Borna disease is a fatal disease that occurs in some animals and it has been found in humans as well. There is debate over whether contributes to mental illness in humans. Animals that have been infected with Borna disease include, but are not limited to sheep, horses, rabbits, goats, deer, llamas, cats, sloth, vari monkey and ostriches. There has been a lot of press lately about the Pig Flu but Borna disease has not been found in pigs.
Borna disease is a non-segmented negative-strand RNA neurological virus. Order name: Mononegavirales and Family name: Bornaviridae. Doctors and researchers are trying to prove that Borna disease can cause depression and mental disorders in humans. In scientific clinical trials Bornea disease causes mental instability in rats and several species of monkeys.
Borna disease got its name from the town of Borna, Saxony, in 1885 after an outbreak occurred in horses. The methods of transmission for Borna disease are as yet unproven. Doctors theorize that Borna disease is spread via contaminated food and water, blood transfusions, mucus and salvia.
Borna disease takes its time incubating in the body and settling itself into the Central Nervous System. Horses will not begin to show symptoms until the virus has been incubating for four weeks. Borna disease generally lasts for one to three weeks, at which point the disease is almost always fatal. Borna disease most commonly occurs during the spring and early summer months.
Borna disease may be responsible for some psychological disorders in humans. Bora disease antibodies have been found by researchers in the brain sera of tested mental patients. However this percentage was not significant when compared to the control groups of people who are not mental patients.