What is mad cow disease (BSE)?
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), widely referred to as mad cow disease, is a degenerative disease affecting the nervous system in cattle. The disease was first found in Great Britain in 1986. The infective agent is not completely known, but evidence suggests that a “proteinaceous infectious particle”or ‘prion’ is the causal agent. Prions are fairly new to science, and their importance was not recognized until the early 1980’s. To date, there is no treatment or vaccine to prevent the disease. BSE is believed to be transmitted when proteins from an infected animal are fed to cattle. Transmission between animals has not been observed, but there is some evidence of mother-to-calf infection through gestation. Most BSE-like diseases have incubation periods that span years or even decades (average incubation for BSE symptoms is 2 to 8 years). All affected animals die. Has BSE been found in the United States? BSE has not been found in the United States. Since federal and state agencies
