves and lost me completely (actually, my brother got a scientific P-whipin', but he and I were drinking beers and his wife was just doing ironing).
I hope they had make-up sex after wards, 'least that's the way it always worked for me when the ex bested me, LOL.
Maybe I can get something going between them this summer again :)
Their argument about prions (and a few other biology topics I brought up) are part of why I don't trust Docs.
Engineering and Pratical Application Physics has solid answers in most cases, Biology still seems to be a lot of guesswork.