Mad Cow Disease, also known as BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), is a slowly progressive, fatal neurological disorder in cattle that results from infection by a prion. Research indicates that the first probable infection of BSE in cows occurred during the 1970's. BSE possibly originated as a result of feeding cattle meat-and-bone meal that contained BSE-infected products from a spontaneously occurring case of BSE. Evidence suggests that the outbreak spread throughout the United Kingdom cattle industry by feeding prion-infected, bovine meat-and-bone meal to the young calves (Mad Cow Disease Facts). There was strong laboratory evidence between the BSE outbreak in cattle and a human prion disease called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) that was first reported in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1996.
This method caused the infected brains, nervous systems, and blood infected cattle to be fed to other cows, filling them with infected meat. More and more cows began to show the same symptoms so more and more cattle died. The more cattle died the more food for the other cows causing a huge epidemic. So England tried to take control of the situation and make the food for the cattle to undergo and intense heat and steam process trying to kill the prions in the meat. The BSE epidemic officially ended when all of the cattle herds that had it or was thought to have it were killed in a major genocide of cattle.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is more commonly known to humans as Mad Cow Disease or BSE. BSE originated from scrapie or Endemic Spongiform Encephalopathy, which is a disease that has affected mostly sheep and goats. BSE is an illness that attacks the brain and spinal cord of adult cattle due to an infection by a transmissible agent known as a prion. Once affected by BSE cattle began to develop strange behavior such as aggression, lack of coordination with the inability to stand or walk, and abnormal posture; hence the name Mad Cow Disease (1). Why BSE Should Be Eradicated- -BSE is a fatal disease- BSE has been seen to progress very slowly in relation to other diseases, however is very contagious and fatal for not only cattle, but humans as well.
Figure Two There are several ways to tell of a cow is infected with BSE. An adult cow may take from two to eight years to first show signs of being infected but others can take a short time. The symptoms for infected cows are “anxiety, nervousness, and initial hyperactivity followed by lethargy” (Ratzan 10). Also cows experience pain in their horns, horn sockets and ears when they are infected.
The cow was butchered and sold before dying of the disease, and before showing any real symptoms. Now your probably thinking if I do not eat cow meat then I am safe from this disease. Well imagine putting on your lipstick or several other types of facile creams and other common products that you use every day only to find that you could still be infected with the CJD disease. CJD is caused by ingesting or using a product that has been infected with Mad Cow. It is very possible to be infected by any products that are used from cows, ... ... middle of paper ... ...ed Press.
Another disease similar to BSE, which is found in sheep, is Scrapie. Scrapie has been around for nearly two hundred years. It is presumed that the Scrapie agent jumped species and moved into cattle when sheep offal, leftover parts of butchered animals, were ground up and used as a protein supplement in cattle feed and the subsequently fed to cattle. Gelatin is considered safe for human consumption since its preparation involves a chemical process that destroys BSE infectivity. BSE-infectiousness is also destroyed during cooking and baking.
If my word dissection is correct, the disease can be broken down to enceph meaning the brain and pathy meaning disease. * Overall, it is a disease that turns the brain into a sponge-like chunk of meat. At first, the only time I have heard of the Mad Cow Disease was in my European History class and it was only a brief sentence that was spoken about it, but boy, what a sentence it was. It seems as though during the 1980s, to save money, Great Britain's ranchers began to feed grounded up dead animals (who have died from disease) to their cattle. Now isn't that disgusting?
The exact cause of BSE is not known. In cattle that have BSE, these abnormal prions initially occur in the small intestines and tonsils, and are found in the brain, spinal cord, and other nervous tissues of animals in later stages of this disease (USFDA/CFSAN, 2005). These abnormal prions trigger chain reactions through all the other proteins in the brain and cause those proteins to change into the abnormal prions, thus damaging the brain and the result is death (Massachusetts Dep... ... middle of paper ... ...h. July 20, 2005: www.mass.gov/dph/cdc/factsheets/madcow.htm Spengler, R. (2004, February). Mad Cow Disease. Yahoo Health.
European cows first contracted the BSE in the late 1800s after they ate feed that contained slaughter-house leftovers that were infected with this disease. Since then, the disease has spread through-out England and the surrounding areas. In 1985, the disease was first identified by an English vet who was curious as to why cows were acting so oddly. Upon studying autopsies of dead cows, he found that they had holes in their brain: thus the name spongiform. Experts believe that the disease is caused by an indestructible infectious agent called a "prion" The prion is a mutated version of a normal protein cell found on the surface of nerve cells in the brain.
The Horrifying Details of Mad Cow Disease Mad Cow Disease, scientifically referred to as (BSE) Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, is a disease that affects those humans who eat the meat from infected cows. Mad Cow Disease is one of several fatal brain diseases called (TSE) Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy. (USDA) There was evidence of a new illness resembling the sheep disease scrapie. It was technically named BSE but quickly acquired the mad cow tag because of the way infected cattle behave. (CNN) In 1997, there was an award given to Stanley Prusiner, for concluding that a distorted protein called a prion was responsible for Mad Cow Disease, noted the long incubation period made it difficult to distinguish (Bryant).