mad cow disease

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as Mad cow diseaseis a fatal neurodegenerative disease that gained worldwide notoriety in the 1980s and 1990s due to its link to human health. The outbreak has its origins in a low-cost practice aimed at making production cheaper and increasing livestock productivity.

The solution involved recycling of animal proteins in the diet of herbivores, which ultimately introduced an infectious agent into the herd, causing progressive and irreversible deterioration of the nervous system.

Risk to human health

BSE is caused by a let’s prayan abnormal infectious protein that is neither a virus nor a bacteria. This prion causes normal brain proteins to misfold, making the brain look like a sponge, hence the name spongiform.

In cattle, symptoms include drastic changes in behavior (nervousness, aggression, fear), loss of motor coordination (ataxia), and difficulty walking.

The greatest risk to public health lies in the possibility of transmission to humans. Ingestion of meat or products derived from diseased animals may cause Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)which is also deadly.

The source of contamination: low-cost foods

The outbreak of the disease was first identified in the United Kingdom in 1986. The main route of contamination of the cattle herd was the use of meat and bone meal (MRO)which was added to animal feed as a supplement…

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