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Mad cow disease

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease of cattle, which infects by a mechanism that shocked biologists on its discovery in late 20th century and appears transmissible to humans. While never having killed cattle on a scale comparable to other dreaded livestock diseases, such as foot and mouth and rinderpest, BSE has attracted wide attention because people assume humans can contract the disease, but it has never been proven that BSE has any link to variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (vCJD), sometimes called new variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (nvCJD), a human brain-wasting disease. more...

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Infectious agent

Unlike other kinds of infectious disease which are spread by microbes, the infectious agent in BSE is a specific type of protein. Misshapen ("misfolded") prion proteins carry the disease between individuals and cause deterioration of the brain. BSE is a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). TSEs can arise in animals that carry a rare mutant prion allele, which expresses prions that contort by themselves into the disease-causing shape. Most TSEs, however, occur sporadically in animals that do not have a prion protein mutation. Transmission can occur when healthy animals consume tainted tissues from others with the disease. In the brain these proteins cause native cellular prion protein to deform into the infectious state which then goes on to deform further prion protein in an exponential cascade. These aggregate to form dense plaque fibers, which lead to the microscopic appearance of "holes" in the brain, degeneration of physical and mental abilities and ultimately death.

The BSE epidemic in British cattle

The British BSE epidemic in cattle was recognised in 1986. It was first believed to have originated in sheep, in which the related prion disease scrapie is common (such diseases collectively are called "transmissible spongiform encephalopathies" or TSEs). However, sheep and cattle TSEs are quite different and it is now thought more likely that BSE could have originated with a case of sporadic BSE in a single bovine. Prior to the BSE epidemic, cattle were fed with meat and bone meal, a high-protein substance obtained from the remnants of butchered animals, including cows and sheep. This practice allowed the accumulation of prions over many generations. As more animals became ill, more infectious tissue got into the feed, and so the number of cases reached epidemic proportions. The tissues that contain most of the pathogenic molecules are those of the brain and the nervous system, although infectious amounts have been shown experimentally to be present elsewhere, such as in blood.

The use of meat and bone meal as a protein supplement in cattle feed was widespread in Europe prior to about 1987. Soybean meal is the primary plant-based protein supplement fed to cattle. However, soybeans do not grow well in Europe, so cattle raisers throughout Europe turned to the less expensive animal byproduct feeds as an alternative. A change to the rendering process in the early 1980s may have resulted in a large increase of the infectious agents in the cattle feed. A contributing factor seems to have been lax British laws that did not require a high temperature sterilization of the protein meal. While other European countries like Germany required said animal byproducts to undergo a high temperature steam boiling process, this requirement had been eased in Britain as a measure to keep prices competitive.

Read more at Wikipedia.org


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What's the beef? Mad Cow disease hits the United States
From Current Events, 2/6/04

MABTON, Wash. -- The 6-year-old cow stumbled around, barely able to support its own weight. It cocked its head to the side, staring straight ahead with blank eyes. Aware of the cow's feeble state, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors at the slaughterhouse tested the animal for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, as part of a routine surveillance program. BSE is a fatal disease of cattle that affects the animals' brains. By the time the diagnosis was confirmed two weeks later, the cow's meat had already been processed into beef for human consumption.

On December 23, the U.S. government announced the startling news: After years of plaguing Europe, mad cow disease had arrived in the United States--and meat from the infected animal was already on its way to stores in the western United States.

Dozens of federal investigators swarmed the Sunny Dene Ranch in Mabton, Wash., where the cow had been raised, scouring records to figure out where the cow had been born and to track down any cattle with which it had come in contact.

The government recalled about 10,400 pounds of raw beef from cattle that had been killed the same day at the same slaughterhouse as the infected cow. As a further precaution, hundreds of cattle with possible ties to the cow were slaughtered. "We are doing everything we can to find the lineage of the cattle, traced back and traced forward," said Sarah Goodwin of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

When CE went to press, no other infected cattle had been found. U.S. officials, however, said that one mad cow was bad enough.

Udder Hysteria

BSE eats holes in cattle brains until they look like sponges. Veterinarians say there is no cure for the disease. Experts believe it is transmitted when cattle eat the brain or spinal cord tissue of infected animals, which may be in cattle feed. Until 1997, cattle feed included the ground-up carcasses of animals, including other cows. The U.S. cow with BSE was born before the government banned that practice.

According to some experts, people can get a related version of mad cow disease, known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), by eating contaminated beef. (See Side Trip.)

The United Kingdom learned that lesson the hard way. An epidemic of mad cow disease broke out among cattle there in 1986. At the epidemic's peak in 1993, about 1,000 new cases were appearing each week. The British government killed 5.5 million cattle to prevent the disease's spread. A few years later, a vCJD outbreak shook the United Kingdom. Some people who had eaten beef daily suddenly found themselves stricken by the fatal, debilitating disease. Scientists feared that tens of thousands of people would fall victim to vCJD. Those fears now seem unfounded. As of December 1, 2003, only 143 cases of vCJD had been reported in the United Kingdom. The number of new vCJD cases has now leveled off to fewer than 20 a year.

Don't Have a Cow!

The USDA says Americans should keep eating beef. U.S. officials say vCJD is virtually nonexistent in the United States, and one mad cow won't change that. "The beef supply is safe and wholesome for the American consumer," said Matt Baun of the USDA.

However, some beef eaters are switching to chicken. "I'll go back when I see [Vice President] Dick Cheney eating [raw] steak ... on FOX News," said Mark McGroarty, 35, who ate his last hamburger just before the recall was announced.

0thers--including U.S. President George W. Bush--haven't lost their taste for hamburgers. "I like to eat beef and will continue eating beef because I believe the food supply is safe," Bush said.

Dead Meat?

Not everyone has that same confidence in U.S. beef. Dozens of countries, including Japan, Mexico, and South Korea--the top three importers of U.S. beef--banned beef imports after word of the infected cow spread. About 40,000 tons of U.S. meat exports were abandoned, leaving some experts wary about the future of the $4.3 billion U.S. beef-export business.

However, industry experts are confident that the U.S. beef industry will hold its own. About 90 percent of the industry is based on sales within the United States. "As long as consumers in the U.S. eat beef like they are, this shouldn't have a major impact," financial analyst Adam Packard told BBC News.

A Good Moo-ve

In the meantime, the USDA has introduced several initiatives to prevent the spread of BSE. Officials are cracking down on the practice of slaughtering sick or lame cattle, called "downer" cattle, for human consumption. Downer cattle accounted for 150,000 to 200,000 of the 35 million cattle sent to slaughter last year, of which only 20,000 were tested for mad cow disease.

Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman has called for a national livestock identification system to track the movements and health of all 105 million heads of U.S. cattle by July 2006.

John Meyer, head of the Holstein Association USA, says the identification system is desperately needed. "We've come to the point where, whatever this system costs, we can't afford to be without it."

CONSIDER THIS ... What would happen if the government discovered more cases of mad cow disease in the United States? How would it affect society? What kind of effect would it have on your town?

Get Talking

Ask students; What is mad cow disease? What happens to cattle that get it?

Notes Behind the News

* Scientists believe mad cow disease and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) are caused by misfolded proteins, called prions, that build up in central nervous system tissue, killing nerve cells. Scientists aren't sure why the proteins take on an abnormal shape.

* In infected cattle, only the central nervous system tissue, such as the brain, spinal cord tissue, and retinal tissue, contained prions.

Doing More

Have students research other food-bourne illnesses. How are they spread? How can they be prevented?

Link It

* BSEinfo.org: http://www.bseinfo.org/

* USDA: http://www.usda.gov/BSE/

WORDS IN THE NEWS

Below are some key words used in this issue of Current Events.

The U.S. Department of agriculture (USDA) was established by Congress in 1862 as an executive department of the federal government. The secretary of the department, Ann M. Veneman, is a member of the president's cabinet. The USDA's primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of meat, poultry, and egg products in the United States. The agency also strives to expand agricultural markets at home and abroad. It conducts research on human nutrition, plant and animal diseases, crop production, pest control, and soil conservation, among other topics, and reports on crop production and prices. In addition, the department leads the federal anti-hunger effort with Food Stamp, School Lunch, and School Breakfast programs and provides food aid to needy people overseas.

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