Progressive inflammatory neuropathy is a autoimmune disease that was identified in a report, released on January 31, 2008, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[1] The first known outbreak of this neuropathy occurred in southeastern Minnesota in the United States. The disease was reported among slaughterhouse workers who appeared at various care facilities in the area reporting similar neurological symptoms.[2][3] The disease was later identified at slaughterhouses in Indiana and Nebraska as well.[4] The condition is characterized by acute paralysis, pain, fatigue, numbness, and weakness, especially in extremities.[5][6] It was initially believed that workers might have contracted the disease through inhaling aerosols from pig brains that were created by a machine at the slaughterhouse and that an autoimmune response to the particles might have produced their mysterious peripheral neuropathy.[1] These suspicions were confirmed in reports and investigations conducted at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.[6][7][8][9]
^DeAngelis, Tracy M.; Shen, Liang (1 October 2009). "Outbreak of Progressive Inflammatory Neuropathy Following Exposure to Aerosolized Porcine Neural Tissue". Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine: A Journal of Translational and Personalized Medicine. 76 (5): 442–447. doi:10.1002/msj.20132. PMID19787653.
^ abRukovets, Olga. "Ani". mal model mirrors human form of occupational neuropathy in pork plant workers. Neurology Today. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
^Tracy, Jennifer A.; Dyck, P. James B. (1 June 2011). "Auto-immune polyradiculoneuropathy and a novel IgG biomarker in workers exposed to aerosolized porcine brain". Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System. 16: 34–37. doi:10.1111/j.1529-8027.2011.00303.x. PMID21696495. S2CID36231208.