Bovine spongiform encephalopathy
Counterpart in cattle to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) (commonly known as mad cow disease), is an incurable and invariably fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle.[2] Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss.[1] Later in the course of the disease the cow becomes unable to function normally.[1] There is conflicting information about the time between infection and onset of symptoms. In 2002, the WHO suggested it to be approximately four to five years.[2] Time from onset of symptoms to death is generally weeks to months.[2] Spread to humans is believed to result in variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD).[3] As of 2018, a total of 231 cases of vCJD had been reported globally.[5]
| Bovine spongiform encephalopathy | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Mad cow disease |
 | |
| A cow with BSE | |
| Specialty | Neurology, Veterinary medicine |
| Symptoms | Abnormal behavior, trouble walking, weight loss, inability to move[1] |
| Complications | variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (if BSE-infected beef is eaten by humans) |
| Usual onset | 4–5 years after exposure[2] |
| Types | Classic, atypical[1] |
| Causes | A type of prion[3] |
| Risk factors | Feeding contaminated meat and bone meal to cattle |
| Diagnostic method | Suspected based on symptoms, confirmed by examination of the brain[1] |
| Prevention | Not allowing sick or older animals to enter the food supply, disallowing certain products in animal food[4] |
| Treatment | None |
| Prognosis | Death within weeks to months[2] |
| Frequency | 4 reported cases (2017)[1] |
BSE is thought to be due to an infection by a misfolded protein, known as a prion.[3][6] Cattle are believed to have been infected by being fed meat-and-bone meal (MBM) that contained either the remains of cattle who spontaneously developed the disease or scrapie-infected sheep products.[3][7] The outbreak increased throughout the United Kingdom due to the practice of feeding meat-and-bone meal to young calves of dairy cows.[3][8] Cases are suspected based on symptoms and confirmed by examination of the brain.[1] Cases are classified as classic or atypical, with the latter divided into H- and L types.[1] It is a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE).[9]
Efforts to prevent the disease in the UK include not allowing any animal older than 30 months to enter either the human food or animal feed supply.[4] In continental Europe, cattle over 30 months must be tested if they are intended for human food.[4] In North America, tissue of concern, known as specified risk material, may not be added to animal feed or pet food.[10] About four million cows were killed during the eradication programme in the UK.[11]
Four cases were reported globally in 2017, and the condition is considered to be nearly eradicated.[1] In the United Kingdom, from 1986 to 2015, more than 184,000 cattle were diagnosed with the peak of new cases occurring in 1993.[3] A few thousand additional cases have been reported in other regions of the world.[1] It is believed that several million cattle with the condition likely entered the food supply during the outbreak.[1]