The following websites provide a quick review of prion research in the news. Prions, short for "proteinaceous infectious particles," are responsible for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), mad cow disease, scrapie disease, chronic wasting disease, and other deadly brain diseases. The first website, a Science Update from the journal _Nature_, reports on an intriguing study published earlier this year...

Formed in 1968, the Society for Vector Ecology (SOVE) is dedicated to studying "all aspects of the biology, ecology, and control of arthropod vectors and the interrelationships between the vectors and the disease agents they transmit." Comprised of researchers and operational and extension personnel around the globe, SOVE tracks and studies the biological organisms that transmit diseases. The SOVE...

The discovery of a cow carrying BSE in the United States has reenergized the public's interest in such topics. This site, an offshoot of the WHO site devoted to diseases, offers a good overview of the disease and its similar nature to that of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease -- the form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that can affect humans. Also of note at this site is a exceptionally...