German scientists say they have lengthened the life of mice infected with scrapie, an illness similar to mad cow disease, with a compound that could provide a new approach to treating

affected humans.

They reported in Saturday’s issue of the British journal The Lancet that they injected the rodents with a product designed to stimulate an immune response.

Mice given the experimental treatment lived 38% longer than those that received a placebo. The scientists said they were not sure how the compound, CpG oligodeoxynucleotides, worked, but