FrontMatter -- Reviewers -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations and Acronyms -- Contents -- Figures, Tables, Boxes, and Plates -- Executive Summary -- Summary -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Prion Diseases: An Overview -- 3 Basic Biomedical Research on Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies -- 4 Diagnostics for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies -- 5 Testing Blood for Evidence of the Agents of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies -- 6 Surveillance for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies in the United States -- 7 Assessment of Strategies to Prevent and Treat Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies -- 8 Infrastructure for Research on Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies -- 9 Risk of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies to the U.S. Military -- APPENDIXES -- A Agendas of Open Sessions of Committee Meetings -- B Biographical Sketches -- Glossary -- PLATES -- PLATE 2-1 -- PLATE 2-2 -- PLATE 4-1 -- PLATE 7-1.