Bovine Spongiform encephalopathy

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease (encephalopathy) in cattle that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, about 30 months to 8 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of four to five years, all breeds being equally susceptible. In the United Kingdom, the country worst affected, more than 180,000 cattle have been infected and 4.4 million slaughtered during the eradication program.

The disease can be easily transmitted to humans by contamination of food with the brain, spinal cord or digective tract of infected organs. However, the infective agent is present in almost all bodily tissues of infected animals (blood included), which is why transmission is so likely through consumption of meat products.

The disease was spread as a result of cattle (normally herbivores) being fed on the remains of other bovines that were infected (e.g. in meat and bone meal).  The accumulation of misfolded proteins (BSE prions) in the brain occured, causing symptoms and eventual death.The epidemic was probably accelerated by the recycling of infected bovine tissues prior to the recognition of BSE. The origin of the disease itself remains unknown. The infectious agent is distinctive for the high temperatures at which it remains viable.

The first confirmed animal to fall ill with the disease occurred in 1986 in the United Kingdom, and lab tests the following year indicated the presence of BSE; by November 1987, the British Ministry of Agriculture accepted it had a new disease on its hands.Subsequently, 165 people (until October 2009) acquired and died of a disease with similar neurological symptoms subsequently called (new) variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Symptoms in cattle:
-Change in attitude/behaviour
-Inability to coordinate simple movements e.g. standing and walking
-Weight loss but not appetite loss
-Limited milk production